Ishaq Khalid
BBC Africa, Abuja

Heavy casualties have been reported following fierce gun battles between the Nigerian military and suspected Boko Haram militants in the north-eastern town of Gulak in Adamawa state.

The militants launched an overnight attack forcing hundreds of civilians to flee into the mountains.

The number of casualties is not yet known, but it includes security personnel, civilians and the attackers.

The suspected Boko Haram insurgents first attacked a nearby village before advancing into Gulak town. They were repelled by the Nigerian military and civilian vigilantes after several hours of gun battle.

The attack comes barely 24 hours after two suspected Boko Haram suicide bombers detonated their devices, killing themselves and two other people in the area which borders Cameroon.

These attacks further indicate that Boko Haram militants are still a threat in the north-east of Nigeria, despite significant gains recorded by the military in the fight against the insurgency.

Squatters living around a large old railway building in Nigeria are being evicted by the railway company to clear the area for a large art exhibition.

The irony is that the exhibition, Living on the Edge, is meant to look into the lives of the most desperate of people in society.

So there have been questions about who exactly this exhibition is trying to help.

Folakunle Oshun, the founder and artistic director of the exhibition, tells BBC Newsday why it came to this:

Image source, Reuters

Zimbabwe's Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been removed from his post.

According to the Zimbabwean Minister of Information, the sacked leader had displayed "traits of disloyalty".

It's believed that the removal of Mnangagwa will now pave the way for President Robert Mugabe's wife Grace to follow in her husband's footsteps as leader of Zimbabwe.

Alex Magaisa - former chief of staff of Zimbabwean ex-Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai - has told BBC Newsday programme that the move had been "a long time coming", adding:

Image source, AFP

The King of Morocco Mohammed VI has ruled out any peace deal that allows for the independence of the disputed territory of Western Sahara, the AFP news agency reports.

The monarch said in a televised address on Monday that Morocco would not relent its claim over the territory.

"No settlement of the Sahara affair is possible outside the framework of the full sovereignty of Morocco over its Sahara and the autonomy initiative, whose seriousness and credibility the international community has recognised," the king said.

His address was marking 42 years since hundreds of thousands of Moroccan civilians marched across the border to lay claim to the mineral-rich territory.

His comments come amid renewed efforts by the UN to resolve the decades-old dispute.

The UN has a standing peacekeeping force in Western Sahara since 1991 with a mandate to organise a referendum on its independence or integration with Morocco.

Morocco agreed to the vote in a 1988 agreement with the pro-independence Polisario Front that ended 13 years of conflict but has since blocked it being held, saying it will accept only autonomy for the territory.

In January Morocco rejoined the African Union decades after it left the organisation for its support for the independence of Western Sahara.

Many African governments still recognise Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as a state in control of the region.

The king said in his address that Morocco would press ahead with its own plans for the development of the Western Sahara, regardless of the progress of the new peace push.

"We are not going to sit idly by waiting for the solution to be found," he said. "We will continue to stimulate the development of our southern provinces and provide their people with the conditions for a free and dignified life."

Tens of thousands of Sahrawi refugees have lived for decades in desert camps run by the Polisario in neighbouring Algeria.

Read more about Western Sahara here.

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