Zimbabwe's ousted President Robert Mugabe has been spotted in public for the first time since he was deposed in a military coup, the AFP news agency reports.

The 93-year-old leader was photographed as he left a hospital in Singapore:

The report says that Mr Mugabe walked quickly out of the building before he and his party of eight people were driven off in two cars.

His ex-spokesman, George Charamba, said on Thursday that Mr Mugabe was visiting Singapore for a routine medical check-up.

He added that the visit was "part of his package as a retired president to travel overseas".

Zimbabwe's governing Zanu-PF party is holding its annual congress in the capital, Harare - the first high-profile party gathering since Emmerson Mnangagwa replaced Robert Mugabe as president.

State-owned newspaper The Herald reports that close to 8,000 people will attend the three-day event.

The BBC's Shingai Nyoka, who is covering the event, has shared a picture of Mr Mnangagwa adorned in a party-branded jacket bearing his portrait.

Scientists studying wild chimpanzees in the Kibale national park in Uganda have made a medical breakthrough in their attempts to understand why healthy chimps suddenly started coughing and sneezing with some of them dying.

They found out that they had all been infected by the human common cold virus.

Tony Goldberg from the University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of Veterinary medicine, one of the authors of the report, spoke to BBC's Newsday’s presenter Bola Mosuro:

Rwanda has banned the smoking of water-pipe tobacco known as shisha starting Friday, health minister Diane Gashumba said in a statement.

The minister said the new order follows an advisory by the World Health Organization (WHO) that found that shisha was "damaging, addictive and dangerous".

Shisha smoking has become quite popular among young people in Africa.

The health ministry also banned advertising of shisha saying that sanctions would be imposed on people who don't follow the new law.

Rwanda becomes the second country in Africa to ban shisha after Tanzania.

Alex Duval Smith
BBC Africa, Dakar

Flights to and from West Africa are being disrupted by a strike by Senegalese air traffic controllers.

The stoppage at Dakar's international airport comes only a week after the airport opened.

Hundreds of passengers have already been affected by the strike, which began at midnight GMT.

Trade union leader Paul Francois Gomis told the BBC that air traffic controllers were unhappy with working conditions.

He said civil aviation officials had ignored their requests for compensation to cover the long travel times to the new airport, which is 50 km (30 miles) from the capital, Dakar.

The union leader said the 60 air traffic controllers had not been trained in the use of the equipment in the new control tower.

The Portuguese airline TAP confirmed that its flights have been cancelled to and from Dakar. Other airlines are re-routing their flights to Banjul in The Gambia.

Blaise Diagne International Airport cost more than $600m (£450m) to build and opened a week ago, replacing an ageing facility.

The air traffic controllers say their strike will last for 24 hours.

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