Akwasi Sarpong
BBC Africa

Image source, Getty Images

The father of one of the kidnapped Dapchi schoolgirls has told Focus on Africa that the kidnappers said they released the girls because they were Muslim.

Adamu Gashwama added that the abductors told him that his daughter could be taken again if she returns to the school.

He says without an improvement in the security situation in Dapchi, he has no plans to re-enrol his daughter in education.

Mr Gashwama, a father of four girls, says the kidnapping forced him to withdraw his other three other daughters from school.

Suspected Boko Haram militants kidnapped the 110 schoolgirls more than a month ago. So far, 101 of the girls have been accounted for with reports that five died during the abduction.

A journalist with UK newspaper the Guardian is reporting that the freed Dapchi schoolgirls are on their way to the capital Abuja to meet President Muhammadu Buhari.

Ruth Maclean notes that its only been hours since the dramatic release of the 101 girls by their captors, and now they are on their way to meet the president:

Image source, EPA

China has said that Zimbabwe's "looters list" of people who owe the country money is not "credible", the news site Times Live reports, external.

On Monday, the country's president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, released the names of hundreds of companies and individuals who has failed to return $827m (£590m) illegally stashed abroad despite an amnesty.

After taking office last year Mr Mnangagwa gave individuals and companies 90 days to give up the funds but said on Monday that just $591m had been returned.

The list is divided into three categories, of which one is devoted to people who have moved money to China.

Speaking at a media conference in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare, Chinese embassy official Zhao Baogang rejected the list.

"Some of the things are not factual. They would have done better to investigate more and come up with a more credible list‚” he said. “Some of those people and companies on the list have already regularised their issues with authorities."

Mr Mnangagwa is expected to visit China in April, a country Zimbabwe has a good trade relationship with.

In 2016, trade between the two countries was worth $900 million though Zimbabwe allegedly owes Chinese banks more than $100 million.

Image source, Getty Images

Hundreds of South Africans have gathered in Sharpeville township, in the north-eastern province of Gauteng, to commemorate the anniversary of the 1960 Sharpeville massacre, Eyewitness news reports, external.

On 21 March, 1960, thousands of people marched on the local police station in protest against the country's racist pass laws which limited the movement of black South Africans.

Police fired on the crowd, killing 69 people and wounding 289 others.

Earlier, wreaths were laid on the graves of the victims before the country's Deputy President, David Mabuza, addressed people at a local stadium.

Today, 21 March, is a public holiday in South Africa called Human Rights Day.

But despite its peaceful intent, the news reporter Leanne Manas tweeted that this year's commemorations were marred by violence.

Read more: Sharpeville - the photos that changed history

Rana Jawad
BBC North Africa correspondent, Tunis

Image source, AFP

The US-based organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) says Libya is incapable of holding free and fair elections in its current climate.

HRW's warning revolves around concerns that voters, candidates and political parties in Libya are at risk of "coercion, discrimination, and intimidation".

This makes it difficult to provide even minimal guarantees of securing any kind of electoral process.

The rights group says armed groups continue to threaten, intimidate, and attack judicial figures and officials.

It also points out that the “legal framework for an election remains opaque”, and is urging the elections commission to conduct “transparent audits of its voter register to rule out any inaccuracies”.

The North African state’s rival governments are planning to hold parliamentary and presidential elections this year, although a date has not yet been set.

They also still have not introduced any new election laws, nor amended existing articles in Libya's constitutional declaration to define the powers of what would be the country’s first elected president.

The UN and EU member states have been encouraging Libya to hold elections.

Read: Why is Libya so lawless?

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

A group of men accused by the authorities of carrying out attacks in northern Mozambique has surrendered to security forces, the Portuguese-language news site O Pais reports, external.

The men are believed to have been responsible for a series of attacks in Mocimboa da Praia in Cabo Delgado province.

They reportedly surrendered in response to a police appeal and to avoid being considered terrorists.

Since October last year, Mozambique has faced a wave of attacks in its northern region, which officials have blamed on an unidentified Islamist group.

Police say they have arrested more than 300 individuals in connection with the attacks.

Image source, Getty Images

A former anti-corruption chief has been jailed for life by a military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the news agency AFP reports.

Abbas Kayonga was in charge of fighting fraud in the country's eastern mines but was dismissed last year for negligence.

Attempts by Congolese troops to arrest him resulted in the deaths of six people, before UN peacekeepers succeeded in detaining him in November.

Mr Kayonga has been charged with murder and inciting rebellion and was sentenced to death - a punishment that is automatically commuted to life in prison.

Thirteen other people received a similar sentence.

The court has prevented Mr Kayonga from appealing its decision.

Forty-four African countries have signed an historic trade agreement that is set to bring about free cross-border trade on the continent.

The trade deal will create a market of over a billion people with a GDP of approximately $2.6 trillion (£1.85tn).

A Rwandan newspaper has shared the final tally on the aspects of the deal that were put to a vote:

It reports that only 27 countries have agreed to allow freedom of movement across the border.

Proponents of the pact were pushing for a free flow of goods, services and labour across more than 50 countries.

Even before the signing today, the trade deal had already been beset by the pullout of Nigeria, the continent's largest economy, from the agreement.

President Muhammadu Buhari's administration said it wanted to consult further.

The BBC's Africa Business Editor, Matthew Davies, says that the vision of an African-wide trade deal would help address youth unemployment on the continent.

He adds, however, that there are a lot of challenges ahead.

Read his full analysis here

Image source, AFP

A US airstrike has killed two al-Shabab militants and wounded three more, US Africa Command reports.

In a statement, the command said that Monday's strike near Mubaarak, southeastern Somalia also destroyed one vehicle.

"US forces will continue to use all authorised and appropriate measures to protect US citizens and to disable terrorist threats," the statement added."

"This includes partnering with AMISOM and Somali National Security Forces in combined counterterrorism operations and targeting terrorists, their training camps, and their safe havens throughout Somalia and the region."

Matthew Davies
Editor, BBC Africa Business Report

Image source, AFP

Africa is hoping to agree a free trade deal encompassing the whole continent - but can it be done?

The European Union and its free trade agreement took decades to establish and Africa is hoping to do the same in a fraction of the time.

But with Nigeria pulling out, questions are being raised over just how achievable it really is.

The vision is a free trade deal encompassing 1.2 billion people stretching from Cape Town to Cairo.

Goods, services and perhaps labour, flowing freely in and out of more than 50 African countries.

It could create tens of thousands of jobs and significantly reduce unemployment among the continent's youthful population.

Read more: Africa's free trade dream

We have just received a transcript of a phone conversation between one of the freed Dapchi schoolgirls and a relative.

It paints a picture of the ordeal the 110 schoolgirls, who were kidnapped last month by Boko Haram militants, underwent.

The girls reveals the militants were holding them in an "enclosed" place which was so hidden "even a plane could not see us".

She says five girls died on the day they were kidnapped as they were put in overcrowded vehicles after " they were sat on".

But when asked if the militants had done anything bad to them in the intervening weeks, she answers "by God they didn’t do anything to us".

She suggests they were relatively well-treated by their captors:

Male relative: Were they giving you good food?

Girl:They were giving us. We were the ones cooking the food.

Male relative: You were the ones cooking the food yourselves?

Girl: Yes, by God.

She also tells how they were treated leading up to their release early on Wednesday:

Girl:We entered vehicle peacefully when we were coming back.

Male relative: All of you entered vehicles peacefully, when you were coming back?

Girl:Yes.

The schoolgirls reportedly arrived at the town in several vehicles.

At the time of the call, the girl said she was being taken to hospital.

Image source, Getty Images

The Democratic Republic of Congo has discovered that more than 200 magistrates have been working under false qualifications, News 24 reports, external.

A commission of inquiry that was established last October investigated more than 3,000 magistrates and found that more than 200 should not be working.

Speaking to reporters, the Justice Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba said that some of the magistrates had been arrested while others had disappeared.

Human rights groups have frequently criticised the country's justice system as corrupt while Mr Mwamba said last year that it was "infected by several ills".

UK newspaper the Guardian is reporting, external that the kidnappers of the Dapchi schoolgirls apologised to the girls' parents as they handed them over, saying they thought the girls were "Christians not Muslims."

The Guardian quotes Mohammed Mdada, a local vigilante, who saw the girls being kidnapped in the town last month.

He told the news site that the militants said that "if they knew the girls were Muslim they would not have abducted them."

He added that,“they spoke in the Kanuri language and were dressed in black turbans, and they’d dressed the girls in cream hijabs."

“They warned the girls that they should stay away from school and swore that if they came back and found any girl in school, they’d abduct them again and never give them back.”

Mr Mdada is also quoted as saying that the five girls reported to have died, had been trampled to death in overcrowded trucks as they were driven away.

Nigerian authorities have said that 76 out of the 110 schoolgirls have been returned.

We are monitoring this developing story, so stay with us for more updates.

African leaders have begun signing a free trade deal that would span the continent and encompass 1.2 billion people.

The signing comes at the end of the 10th Extraordinary Session of the African Union, which began on 17 March in Rwanda's capital, Kigali.

The point of the deal is to allow the free movement of goods, services and possible labour across more than 50 African countries.

It could generate tens of thousands of jobs and significantly reduce unemployment, but has been hampered by Nigeria - the country's largest economy - pulling out of the pact.

The country's government has said that "certain key stakeholders" weren't consulted over the deal, which they had "some concerns about".

Though the deal is going ahead regardless, questions remain about how quickly it can be implemented.

Read more about the deal here.

The #BringBackOurGirls campaign has issued a statement celebrating the release of the kidnapped Dapchi schoolgirls.

Nigeria's Information Minister Lai Mohammed has been giving more details about the dramatic release of the Dapchi schoolgirls.

He says that "no ransom was paid", and that "the only condition [the kidnappers] gave us is [they would not] release [the girls] to the military but release them in the town of Dapchi without the military presence," news agency Reuters reports.

Mr Mohammed had said in an earlier statement that the security services paused their operations in certain areas to ensure "safe passage."

He said 76 of the 110 schoolgirls kidnapped last month in Dapchi town in northeastern Yobe state had been released but that the authorities would update the number after the freed girls are formally registered.

Some of the released students have however said that five of their friends died in captivity and another was still being held, Reuters reports.

We are monitoring this developing story, so stay with us for more updates.

Tomi Oladipo
BBC Africa security correspondent

Image source, AFP PHOTO / BOKO HARAM

The return of the kidnapped Dapchi schoolgirls indicates a change in Boko Haram's tactics under the new leadership of Abu Musab al-Barnawi.

The militant group has split into two factions, one led by its old commander Abubakar Shekau and the other led by al-Barnawi who has the support of the Islamic State militant group.

In the past, Shekau refused to negotiate with the Nigerian government, most notably over the release of the Chibok schoolgirls who Boko Haram kidnapped in 2014.

It's clear that this time al-Barnawi's faction were willing to negotiate with the government and would definitely have got something in return.

The problem is that going forward, nothing stops the IS-linked militants from raiding another institution or community and abducting another set of people with the hope of once again hitting the jackpot.

It obviously does not help to bolster the very group you are trying to defeat by paying them ransoms and/or returning their imprisoned commanders, but the Nigerian government would rather avoid the kind of global disrepute that plagued the administration of the former president Goodluck Jonathan following its poor response to the kidnapping of the Chibok Girls.But Dapchi operation has not been without its own blunders.

The authorities first denied there was an abduction (even threatening girls’ parents who disputed the claims) and then stated the students had been rescued.

This sparked anger in the affected communities. President Buhari responded by visiting the area and promised that his government would do everything possible to secure the girls' release.

Resolving the Dapchi abduction would bring relief to the girls, their families and other well-wishers but it indicates only a small public relations victory for the government.

This jihadi militants likely suffered no losses in the process and Boko Haram remains a scourge in Nigeria and across the borders in the Lake Chad Basin.

Mohammed Kabir Mohammed
BBC Africa, Abuja

Image source, Getty Images

The Nigerian government has confirmed that most of the 110 abducted Dapchi schoolgirls have been released.

One girl, the only Christian among them, is reportedly still being held while at least two others are said to have died in captivity.

The government is expected to hold a cabinet meeting today in which the Dapchi release will likely be discussed.

In the town itself, parents are celebrating with visitors going from house to house to welcome the returned girls.

One parent told the BBC that the militants returned the girls in several trucks, telling them not to fear because they were "bringing back your daughters."

We are monitoring this developing story, so stay with us for more updates.

The Nigerian government has confirmed that 76 of the 110 abducted Dapchi school girls have been released.

Garba Shehu, a spokesman for Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, told the BBc that the girls had returned home.

A subsequent statement from the Ministry of Information said that 76 of the girls were released "in the early hours of Wednesday."

Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture said that the girls were returned through "back-channel efforts and with the help of some friends of the country."

''Within the period when the girls were being brought back, operational pause was observed in certain areas to ensure free passage and also that lives were not lost,'' Mr Mohammed said.

He added that the number of released girls would be updated when all had been formally registered.

Residents of Dapchi have told the BBC that the majority of girls kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram militants last month have returned home.

Two parents told the BBC that the girls had been brought back in four vehicles and dropped by the road side in Dapchi, leaving them to find their way to their respective homes.

Manuga Lawal, whose daughter Aisha was among the kidnapped girls, said he was able to speak with Aisha on the phone and he is traveling back to Dapchi to meet her.

He says he is happy she is back and he says all praises are due to Allah that Aisha has returned.