Image source, Getty Images

Duduzane Zuma, the son of the former South African President Jacob, has been summoned as a witness at the inquiry into mismanagement of funds at state-owned energy company Eskom, reports Eye Witness News, external.

The infamous Gupta brothers, Ajay, Atul and Rajesh, and and former South African Airways board chairperson Dudu Myeni have also be summoned.

They are all understood to have been summoned to appear previously but, Fin 24 reports, external, they made their excuses, including ill health, not being in the country and - for Mr Zuma - not having received various papers.

The inquiry's final report is planned to be presented to parliament in June.

Image source, Getty Images

The UN Security Council has unanimously backed a resolution for the UN peacekeeping mission to stay in the Democratic Republic of Congo until March 2019, reports AFP news agency.

The council agreed the peacekeeping mission will help prepare for the election, expected in December.

This includes helping register voters and monitoring human rights abuses.

The country has seen protests against President Joseph Kabila staying in power and he has still not made it clear whether he will definitely stand down at this election.

A government spokesman earlier told the BBC the country was determined to foot the bill for the election in order to avoid outside interference. Read that story by clicking here.

The company behind Kenya's largest newspaper has sought to reassure readers after eight of its columnist quit over fears the group was losing its editorial independence.

In a statement released this afternoon, the group - which owns The Nation and Business Daily, among other titles - said it was "committed to media freedom".

It also defended its actions when it came to editing the columnists' work, saying it was only ever "to correct basic errors".

You can read the full statement here:

As we reported earlier, eight columnists announced their joint resignation noting "a worrying pattern" that they say emerged "where it appears the executive is able to influence who works for or contributes" to the Nation Media Group.

Jose Tembe
BBC Africa, Maputo

Image source, AFP

Police have arrested a priest in central Mozambique after he tried to bring a dead man back to life without success.

The priest claimed the Holy Spirit had told him to travel to the Chimoio provincial hospital, in the province of Manica, in order to attempt the miracle.

Confident of his abilities, he convinced hospital authorities to let him give it a go.

However, after two days of praying, his congregant had failed to rise from the dead

It did not surprise the man's family.

The man's sister - who did not want to be named - told reporters:

The priest has since been arrested, accused of disrespecting the dead.

Khady Lo
BBC Afrique

Image source, AFP

A top judge in Senegal has resigned claiming the country’s judicial system no longer fulfills its role as the protector of the people.

Judge Ibrahima Hamidou Dème made public his resignation in an open letter in which he says Senegal’s courts are in an ‘’unprecedented crisis’’ and have ‘’lost their credibility and authority’’.

He adds: ‘’The justice system is no longer fulfilling its role as the guardian of freedom, as a social regulator or as (a guarantor) of the balance of powers. I am resigning from a judiciary which has itself stepped down.’’

It’s not the first time Judge Dème, 42, has spoken out. Just more than a year ago, he resigned from the Conseil Superieur de la Magistrature – Senegal’s privy council of judges – citing similar reasons.

In his open letter, he criticises both President Macky Sall and his own colleagues. He says the head of state has ‘’failed in his constitutional obligation to guarantee the independence of this institution".

"Above all, a large share of the judicial hierarchy has internalised a culture of submission which has gradually replaced a long tradition of honour, dignity and independence," the letter continues.

The judge’s resignation comes just four days before the expected end of one of the country’s most high-profile and politically-charged court cases.

This Friday, the High Court in Dakar is expected cast its verdict in the case of Khalifa Sall, the mayor of Dakar, who is in jail on corruption charges which his supporters say have been fabricated or exaggerated for political reasons.

Wanyama Chebusiri
BBC News

Top officials of Tanzania’s main opposition party, Chadema, have been arrested in the main commercial city Dar es Salaam.

It is not entirely clear why the party's national chairman Freeman Mbowe and other senior officials are being detained.

However, the opposition officials have been reporting at Central Police station for questioning in connection with 16 February demonstrations in the city.

This comes in the wake of the Sunday warning by the influential Lutheran church about the shrinking democratic space and muzzling of the media by the state.

Image source, Getty Images

Algerian doctors are expanding a pay strike, union representatives told Reuters news agency.

Medical students and specialist doctors in several hospitals protested today, joining family doctors, who have been striking for the last four months.

"Our colleagues the students and our colleagues the specialists have decided to show support by joining the strike," Mohamed Toualeb, a spokesman for the strikers, told Reuters.

It is the largest walkout since riots in 2011.

In other countries, like Egypt and Tunisia, those riots led to uprisings which toppled leaders.

However, in Algeria, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika managed to stay in power.

But the 81-year-old-president has barely appeared in public since suffering a stroke in 2013 and now unions are calling for him to settle the pay dispute personally.

The teachers' union has also promised to strike for two days a week from 9 April.

A High Court judge has ordered the immediate release of Kenyan opposition figure Miguna Miguna from the airport where he is being held, reports the Star newspaper, external.

The paper adds that a judge has ordered him to appear in court tomorrow.

As we reported earlier, Mr Miguna was detained by authorities at the airport as he arrived into Kenya yesterday - with footage later emerging of the dual national being manhandled by security guards:

Mr Miguna was deported last month after taking part in the mock inauguration of opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Ibrahim Haithar
BBC Monitoring, Nairobi

Image source, AFP

The South Sudan government has said it has “no problem” with the regional body lifting rebel leader Riek Machar’s house arrest - but only on the condition that he denounce violence, the privately-owned Eye Radio website reports.

The Igad Council of Ministers yesterday made the decision during their 61st extraordinary meeting in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, as we reported earlier.

Dr Machar will “be allowed to relocate to any country outside the region, but one that is not neighboring South Sudan”, according to IGAD’s statement.

South Sudan’s Minister of Information Michael Makuei backed IGAD’s decision to relocate him outside the region, saying: “If he comes here, he will come and cause another problem… His absence from the political theme is what brought the current relevant stability in South Sudan.”

Mr Machar has been under house arrest in South Africa since December 2016 with his movements restricted and his phone calls monitored and controlled.

Read more: Riek Machar in profile

Haruna Shehu Tangaza
BBC Africa, Abuja

Image source, Getty Images

A court in Niger's capital Niamey has remanded more than 20 activists in custody on the first day of their trial.

They were arrested on Sunday during an aborted anti-government demonstration which turned violent.

They are being accused of taking part in an illegal demonstration.

The government said the protesters defied a ban, incited the public and disrupted public order.

Their lawyer told the BBC the judge ordered his clients be remanded in different detention facilities across the vast West African country.

Prominent among the accused are Nouhou Arzika, leader of the Movement for the Promotion of Responsible Citizenship, who was sent to prison in Tillabery; as well as Ali Idrissa of the Organisation for Transparency and Budgetary Analysis (ROTAB), who was sent to prison in Filinge.

A radio and TV network partly owned by the latter was also closed down after it aired live images of protesters' encounter with the police.

Demonstrations have been held regularly in Niger since August when the government introduced five new taxes.

No date had been fixed for resumption of their trial.

Image source, Parliament TV

Whistleblower Christopher Wylie has told a British parliamentary select committee, external that he had heard his predecessor was poisoned in Kenya.

British Parliament's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee has asked Mr Wylie if his predecessor died under suspicious circumstances.

He was summoned to the select committee after he accused his former employer, Cambridge Analytica, of gathering the details of 50 million users on Facebook through a personality quiz in 2014.

The company had been involved in the Kenyan elections.

Mr Wylie told the select committee that his predecessor Dan Muresan was working in Kenya when he died:

Image source, AFP

Tunisia's parliament has voted to end the country's Truth and Dignity Commission - which had been charged with healing the wounds of six decades of dictatorship, news agency AFP reports.

Tunisian MPs did not back an extension of the project, although dozens of MPs did not vote.

They left Parliament ahead of the ballot, following two "particularly stormy" debates, AFP said.

The tribunal was set up in 2014 to investigate human rights violations, hold perpetrators to account and rehabilitate their victims under the former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who was toppled in 2011.

Since it was established, it has received more than 62,000 allegations of human rights violations.

Shortly before the vote, researcher Eric Gobe accused the current government of sliding back into old practices.

"Since 2014, the government has seen a significant return of the former regime's elite, and it seems difficult for some who may find themselves in the spotlight to accept" the tribunal's work, which began in the same year, he said.

Some MPs are hoping it can continue without a government mandate.

The head of a Burundi opposition party has been arrested after travelling to a central town for a funeral, party members have told news agency Reuters.

Aloys Baricako, president of Ranac (National Gathering for Change) was reportedly arrested on Monday night.

Party spokesman George Nikiza told Reuters: "The intelligence services in Gitega confirmed his arrest to us and said he was detained for inquiry."

A local news outlet shared this picture of Mr Baricako:

Burundi fell into turmoil in 2015 after President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for a third term.

Since then, more than 400,000 people have been forced from their homes.

Mr Nkurunziza was re-elected in July 2015 in a poll that was boycotted by the opposition.

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

The East African regional bloc Igad has called for the South Sudanese rebel leader Riek Machar to be released from house arrest as soon as possible.

Mr Machar has been in the South African capital Pretoria for more than a year. Igad said he should be freed only if he renounced violence and did not obstruct the peace process.

It said he should be allowed to relocate to any country that did not border South Sudan.

The country has been in conflict for more than four years, with tens of thousands killed and millions displaced.

Alex Duval Smith
BBC Africa, Dakar

The Democratic Republic of Congo says it will self-finance the next elections so as to protect the country from outside interference, a government spokesman has told the BBC.

Lambert Mende accused other countries of offering help during the elections, only to "blackmail" the DR Congo at a later stage.

As a result, the cost of the elections on 23 December will be borne by the national budget - much as it was back in 2011, an election mired in allegations of irregularities.

It last took foreign aid to help in the 2006 poll. These next elections - delayed from 2016 - are likely to be expensive, as every person will cast three votes.

But the country is confident it can stand alone.

"We're getting more for our cobalt and our copper," Mr Mende told the BBC.

"That money must help to liberate us from these vultures who want to control our elections by paying for them.

"Everyone wants to help us with the elections, to blackmail us later. Elections are a matter of sovereignty. The national budget can cover all expenses," Mr Mende added.

The decision came the day after President Joseph Kabila's government said it would stay away from a donor conference in Geneva next month.

The United Nations says $1.7bn (£1.2bn) are needed to avert a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in DR Congo. The government says the UN is exaggerating and giving the country a bad image.

Image source, afp

Image source, Reuters

A South African minister has sought to reassure citizens over land expropriation - saying it has never been ANC policy to "drive white people into the sea".

Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe was speaking during a conference on land reform in Johannesburg - an issue which has risen to the top of the news agenda in recent months, after the government committed itself to land expropriation without compensation.

It has left some white farmers fearing for their future.

Mr Mantashe, however, dismissed their concerns.

“The fears of those who sit on the land when you talk about expropriation without compensation, it’s not a policy to drive white people into sea," he said, South Africa's Eyewitness News reported, external.

"That is not the policy. It will never be the policy of the ANC, unless the ANC becomes something else.”

He told those gathered at the conference that the redistribution of land would be done in a responsible manner, which would not hurt the economy - arguing there was more than enough land to go around.

But he added:

Egypt is into its second day of three days' voting for a new president.

Our Egypt correspondent tweets from the scene:

Yesterday, she reported a low turnout in the city of Alexandria:

The election widely expected to deliver a second four-year term for President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.

His sole challenger, Moussa Mustafa Moussa, is a little-known party leader who had supported him until his last-minute decision to enter the race.

Two other potential candidates dropped out, while a third was arrested.

Mr Sisi led the military's overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

• Read more on the BBC News website.

Five people have been killed after a fire broke out in a camp housing thousands displaced by Boko Haram violence near the Nigerian border with Cameroon, reports AFP news agency.

The incident happened on Monday in a camp for around 55,000 internally displaced persons in the town of Rann, AFP adds.

A military officer told the agency that dozens of livestock were lost and around 200 makeshift tents were destroyed.

A civilian guard assisting the military, Kaka Ari, told AFP: "The fire started in the morning while residents of the camp were making breakfast in the open and the morning breeze carried some splinters to the shelters."

Rann has previously been vulnerable to attacks from Boko Haram.

Image source, AFP

Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga has told a UK broadcaster his coalition is considering legal action against Facebook.

Speaking to Channel 4 News, Mr Odinga accused the social media giant of "co-operating" with groups like Cambridge Analytica - the scandal-hit company used by his rival, Uhuru Kenyatta.

The group, which is accused of exploiting the data of millions of Facebook users, worked for current President Kenyatta in both the 2013 and 2017 elections.

Mr Odinga said the experience Cambridge Analytica had gathered between the two dates had allowed them to "perfect" their approach.

He described some of the methods used as "devilish".

Mr Odinga said he and his colleagues were "contemplating" suing both groups for the role they played in last year's election - but that any legal action would take place outside of Kenya.

Facebook had previously , externalapologised for failing to protect users' data.

It's still unclear exactly what role Cambridge Analytica or Facebook played in the Kenyan elections.

You can watch the full interview here, external.

Eight high-profile columnists have resigned from Kenya's Nation newspaper, accusing the group of a "loss of editorial independence and media freedom".

Maina Kiai, George Kegoro, Kwamchetsi Makokha, Gabriel Dolan, Rasna Warah, Nic Cheeseman, Muthoni Wanyeki and Gabrielle Lynch all signed a letter of resignation which is now doing the rounds on social media.

In the letter, they reveal a number of the columnists had previously written to the newspaper group to express concern at "a systematic process to constrain independent voices in the company".

But it said, two years on, "a worrying pattern has emerged where it appears the executive is able to influence who works for or contributes" to the Nation Media Group (NMG).

This, the letter says, "suggests state capture of the media".

As a result, the columnists "refuse to continue to clothe the loss of editorial independence and media freedom at the NMG with respectability".

You can read the letter in full below:

Their resignations come at a time where there are fears for the freedom of the press in a number of other east African countries.

In January, a number of television channels were shut down in Kenya because they planned to broadcast the mock inauguration of opposition leader Raila Odinga.

Then, earlier this month, journalists were forced into court in neighbouring Tanzania to fight a law they said would place unfair restrictions on what they can publish and block people from working as reporters.