Alex Duval Smith
BBC Africa, Dakar

Hundreds of university students have taken to the streets of Senegal after one of them was killed by a police bullet earlier this month.

Fallou Sene, 26, died from a live bullet during a protest in Saint Louis on 15 May against the non-payment of university grants.

The monthly bursaries – which range from $25 to $50 – have now been paid.

But students in Dakar, Ziguinchor and Saint Louis called demonstrations today to press for the resignation of the higher education and finance ministers, whom they consider responsible for the poor management of the grant system.

About 400 students turned out in Dakar.

Kennedy Gondwe
BBC News, Lusaka

Image source, AFP

An opposition party leader accused of defaming Zambian President Edgar Lungu has finally been released from prison after spending a month inside.

Fresher Siwale accused Mr Lungu in April of being a foreigner from Malawi.

Although Mr Siwale was initially granted bail a month ago, he could not meet the conditions set by the court: one required a government worker to be his guarantor.

But his lawyers applied to the court to relax the bail conditions, which led to his release today.

Mike Mulongoti, one of his guarantors, said the court set Mr Siwale free after waiving the requirement for a government worker to be his guarantor.

He told the BBC:

Mr Siwale, who could not be reached because his phone confiscated by the police, is due to appear in court on 5 July for the defamation case.

What does politics have to do with music?

Quite a lot in Zimbabwe, according to Farai Muvuti, a UK-based Zimbabwean musician who’s the lead singer of a band called Farai & The Forest Dawn.

You can hear what he had to say below:

A 13-year-old South African boy whose kidnappers had demanded 15 bitcoins - the equivalent of $110,000 (£82,000) - for his safe return has been found alive.

Katlego Marite was taken from the street in Witbank, Mpumalanga province, on Sunday, with his kidnappers leaving behind a note warning his parents not to contact the police.

In the note, the kidnappers demanded a ransom in bitcoins, which are difficult to trace, or they would kill their son.

His mother later told South African news site TimesLive, external they had no idea what bitcoins were.

It is unclear whether Katlego's parents paid any ransom.

Brigadier Leonard Hlathi told local media the boy had been found alive in Witbank on Thursday, but would not be drawn on any further details.

Three people have been arrested in connection with the case.

A baby's body has been found dumped in a Namibian town, just three days after another newborn was found dead in a bin.

The baby girl was discovered "wrapped in a towel in a plastic bag" in a residential bin on Tuesday in Walvis Bay, the Namibian reports, external.

On Saturday, another baby was found dumped in a hospital bin in the same coastal town.

According to the newspaper, this brings to five the number of babies bodies found in either Walvis Bay or Swakopmund - which is just 42km (27 miles) north - since the start of the year.

A woman is due to appear in court today in connection with the baby girl's death.

Image source, AFP

Burkina Faso has cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan, Foreign Minister Alpha Barry announced on Thursday.

This makes Swaziland the only country in Africa to maintain ties with Taiwan.

"This decision is guided by the firm desire of the government of Burkina Faso to defend the interests of Burkina Faso and its people in the concert of nations," Burkina Faso's foreign ministry said in a statement seen by Reuters.

China claims sovereignty over Taipei and does not maintain diplomatic relations with countries that recognise Taiwan.

The severance of diplomatic relations comes after a series of African and Latin American nations cut relations with Taiwan and established links with Beijing.

Image source, AFP

The Democratic Republic of Congo's (DR Congo) ministry of health has revised down Ebola death figures.

According to BBC journalist Michael Onyiengo, the ministry says there have been 22 deaths out of 58 confirmed or suspected cases of Ebola.

It was previously reported that the outbreak killed 27 people.

Ministry of Health officials have investigated a number of earlier deaths and determined the cases were not caused by the Ebola virus.

The World Health Organisation says 58 cases of Ebola have been recorded since the outbreak was declared on 8 May. There have been 27 deaths so far.

Health workers began an immunisation campaign to halt the spread of the Ebola virus on 21 May, using an experimental vaccine that was trialled during the 2014-16 Ebola crisis in West Africa.

The disease's spread from rural areas to Mbandaka, located on the Congo River, has sparked fears of it spreading downstream to the capital, Kinshasa, and to neighbouring countries.

The government of Cameroon has denied allegations that its army has carried out human rights violations, including targeted killings and burning villages.

The denial comes a week after the US ambassador met President Paul Biya and then released a statement in which he accused the military as well as Anglophone separatists of committing atrocities and called for peace talks to end the conflict.

US Ambassador to Cameroon Peter Barlerin not only accused the army of burning and looting villages, he also suggested that after 35 years in power, President Biya might want to consider stepping down.

It was an unusual move for an ambassador to be so blunt, so an angry response from Cameroon came as no surprise.

The Cameroonian Minister of External Relations, Mbella Mbella, rebuked the US ambassador and defended the military - calling it professional and lawful.

However eyewitnesses, including the Bishop of Mamfe, have told the BBC both sides in the separatist conflict are committing atrocities such as burning down entire villages.

As South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa announces he is donating half his 3.6m rand ($290,000; £200,000) salary to charity, our minds turned to what other president around the continent earn.

Luckily, one of our colleagues decided to find out last year (and it looks like Mr Ramaphosa got an increase on his predecessor).

See how much some of the continent's most prominent leaders earn below:

Kennedy Gondwe
BBC News, Lusaka

Image source, AFP

More than $74m ($55m) is needed this year to address the critical needs of Congolese refugees in Zambia, according to the local United Nations (UN) refugee agency.

Conflict in a number of regions in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) has led to more than 20,718 Congolese seeking refuge in Zambia since January last year.

That number is expected to rise significantly if the crisis continues.

As a result, the Zambian government, UN agencies and other partners are all in need of assistance, Giulia Ricciarelli-Ranawat, of the UN refugee agency, told reporters in Lusaka.

“These needs are urgent and across sectors; they include international protection, food, water and sanitation, nutrition, shelter, health, relief items and accommodation in conditions that meet humanitarian standards," she added.

Ms Ricciarelli-Ranawat said many of the refugees have been identified as being particularly vulnerable - including "single parents, separated and unaccompanied children and other children at risk, persons living with disabilities and elderly refugees; women and young people who are victims, or at risk of sexual violence, exploitation and HIV infection".

Meanwhile, Zambia's Home Affairs Minister Stephen Kampyongo said numbers will rise from 42,000 to 76,000 refugees by the end of this year if the situation does not improve.

“In view of this scenario, it is obvious that facilities in the reception centres set up along the border with the DR Congo are inadequate to cater for an increase in arrivals," he said.

Image source, AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron has backed the candidacy of Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo as the head of a group of French-speaking countries, International Organization of La Francophonie.

"The Rwandan foreign minister has every competence to carry out this role," Mr Macron said during a press conference with his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame, reports news agency AFP. "I will support her."

He also vowed to strengthen ties with Rwanda and praised Kagame for sharing his belief in "strong multilateralism".

"We hope to continue working together... both on the bilateral level and for the African continent," President Kagame said.

Resolving "the complexities of the past... will probably take time," said President Macron.

"What brings us together are the questions of peace and security in Africa," he added.

The meeting on Wednesday is the third between Mr Kagame and Mr Macron in a year.

Diplomatic relations between both countries have been strained since Rwanda accused the French of complicity during the 1994 genocide, which France denies.

A French judge implicated Mr Kagame in the Rwandan genocide of 1994, an accusation which he rejected.

More than 800,000 Tutsis and some Hutus lost their lives during the violence.

Rwanda joined the Commonwealth in 2009, despite its historic association with Francophone countries.

The former colony of Germany and Belgium became the second country to be admitted without a British colonial past or constitutional link to Britain.

English was made an official language in Rwanda, alongside French and Kinyarwanda, after the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) took power in 1994.

This is because many of RPF's Tutsi leaders grew up in exile in English-speaking countries like Tanzania and Uganda.

A Kenyan governmental organisation allegedly paid a woman millions - and got nothing in return.

Ann Ngirita, 30, was paid 59m Kenyan shillings (£440,000) by the National Youth Service (NYS) to supply canned beef, pineapples, beans, biscuits and hammers, reports Kenyan newspaper the Daily Nation, external.

But according to the Nation, she never supplied the goods. Indeed, she says she subcontracted another unnamed individual and does not know if anything was sent to the government in return, or the final cost.

What's more, she claims that all she had to do to become a supplier was to walk into NYS' office and ask an officer to make her one, despite not having any premises for her business.

“I’m not aware of the procurement process as I have never been involved in any,” Ms Ngirita said in a statement.

Her testimony is part of a probe into a graft scandal at the NYS, where at least 40 people are suspected to have been paid 9bn Kenyan shillings (£66m) to ghost suppliers.

Some of the people investigated are thought to be pawns in a complex corruption network, the Nation reports.

Detectives plan on charging her with fraudently receiving the money in one transaction.

Kennedy Gondwe
BBC News, Lusaka

Image source, AFP

The Zambian government is set to bring in tougher alcohol restrictions after the government approved a new, national policy.

Chief government spokesperson Dora Siliya told a press briefing the policy, approved at a cabinet meeting on Monday, will regulate the intake of alcohol.

Zambians are known to enjoy their beer, with the country’s founding president Kenneth Kaunda having once famously threatened to resign in protest against the high alcohol consumption levels.

However, Ms Siliya said the government was concerned with the effects of alcohol on its people - increasing gender-based violence, loss of employment, "promiscuity" and low birth weight.

“The World Health Organisation [WHO] survey has also shown that Zambian women are the highest consumers of alcohol in the world,” she said - although the most recent figures from WHO do not seem to back this claim up.

She added: “This is a very big challenge because women are considered to be a force to help curb alcoholism and prevent alcohol-related harm in children.”

Though the move by government could be welcomed, enforcement of such laws remains the biggest challenge with bars mostly opening and closing beyond their stipulated times.

There are also concerns whether the government will ban the brewing of popular illicit traditional beers whose alcohol contents are unknown.

A presidential aide criticised Kenya's "entitled" millennials "who sit at home and expect jobs" during a panel discussion on Tuesday night.

When asked why foreigners were building the country's infrastructure instead of locals, Walter Mong’are said it was because young Kenyans were unwilling to do those kind of jobs.

But is he right? See what Kenyans thinks about Mr Mong'are's remarks:

• Read more about this story here

Image source, EPA

Russia's President Vladimir Putin said he wants to increase cooperation with the mineral-rich Central African Republic (CAR) during a meeting with the country's leader, Faustin-Archange Touader.

"We will be pleased to consider various ways to intensify our relations, first and foremost in economic and humanitarian spheres," Mr Putin told his counterpart in St Petersburg on 23 May.

Mr Touader thanked Putin for Moscow's help during "a difficult humanitarian situation" and reiterated that CAR "is among the least developed but we have huge potential", according to comments released, external by the Kremlin.

Both leaders praised each countries' links during the Soviet era.

CAR has been subjected to a UN arms embargo, but Russia has mamnaged to win an exemption to sell weapons to the government, news agency AFP reports.

The country is one of the poorest in Africa and most of it is in the hands of militia groups.

The reporter who revealed the story of a Liberian mother who was forced to crowdfund in order to get her newborn twins back from a Chinese hospital has been speaking to the BBC's Newsday.

Sui-Lee Wee, a journalist for the New York Times, revealed the case of Juliana Brandy Logbo in a report, external two days ago.

Ms Logbo, she wrote, was forced to undergo an emergency cesarean section at a hospital in Guangzhou after being rushed in by ambulance on 5 May.

But when she was unable to pay the $630 (£470), they said she was not allowed to see her babies.

“I gave birth to my babies, and I can’t even see my babies," she told Ms Wee. "Which type of country am I in?”

Ms Logbo, whose visa has run out and does not speak Chinese, turned to friends to raise the money. By the time she had the funds, three days later, the bill had jumped to $800 (£600).

It was only after they dropped the bill - on 10 May - that Ms Logbo was finally allowed to hold her babies for the first time.

By the time she left the hospital with the twins - named Grace Annabelle and Gracious Anna - she had paid $3,500 (£2,620).

The hospital, meanwhile, has denied it withheld the children from Ms Logbo, saying it was merely reminding her of the bill.

You can listen to Ms Wee's account of the story in the short clip below:

Mayeni Jones
BBC Focus on Africa

A new report by Amnesty International alleges the Nigerian military has been abusing women and girls seeking refuge from Boko Haram in north eastern Nigeria.

In a report called "They betrayed us", Amnesty paints a grim picture of the Nigerian military in Borno state.

The rights group says soldiers separated fleeing women from their husbands and confined them in remote “satellite camps" where they were raped, sometimes in exchange for food.

It alleges women fleeing violence were also forced into relationships with military personnel.

It claims the military took advantage of starvation in the camps to prey on victims. Nine women reported being raped.

Amnesty also says suspected Boko Haram wives have been arbitrarily detained: five of them are said to have died, as well as 32 children.

The report is based on more than 250 interviews carried out between 2016 and 2018. The group says the violence perpetrated could constitute war crimes.

A military spokesperson condemned the report, calling allegations of rape fictitious.

Image source, AFP

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced he will donate half his $290,000 salary to charity in honour of the country's first black leader, Nelson Mandela.

Mr Ramaphosa - who took over from Jacob Zuma in December, and is facing a national election in 2019 - announced the move in parliament on Wednesday.

The donations, he said, would form part of a new fund called Thuma mina (Send me), and would be managed by the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

The multi-millionaire also hopes others will follow in his footsteps - even if it was not with money.

"In memory of Madiba, in recognition of the great sacrifices he made and his tireless commitment to improving the lives of the most vulnerable, there is something that many of us can do," he explained, according to South Africa's News24, external.

"We are looking for people with skills, time and commitment to 'lend a hand' to these community-based projects through mentoring, training and capacity building.

"In this way, we aim to provide South Africans with a tangible opportunity, with a significant impact, to be an integral part of the fight against poverty."

The fund will be launched on what would have been President Mandela's 100th birthday later this year.

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