Abdinoor Aden
Asaba, Delta State, Nigeria

Image source, Abdinoor Aden

Several athletes arriving in Nigeria to take part in the Africa Senior Athletic Championship are stranded at Murtala Muhammad Airport in the main city of Lagos and at Asaba airport, 500km south of the capital, Abuja.

The games officially start on Wednesday in Asaba, Delta state, but the news ahead of the event has been dominated by the travel mishap.

Participants from Burundi, Kenya, Eritrea and Burkina Faso, remain stranded at the airport in Lagos.

Some lucky athletes, who managed to bypass the travel problems, have been training at the event's venue.

At least 52 teams confirmed participation at the event.

Image source, Abdinoor Aden

Preparations for the event started in November 2017 but doubts had been raised about Asaba's readiness.

“When I came here I couldn’t believe Asaba could host this event”, Africa Athletics Council President Kalkaba Malboum told reporters.

“When I visited this stadium last year, I didn’t believe this stadium would host the tournament this year. I am very happy and proud of what has been achieved”, he added.

The Governor of Delta state Ifianye Okowa said that officials had done a "great job":

‘’Some months ago, when we were told we were to host this competition, I was scared in my mind, but I can truly say the local organising has done a great job. We are essentially ready for the competition, looking forward to a healthy competition’’.

Their buoyant assessment is however not shared by the athletes and foreign officials arriving in Nigeria.

Algerian team coach, Benid Amar, whose team travelled to Lagos via Paris, says he witnessed teams being stranded at the airport for two days.

“I have participated in a lot of Africa championships, but this championship has poor organisation,” he said.

South Africa's team manager John Matiani blamed the local organising committee for the ongoing problems.

“We spent two days in Lagos and we arrived on 28 July. We don’t have our passports and we still don’t known where our passports are.”

Nigeria's Blessing Okagbare, the ex-commonwealth games double sprint star, however defended her nation saying that it was not easy hosting such an event.

“It is the first time we are hosting this and it is a lesson for everybody."

There has been no comment from the Nigerian officials but they are working to resolve the issue.

Image source, Abdinoor Aden

Larry Madowo
BBC Africa Business Editor

Image source, AFP

The US has formally locked out apparel products from Rwanda after the East African nation banned imports of second-hand clothes and shoes.

President Trump has issued a proclamation suspending duty-free treatment for all clothing from Rwanda just six months after he met President Paul Kagame and called him a friend.

Rwandan-made apparel will no longer enter the lucrative American market duty free after President Trump’s proclamation.

The US government says Rwanda has failed to uphold eligibility criteria for the African Growth and Opportunity Act ( Agoa) passed 18 years ago to allow more African products into the US.

Rwanda exported apparel worth $1.5m ( £1m) to the US in 2017 but that is just 3% of the country’s total exports to the US via Agoa.

In 2016, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda agreed to ban used clothing and footwear by 2019 to protect local textile industries.

Kenya and Tanzania backed down after the US threatened to shut out their exports but Rwanda has continued to impose huge tariffs on second-hand clothes and shoes.

The US says that an African ban on second-hand clothes threatens 40,000 American jobs but Rwanda has previously said it will no longer be a dumping ground.

Read more: How the US and Rwanda have fallen out over second-hand clothes

Image source, AFP

The authorities in Comoros are reported to have declared that an overwhelming majority has backed constitutional changes that could keep the current president in power for a further decade.

The system of rotating the presidency between the three main islands would be abolished and Islam declared as the state religion.

The French news agency AFP says the official result concluded that almost 93% of voters backed the changes.

The opposition, which called for a boycott, said Monday's referendum was nothing short of a power grab by President Azali Assoumani.

The opposition leader, Ahmed El Barwane, has reportedly been arrested.

• Comoros country profile

Piers Scholfield
BBC News, Harare

A senior member of Zimbabwe’s opposition, the MDC Alliance, has claimed his party has won the election - and accused Zimbabwe’s Electoral Commission of unacceptable delays in releasing results of the poll.

Tendai Biti, a prominent lawyer and former MDC finance minister, gave a press conference in Harare, where he accused the ruling Zanu-PF party of "interference with the people’s will".

He said the opposition have tallied results from around the country which show a clear result in their favour, and that Nelson Chamisa is set to be the next president.

Mr Biti also claimed he had evidence of an assassination order by General Constantino Chiwenga against Mr Chamisa and himself. Gen Chiwenga led the military coup which ousted Robert Mugabe last November and is now vice-president.

However, a Zanu-PF spokesman said he had "no clue" what Tendai Biti was talking about.

Nick Mangwana told the BBC that the MDC was just managing its "internal contradictions" and that the opposition alliance would collapse when defeat is confirmed.

Image source, Getty Images

In our series of letters from African journalists, editor-in-chief of Nigeria's Daily Trust newspaper Mannir Dan Ali considers President Muhammadu Buhari's chances of re-election after the loss of key allies.

The dramatic defections of nearly 50 legislators last week from Nigeria's ruling party looked for a moment like history was repeating itself.

There had been hints for weeks that defections were on the cards.

Key members of President Muhammadu Buhari's All Progressive Congress (APC) party, who were aggrieved by his leadership, wanted to deal a powerful body blow in the run-up to next year's polls.

A similar strategy had weakened the People's Democratic Party (PDP) when it was in power, leading to its defeat in the 2015 elections.

However, when the defections finally happened, they were not as seismic as in 2015 when five influential state governors and at least two political kingmakers opened the floodgates for others to follow.

• Read the piece in full

Image source, Getty Images

Zimbabwe's MDC Alliance is planning to go court to compel the electoral commission to release results of Monday's election, news agency Reuters reports quoting a top party official.

Tendai Biti said that results that were supposed to be posted outside voting stations were missing.

Mr Biti held a press conference earlier where he said that the main opposition candidate Nelson Chamisa had won the election, and that there were attempts to undermine his win.

Under Zimbabwean law the electoral commission has to declare the winner within five days.

Zimbabwe's main opposition party MDC Alliance has been holding a press conference ahead of the electoral commission announcing the first set of parliamentary results.

The BBC's Piers Scholfield has been tweeting comments by one of the alliance's top officials. Tendai Biti has said that the MDC Alliance candidate, Nelson Chamisa, had won the presidential vote and that there was an attempt to undermine his win.

The declaration can only be made by the electoral commission.

The electoral commission earlier said that there had not been any cheating.

Our colleague Stanley Kwenda has been up and about talking to voters as they wait for the results of Monday's election to be announced.

He has tweeted this election themed apparel:

A first set of official results in the local and parliamentary elections are due to be announced at 13:00 GMT, but already candidates are conceding defeat in some of the races.

In the presidential race, supporters of the the leading candidates, Emmerson Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa, remain upbeat that their man will win.

A candidate needs more than 50% of the vote to avoid a second round run-off.

The electoral commission has until Saturday to announce the results.

Image source, Geez Media/screen

Regional forces in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region have detained 40 armed men who arrived at the airport in the regional capital, Mekelle, two days ago aboard an Antonov plane, the BBC's Tigirinya service is reporting.

The report says the men are Ethiopian citizens who are being held in a camp near Alula Aba Nega International Airport.

An official, who asked to remain anonymous, told BBC Tigrinya that the group arrived from Sudan.

Though their mission is unclear, they told authorities they landed at the airport in Mekelle by mistake.

Regional security officials, who don't want to be named, told the BBC's Girmay Gebru that Tigray police forces have tightened security around the detained men.

Mekelle residents have been gripped by the incident and are speculating about the men's mission.

A group of deaf football players in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, have set up their own league after being blocked from joining existing teams.

The teams have been playing since 2010, and have been steadily gathering support.

They hope to eventually be recognised by Somalia's football federation.

BBC News Somali TV went to see them in action.

Image source, AFP

An aide to a leading candidate in Mali's presidential election has said that a runoff in the presidential poll is inevitable.

Former finance minister, Soumaila Cisse, is one of more than 20 challengers to President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita's bid for a second term.

Vote counting after Sunday's vote is continuing despite disruption by jihadists and other militants in some locations.

Voting did not take place at about 700 polling stations following threats by armed groups.

Observers said these were mainly in the centre of the country rather than the previously restive north, where armed factions, who signed a peace accord in 2015, helped to ensure security.

Nigeria's Health Minister Isaac Adewole has said his ministry recalled over two million bottles of cough syrup containing codeine, news site Vanguard reports. , external

Mr Adewole made the comments while receiving a report from a committee set up to look into the trade of addictive cough cyrup following the broadcast in May of a BBC investigation.

The minister said the confiscated drugs were being held in the manufacturers' warehouses.

“This is to further demonstrate the federal government’s resolve to stem the abuse of codeine-containing cough syrup and other substances in Nigeria," Mr Adewole said.

Authorities shut down three leading drugs companies after the BBC investigation was broadcast.

The report found that thousands of young Nigerians are addicted to codeine cough syrup which the government estimates that up to three million bottles are drunk every day in just two northern states.

Taken in excess, codeine can cause psychosis and organ failure.

Watch the BBC's Africa Eye report:

Kenya's Minister of Tourism Najib Balala has apologised for telling his critics " to go to hell", amid mounting calls for his resignation over the death of 10 endangered black rhinos, a local news site reports.

The animals were among 14 rhinos being transported from Nairobi National Park to the country's biggest national park, Tsavo East.

Mr Balala also apologised for the remarks he made on Monday and for invoking the president's name as he defended himself.

He is reported to have said:

According to the Kenyan government, the animals died after drinking water with high concentrations of salt.

Mr Balala has since suspended six Kenya Wildlife Service officials who were in charge of the rhinos' relocation.

Estimates suggest there are fewer than 5,500 black rhinos in the world, all of them in Africa and some 750 in Kenya.

Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) chairperson Priscilla Chigumba has said that the body is satisfied that there was no cheating in Monday's election, our colleague has tweeted.

Ms Chigumba added that she was confident that results would be announced well within five days:

Monday's vote - the first since long-serving ruler Robert Mugabe was ousted - attracted a high turnout of 75%, Zec said.

Zimbabwean pastor Evan Mawarire, who led the #ThisFlag social media protest in 2016 over the economic situation under former president Robert Mugabe, has lost his bid to become a councillor in the capital, Harare.

Mr Mawarire congratulated the winner in a tweet:

Mr Mawarire had faced charges of treason, which were later dropped, for leading protests against the country's economic woes and corruption.

He was running as an independent under a coalition called People’s Own Voice (Povo).

Read: Evan Mawarire - Captain Zimbabwe

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Harare

Image source, AFP

As counting continues throughout the country, here in the capital, Harare, life has got back to normal with vendors and businesses getting back to work.

But there is a sense of quiet anticipation as people wait for the results in this hotly contested race.

With a turnout of more than 70%, electoral commission officials have their work cut out for them. They need to manually count the ballots cast and also have them verified.

And there are no clear leaders yet even as think tanks and local media are posting results from various polling stations on their social media pages.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa tweeted that people should wait for official announcements from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec).

Legally, Zec has up to five days after polling day to present the final results but in the age of social media and fake news many are hoping they will deliver them sooner.

But will the losers accept defeat? This will be the true test of Zimbabwe's newly-found democracy as post-election periods in the past have descended into chaos and violence.

Image source, AFP

As votes continue to be counted in Mali's presidential election, a spokesman for President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has told Reuters news agency that he's in the lead.

Earlier, the government said Sunday's vote had been disrupted by violence at about a fifth of all the polling stations.

No votes could be cast at all in about 3% of polling stations in areas where Islamist militants operate.

The result of the election is expected today.

Read: Mali profile

The leading presidential candidates in the Zimbabwe's election have tweeted their optimism about their chances in winning the race.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took over after the ousting of Robert Mugabe last year, said he was receiving "extremely positive" information on the vote.

Opposition leader, Nelson Chamisa, has said his party is winning elections resoundingly and he's ready to form the next government.

He said his claim was based on results from most of the 10,000 polling stations and he was now waiting for the official announcements.

Early results from urban areas are expected to favour the opposition with rural areas traditionally supportive of the governing Zanu-PF.

Image source, AFP

Image source, AFP

The former vice-president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jean-Pierre Bemba, has said he intends to stand for the presidency in elections due this December.

Mr Bemba told the BBC that as long as the election was transparent, he would abide by the result, rather than taking up arms as he did before.

He plans to return to the Democratic Republic of Congo this week from Belgium after spending a decade in jail. He was freed after his war crimes conviction was quashed on appeal at the International Criminal Court.

President Joseph Kabila's government argues that Mr Bemba is not eligible to run for president because of a former corruption conviction but the ex-warlord is challenging this in court.

Mr Bemba told the BBC that he is ready to hold talks with the president.

The long-delayed election is meant to choose a successor to Mr Kabila, whose second and final term in office ended two years ago.

Profile: Who is Jean-Pierre Bemba