Ishaq Khalid
BBC Africa, Abuja

A meeting of officials of the National Assembly in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, has been called off following the earlier security blockade at the parliamentary complex.

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yusuf Lasun, told journalists that although the blockade had been lifted, a meeting cannot be held in the current atmosphere.

The National Assembly, made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate, is in recess, but officials had planned to meet to discuss what they describe as issues of national importance, including the budget for next February's general election.

It is unclear why security officers blockaded the entrance to the building, but it comes at a time when the governing party has been hit by a spate of defections to the opposition, resulting in it losing its majority in the Senate, the upper chamber, ahead of next year's elections.

BBC World Service

The Egyptian authorities have ordered an investigation into the painting of a statue in the city of Ismailiya that has drawn widespread ridicule.

The two-metre high statue of Ismail Pasha was recently painted black in what's been seen as a botched attempt at restoration.

An Egyptian commentator reacted on a television show by saying that Egypt deserved a Nobel Prize for ugliness.

There have been a number of public statues in Egypt in recent years that have prompted mockery and disgust, including a particularly distorted version of the legendary beauty, Queen Nefertiti.

Image source, Akhbarak/YouTube

Image source, Chris Ewokor/BBC

Nigerian lawmakers were temporarily blocked from entering parliament in Abuja by armed men, some of whom were masked, reports Reuters news agency.

Witnesses told Reuters that the security agents, wearing the black uniform of the Department of State Security, allowed lawmakers to enter an hour or so later, but continued to bar government agents and journalists.

Video tweeted from the scene by an aide to Senate President Bukola Saraki shows a politician confronting the masked gunmen:

Nigeria's Acting President Yemi Osinbajo - in post while President Buhari is on holiday - has said he will investigate the blockade.

An emergency leadership meeting had been called at the National Assembly for midday (11:00 GMT), the BBC's Chris Ewokor reports.

Political tension has increased following the defection of some members from the ruling party to the opposition, including the Senate President Bukola Saraki, whose role makes him Nigeria's third-most senior politician.

There are indications that parliament is planning to reconvene to consider the election budget requested by President Buhari, our reporter says.

The presidency says that a delay in approving the budget and other requests could adversely affect next year's presidential and legislative polls and even lead to a government shutdown.

BBC World Service

A campaign group has described as "inadequate" the three-year prison sentences given to Congolese peacekeepers for the murder of eleven civilians in the Central African Republic.

Human Rights Watch said the authorities in Congo-Brazzaville missed an opportunity to show that no peacekeeper is above the law.

The civilians, including women and children, were killed in 2014 following the death of a Congolese peacekeeper during clashes with a local militia.

They were taken from the militia leader's house, and their bodies were found later in a mass grave.

A group of opposition activists who were arrested and charged with inciting public violence last week have been released on bail by Harare Magistrates Court, say Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.

Last Wednesday, security forces opened fire on demonstrators who had gathered in Harare to protest against alleged vote-rigging in Monday's elections. Six people were killed in the violence.

An earlier effort to release the 27 MDC Alliance activists on bail had failed.

The BBC's Shingai Nyoka says no court date has yet been set and the group have maintained their innocence.

People in Kenya and Tanzania are marking the 20th anniversary of the attacks on the US embassies in both countries by al-Qaeda.

More than 200 people, including twelve Americans, were killed in the explosions.

The bombings were the first major attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States and saw the FBI place its leader, Osama bin Laden, on its list of top 10 most-wanted fugitives.

Al-Qaeda would go on to attack the US three years later, when two hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Centre in New York.

Image source, AFP

Image source, AFP

Image source, AFP

Image source, AFP

Zimbabwean police are searching for nine senior officials of the opposition MDC Alliance for allegedly inciting their supporters to stage an illegal demonstration last Wednesday, the state-owned Herald newspaper reports, external.

The search for the nine is the latest fallout from last Monday's disputed election, with the MDC Alliance and campaign groups accusing the security forces of launching a crackdown to quell protests.

The MDC Alliance has rejected President Emmerson Mnangagwa's victory in the poll as a sham. The electoral commission says there was "absolutely no skulduggery".

Six people died after the security forces and opposition supporters clashed in the capital, Harare, on Wednesday.

Among the MDC Alliance officials police are searching for are Tendai Biti, Morgan Komichi and Happymore Chidziva, the Herald reports.

Image source, Getty Images

Campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the security forces and unidentified gunmen have carried out a series of night-time raids at the home of opposition supporters.

Masked men stormed the home of Mr Chidziva, the MDC Alliance youth leader, at 02:00 (00:00GMT) on Sunday, it added.

"A woman in the house told Human Rights Watch that when she screamed for help, one of the men pointed a rifle at her head and told her to be quiet or risk death. One of the men slapped and kicked her.

"The attackers also beat up members of three other families in the house, then abducted two of the men. The masked men put the abducted men in a white double-cab truck and drove them to a secluded place along Masvingo road, then beat and kicked them for an hour before releasing them," the group said in a statement.

BBC World Service

The jailed former first lady of Ivory Coast, Simone Gbagbo, has been granted an amnesty by President Alassane Ouattara.

She's among about 800 people being pardoned.

Mr Ouattara said most had been prosecuted or sentenced for offences connected to the violence that killed thousands of people after the elections that brought him to power in 2010

Mrs Gbagbo was jailed for such offences, and had also been facing a new trial for crimes against humanity.

Her husband, ex-President Laurent Gbagbo, is already being tried at the International Criminal Court.

Image source, AFP

Tuesday's African proverb:

Image source, Getty Images

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

Welcome to BBC Africa Live, where we'll be keeping you up-to-date with news and developments on the continent.

BBC Africa Live
Damian Zane

That's all from the BBC Africa Live page for now but keep up-to-date with what's happening across the continent by listening to the Africa Today podcast or checking the BBC News website.

A reminder of today's wise words:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

We leave you with this picture from Bryan Jaybee's Instagram account, external of the scaffolding outside an apartment block that's going up in Kenya's capital, Nairobi.

The crowds turned out in Rwanda's southern town of Huye to cheer their compatriot Samuel Mugisha who crossed the line first in the second stage of the Tour du Rwanda.

He completed the 120km (75 miles) course in three hours, eight minutes and 56 seconds.

Mugisha is also the overall leader with six stages to go. The race wraps up in the capital, Kigali, on 12 August.

Thousands of South Sudanese turned out at the airport in the capital, Juba, to welcome President Salva Kiir home from signing a peace deal aimed at ending the civil war.

The deal will see rebel leader Riek Machar return to government as one of five vice-presidents.

He and President Kiir signed the agreement in neighbouring Sudan.

Speaking at the airport, Mr Kiir said he was committed to the deal adding that talks are continuing in Khartoum to finalise security arrangements.

The Minister for Information for the Somali region of Ethiopia Idris Ismail has confirmed to the BBC Somali Service that regional President Abdi Mohamud Omar has handed over power and has agreed to step down.

This follows days of tension in the Somali region as the Federal Military were deployed to the region.

It’s believed that he has been pressured by the federal government to step down following protests and fighting between Somali and Oromo communities.

Reports say that more federal troops have been deployed to the regional capital, Jigjiga .

Juliet Hatanga, a senior magistrate from Uganda, recorded the moment she was turned away by a hotel in the Chinese city of Guangzhou.

She told the BBC's Ed Butler she has no plans to visit there again.

Hotels in China’s third-richest city have, reportedly on police advice, been told not to take bookings from guests from Uganda, Nigeria and Kenya.

Milton Nkosi
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

Cape Town's Mayor Patricia De Lille has resigned after almost a year of public squabbling with her own Democratic Alliance (DA) party.

She will no longer face a disciplinary hearing in public and the DA has dropped all charges against her.

The veteran politician had been accused of violating a code of conduct by sending a text message to a mayoral committee member, telling her which candidate to back in a vote for a new city manager. Another allegation was made, and since disproved, that she had used public funds to pay for security upgrades at her private residence. Ms De Lille has always denied these claims.

"Now I can get on with my life," Ms De Lille, 67, said at Sunday's press briefing, sat alongside DA leader Mmusi Maimane.

He said: "It is never easy to take action against one of your own. But I am confident that, throughout this painful period, we have acted in the best interests of the citizens we serve."

She tweeted a copy of her resignation statement and insisted that no deal was struck.

Observers say the DA's infighting is a political own goal ahead of next year’s crucial general election.

Mr Maimane stopped short of apologising to Ms De Lille, but praised her for achieving "great things" as mayor of Cape Town - "one of the best run cities in the country" which "maintains its position in that regard," he added.

It was announced that Ms De Lille will remain a member of the DA after she steps down from her post on 31 October.

Ethnic Somalis in the eastern Ethiopian city of Jigjiga are leaving amid growing violence, a BBC reporter in the city says.

The city is the administrative centre of the country's Somali region.

There has been tension in recent months between the regional and federal authorities. The Somali regional president, Abdi Mohamoud Omar (also known as Abdi Iley), has been accused of creating a special police force that's targeting Oromos.

Violence in Jigjiga and elsewhere in the city has left several people dead.

The federal government says it will deploy national forces to the area, the state-linked Fana Broadcasting Corporate is reporting.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta is set to visit US President Donald Trump at the White House on 27 August.

A White House statement, external describes Kenya as a "vital partner":

Indo-Pacific? Apparently it's a term that's being increasingly used in diplomatic circles and the Trump administration has embraced it, according to this Quartz article , externalfrom 2017.

It mainly includes Asia, but the East African coast is on the region's far western edge according to this map from the Australian Lowy Institute:

Image source, Lowy Institute

Mr Kenyatta will become the third African leader to meet President Trump at the White House, after the presidents of Egypt and Nigeria.

Ishaq Khalid
BBC Africa, Abuja

Emergency officials in Nigeria say five suicide bombers have detonated their explosives in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri, killing themselves and hurting several people.

This is the first suicide bomb attack in the city in nearly two months.

Residents say several loud explosions were heard around the city overnight.

Officials say three female and two male suicide bombers targeted Kaleri district where there are many residential buildings and a market.

One of the attackers blew herself up at the entrance of a residential building.

They killed themslves and injured at least three civilians, police say.

No group has said it carried out the attacks but Boko Haram insurgents are known to operate in the region.

Ibrahim Haithar
BBC Monitoring

Democratic Republic of Congo security forces are battling supporters of opposition presidential candidate Moïse Katumbi in the south-eastern city of Lubumbashi, privately-owned Politico website reports, external.

"The Congolese security forces have deployed considerable means to stop several simultaneous demonstrations by supporters of Moïse Katumbi in several corners of Lubumbashi city," the website said.

The opposition coalition Together for Change had called on their supporters to march today in the capital of Upper-Katanga Province, Lubumbashi, to demand for his return.

Security forces are dispersing demonstrators in central Lubumbashi and no business is reportedly going on.

In several neighbourhoods, the people have barricaded the streets and are burning tyres.

Towards the south, in Bongonga, "gunfire from heavy weaponry can be heard,", several sources in the city told the website.

Early on Monday morning hundreds of women took to the streets of Lubumbashi carrying banners demanding the return of Mr Katumbi and camped outside the governor's office.

DR Congo authorities have denied him permission to enter via air or land.

Mr Katumbi fled into exile in 2016 but wanted to return to register as a candidate in the presidential elections due later this year.

He has spent the weekend in the Zambian city of Kitwe after failing to cross the border into DR Congo.

A journalist in DR Congo has tweeted a video of one of the demonstrations: