Ameyu Etana
BBC Afaan Oromo

At least 37 people were killed in a Sunday morning raid in Ethiopia's eastern Oromia region by the Somali special paramilitary force known as Liyu police, a local official has told the BBC.

More than 40 others were injured, the head of communication for Mayu Mulukke district, Tizita Abay, said.

Women, children under a year and blind elders are among the dead, officials say.

A witness, who survived several shots and a cut on his ear, said the paramilitary troops left him, thinking he was dead.

‘‘While we were sleeping they opened the door and killed my wife, son and neighbour’s child [who was sleeping at his house],’’ he added.

Somali officials have not yet commented on the allegations.

Human Right groups have long accused the special paramilitary force of killings, rapes and other abuses.

The border conflict between the Somali and Oromia region has left thousands of people dead and has forced more than one million to flee their homes in the past year.

Federal government troops have set up a base in the region as they carry out operations to curb the conflict.

Read: What is behind clashes in Ethiopia's Oromia and Somali regions

Image source, Reuters

Last week armed masked men surrounded Nigeria's parliament in an alarming incident.

They blocked all entrances to the building, denying lawmakers, civil servants and journalists access.

It turned out they were operatives of the state's spy agency, the Department of State Security (DSS), headed by Lawal Daura.

The other man at the centre of the drama is Senate President Bukola Saraki, who recently defected from the ruling APC party to the main opposition PDP.

In our series of letters from Africa, Nigerian writer and novelist Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani looks at what the bizzare incident means for the country.

BBC World Service

Egyptian police have shot dead six suspected militants in a raid on a hideout in the western Cairo suburb of Sixth of October.

The interior ministry said the suspects were planning attacks on government offices, churches and security personnel during next week's Muslim Eid-al-Adha holiday.

The ministry said the men had fired at the security forces, who returned fire killing all six.

On Sunday, police arrested another six people suspected of carrying out a failed attack on a church in north-eastern Cairo the day before.

Image source, AFP

Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS) officials have shot the hippo that killed a Taiwanese tourist on Sunday at a resort in Lake Naivasha, 90km (56 miles) north-west of the capital, Nairobi, Nairobi News reports., external

KWS warden Nelson Cheruiyot said the animal was shot hours after the deadly attack.

“Our officers tracked and shot the animal after the incident,” said Mr Cheruiyot.

Chang Ming Chuang, 66, was bitten in the chest by the hippo he was trying to photograph.

He had been tracking the animal near the Sopa hotel. A second tourist, also from Taiwan, was injured.

Witnesses said the two had come too close to the animal. The bitten man was rushed to hospital bleeding profusely but later died.

Six people have been killed by hippos in the area this year.

High water levels have seen hippos - the world's deadliest large land mammal - stray on to resorts for pasture.

BBC journalists investigating a series of mysterious murders in Malawi have narrowly escaped death.

The team were working undercover to expose men who claim to suck the blood of children to make get-rich amulets when they were attacked by a crowd of furious villagers.

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Police in Ethiopia say two members of the Tigrayan ethnic group have been stoned to death in the Oromia region.

The two farmers, who had lived in the area for decades, are said to have been killed by protesting youths.

Some of the attackers have been arrested while others are on the run.

For decades, a Tigrayan party, the TPLF, dominated power in Ethiopia.

There has been significant change in recent months with the selection of a new Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, who comes from the Oromo ethnic group, the largest in the country.

Image source, Catherine Tilke

Pemba, part of the Tanzanian archipelago of Zanzibar, recently held a week-long festival that revealed cultural influences dating back to the 16th Century when Portugal colonised the Spice Islands.

One of the highlights of the Pemba Bonanza Festival is "the kirumbizi", a dance-cum-martial art which has its origins in guerrilla training against Portuguese rule.

Portugal colonised parts of the East African coast in the early 1500s - and Zanzibar remained part of its empire for about 200 years.

Khamis Ali Juma, from the Pemba museum, says Pujini village - where the festival was mainly held - was one of the first areas to be settled by the Portuguese.

• Read the full story on the BBC News website

A paramount chief was shot dead on Sunday by unidentified gunmen in Cameroon's restive South-West region, according to multiple local news sources.

Itoh Esoh, ruler of the Balondo people, in the Ndian division, was attacked as he left church, news site Journal du Cameroun reports., external

The news outlet says the killing has created a tense atmosphere in Ekondi Titi commune which has been experiencing "indiscriminate shootings".

Two weeks ago, seven traditional rulers from the surrounding area were released after one of them died in captivity, provoking anger and outrage.

The government blamed separatists group Ambazonia, but the group has not commented.

No group has claimed the killings of chief Itoh Esoh nor have there been any suspects identified or arrested.

Separatists in Cameroon's two mainly English-speaking areas - the North-West and South-West regions - have been demanding independence.

They say the Francophone majority discriminate against them.

Protests launched in 2016, to push for the integration of English in schools and courts, have morphed into an armed rebellion in the Anglophone region and clashes have resulted in people fleeing the region.

Human rights groups have also reported indiscriminate killings and abuses on both sides.

Nigeria's army says calm has been restored at Maiduguri international airport in the north-eastern part of the country after soldiers fired into the air to protest against their deployment to fight Boko Haram militants.

A statement blamed "a few unscrupulous troops" for the Sunday evening incident.

Local media reported that the soldiers refused to board a plane that was to transfer them from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, to the town of Marte, close to the border with Niger.

A soldier quoted by news agency Reuters said that they had been told their deployment was for three years but this had been changed to four years.

Col Onyema Nwachukwu, the Deputy Director of Public Relations at the Theatre Command operation, called the incident "ugly" and "quite regrettable".

He said that the soldiers had been admonished:

See our earlier story.

President Beji Caid Essebsi of Tunisia says he'll put before parliament a proposal for inheritance equality.

In Islam, males inherit twice as much as females, but Mr Essensi stressed that Tunisia was a liberal country.

He was expected to announce a bill in favour of inheritance equality on Women's Day in Tunisia.

The president was also expected to announce bills on LGBT rights, but he said he was setting up a committee to study his proposals before publishing them in order not to shock the Tunisian people's feelings or be called an infidel.

Image source, AFP

Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa has blamed the opposition MDC Alliance for the violence that hit the capital, Harare, days after the 30 July election, resulting in the death of six people after soldiers fired at them.

Most of the victims were supporters of opposition leader Nelson Chamisa who were protesting against alleged vote theft by the ruling Zanu-PF.

Mr Mnangagwa told a massive rally at the celebration of Heroes Day in the capital that the violence was "inspired" by the opposition party.

He defended the election, saying it was free and fair. The opposition has however gone to court to challenge his win.

He said a commission of inquiry would be set up to investigate the killings.

Watch his comments below:

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

The heads of Kenya's state railway and the agency that manages public land have been charged with fraud.

They are accused of paying out more than $2m (£1.5m) in compensation for land which already belonged to the government.

The individuals who allegedly received the illegal payments have also been charged.

All of the accused have pleaded not guilty.

The land was acquired for a $3bn Chinese-funded railway that links the capital Nairobi with the port city of Mombasa.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has said he is willing to lose friends in order to end impunity in Kenya.

South Africa's top court has ruled that the head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Shaun Abrahams, was not validly appointed and was a beneficiary of former President Jacob Zuma’s abuse of power.

Mr Abrahams was appointed in 2015 after his predecessor Mxolisi Nxasana was given 17.3m rand ($1.1m; £862,000) as a “golden handshake” by Mr Zuma's government.

However, Mr Nxasana later went to court claiming he had been forced out of his position because Mr Zuma was convinced that he intended to prosecute him for corruption.

Judge Mbuyiseli Madlanga, reading a majority opinion, ruled that Mr Zuma had unlawfully retired Mr Nxasana, and therefore his subsequent appointment of Mr Abrahams was invalid.

The court rejected Mr Nxasana's appeal to get his former job back and ordered him to return the $1.1m "golden handshake" to the government.

Mr Abrahams, was seen by Mr Zuma's critics as his lackey, and was nicknamed Shaun the sheep.

The court gave President Cyril Ramaphosa, who forced Mr Zuma out of office in February, 90 days to appoint a new NPA head.

When he become president, Mr Ramaphosa had said that “leadership issues” at the NPA was one of his key concerns.

Kenyans on Twitter are discussing comments made by the governor of central Kiambu county about the demolition of buildings in wetland areas in the capital, Nairobi.

Most people have concentrated on Ferdinand Waititu's remarks that property built on riparian land should not be demolished - instead, owners should be allowed to redirect the flow of water.

"I don't support the ongoing demolitions. If your house is near a river, you should be allowed, at your expense, to divert it. Demolishing houses is not a solution," Mr Waititu said in a speech.

Listen to his comments (in Kiswahili):

Twitter users say they are shocked at the politician's lack of grasp of the environmental concern.

President Uhuru Kenyatta said at the weekend that he had lost friends since the demolition operation started. He said that the project was part of fighting "impunity".

Dubbed Nairobi regeneration programme, authorities in the capital have so far taken down plush homes and shopping malls.

About 4,000 buildings have been targeted for demolition.

Kenya's environmental agency (Nema) says the structures are illegal, some of which have been built on wetlands.

Image source, AFP

Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu PF party is expected to file a response in court today to the opposition MDC Alliance petition against the election of Emmerson Mnangagwa as president.

Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa said he has evidence to show that he was cheated out of the 30 July presidential vote.

His party says the poll was marred by "mammoth theft and fraud", but the electoral commission insists that there was "no skulduggery".

Mr Mnangagwa won 50.8% of the vote compared with Mr Chamisa's 44.3%.

The judges of the constitutional court have 14 days to rule on the case.

Image source, AFP

Votes are being counted in the presidential election run-off in Mali. Turnout in the poll is reported to have been low despite a massive security operation.

One local observer group said less than a quarter of the electorate may have voted.

International observers highlighted some irregularities but said that in general they had been satisfied with proceedings.

President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who's expected to win a second term, has dismissed opposition allegations of stuffed ballot boxes.

Results are expected within five days.

Image source, AFP

A detachment of Nigerian troops fired into the air on Sunday - at an airport in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri - to protest against their redeployment to the frontline of the conflict against Islamist militants.

Local media reported that the soldiers refused to board the plane that was to transfer them from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, to the town of Marte, close to the border with Niger.

Witnesses said the soldiers were shooting for around four hours from 18:30 local time (1730 GMT), news agency Reuters reports.

“We are angry and that is why we are shooting. Why are they taking us again to another place after spending about four years?” said a soldier, adding that they had previously been told they would only fight insurgents for a maximum of three years.

The military has not officially commented on the incident.

Henrietta Yakubu, a spokeswoman for the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), said she was told the protest had ended. “The situation has normalised."

She said the protest had not forced the airport to shut down.

Reuters reports that it was unable to independently verify whether the protest had ended.

BBC correspondents say there is growing discontent in the military at the nine-year campaign against Boko Haram despite the government having said since December 2015 that they had technically been defeated.

Read: Who are Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamist group?

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