Summary

  • Uganda ethics minister fails to stop music festival

  • Libya opens airport after ceasefire deal

  • Mugabe says Mnangagwa's win cannot be disputed

  • France arrests Liberian 'militant commander'

  • Djibouti welcomes Eritrea peace efforts

  • Zimbabwe unveils new cabinet

  • SA engineer sacked for sexist comments

  • Uganda ethics minister 'loses' to the devil

  • Ethiopian dam engineer 'killed himself'

  • Ten people die in diarrhoea outbreak in northern Ethiopia

  1. Good morningpublished at 08:56 British Summer Time 4 September 2018

    Welcome to the BBC Africa Live page, where we'll be bring you all the latest news from around the continent.

  2. Scroll down for Monday's storiespublished at 17:54 British Summer Time 3 September 2018

    We'll be back on Tuesday

    BBC Africa Live
    Dickens Olewe

    That's all from BBC Africa Live today. You can 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 Monday's proverb:

    Quote Message

    It is mere courtesy for a small bird to invite an elephant to its nest."

    A Shona proverb from Zimbabwe sent by Yochana Ben Zakaria, South Africa, and Sam Pachawo Dhlamini, UK.

    Click here to send us your African proverbs.

    And we leave you with an image of a woman posing next to a roadside fruit vendor in Ghana's southern town of Aburi.

    This Instagram post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Instagram
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip instagram post

    Allow Instagram content?

    This article contains content provided by Instagram. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Meta’s Instagram cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    End of instagram post
  3. UK admits Chagos evictions 'shameful'published at 17:51 British Summer Time 3 September 2018

    Map of Chagos IslandImage source, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

    The UK has apologised at an international court over what it calls the "shameful way" residents of the disputed Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean were evicted from the territory, news agency AFP reports.

    It, however, insisted that Mauritius was wrong to bring the dispute over ownership of Chagos Islands to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), saying the matter was "purely a bilateral issue".

    The UK, in the early 1970s, evicted almost 2,000 residents to Mauritius and the Seychelles to make way for a key military base base.

    AFP quoted UK solicitor general Robert Buckland as telling the court: "[The UK] fully accepts the manner in which Chagossians were removed from the Chagos Archipelago... The way they were treated thereafter was shameful and wrong and [the UK] deeply regrets that fact.".

    Mr Buckland asked the judges to "decline the request for an advisory opinion."

    Mauritius' lawyers told the judges that the Chagos Islands were "integral" to its territory and it was handed to the UK "under duress".

    "More than 50 years after independence... the process of decolonisation of Mauritius remains incomplete," former Mauritian President Anerood Jugnauth told the court.

    This was "as a result of the unlawful detachment of an integral part of our territory on the eve of our independence," he added.

    The ICJ will hand down a non-binding ruling.

  4. SA explosion kills eightpublished at 17:40 British Summer Time 3 September 2018

    Eight people have died in an explosion at a munitions factory near Cape Town in South Africa.

    Firefighters were searching for more people believed to be trapped inside the building in the district of Somerset West.

    A spokesman for the fire and rescue services said it was not yet clear what had caused the explosion. One eyewitness reported seeing a huge fireball from five kilometres (three miles) away.

  5. Bobi Wine: Troops 'spared no part of my body'published at 16:54 British Summer Time 3 September 2018

    Bobi Wine and his wife Barbie Kyagulanyi shared this picture after they arrived in the USImage source, Bobi Wine
    Image caption,

    Bobi Wine and his wife Barbie Kyagulanyi shared this picture after they arrived in the US

    Ugandan musician-turned-politician Bobi Wine has written on on Facebook , externalthat troops tortured him in detention, and spared "no part of my body".

    The opposition politician - whose official name is Robert Kyagulanyi - is facing treason charges for allegedly stoning a vehicle in President Yoweri Museveni's convoy last month.

    He was arrested on 13 August and freed on bail last week.

    He is in the US receiving treatment for the alleged torture.

    The Ugandan military has dismissed the claims as "rubbish". Mr Museveni has also described media reports of his assault as "fake news".

    Bobi Wine said that he wanted to write his version of events because what Mr Museveni and government officials were saying about what happened in the north-western town of Arua was "absurd".

    He posted:

    Quote Message

    They beat me, punched me, and kicked me with their boots. No part of my body was spared. They hit my eyes, mouth and nose. They hit my elbows and my knees. Those guys are heartless!

    Quote Message

    They pulled my manhood and squeezed my testicles while punching me with objects... They started hitting my ankles with pistol butts. I groaned in pain and they ordered me to stop making noise for them. They used something like pliers to pull my ears."

    He posted that guns had been planted in room to frame him for a charge of unlawful possession of fire arms:

    Quote Message

    I was told that three guns had been assembled and said to have been found in my room! I could not believe that the state would torture a Ugandan so bad and then frame him with possession of guns!"

    A military court later dropped the charge for unlawful possession of guns and transferred his case to a civilian court.

  6. SA announces end of listeriapublished at 16:19 British Summer Time 3 September 2018

    South Africa's Health Minister has announced the end to the world's worst recorded listeria outbreak after it killed 216 people and caused illness to more than 1,000 people since early 2017.

    Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi told a news conference that no new cases had been recorded for three months.

    "The conclusion is that the outbreak of listeriosis in South Africa is over," Mr Motsoaledi said.

    Health officials announced in March that they had traced the outbreak to an Enterprise Food plant, 300km (185 miles) northeast of Pretoria, and immediately ordered a nationwide recall of affected processed meat products.

    What is listeria?

    listeriaImage source, Science Photo Library
    • The listeria bacteria can develop into the rare but serious listeriosis illness
    • It has symptoms that are similar to flu, including high temperature, muscle ache, sickness and diarrhoea
    • It can be more serious for people with weakened immune systems and also the elderly, pregnant women and infants
  7. Salah makes Fifa men's best playerpublished at 15:36 British Summer Time 3 September 2018

    Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Mohamed Salah are up for Best Fifa Men's Player awardImage source, Getty Images
    Image caption,

    Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Mohamed Salah are up for Best Fifa Men's Player award

    Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah is on the list of three finalists for Best Fifa Men's Player award for 2018.

    Salah will slog it out with Cristiano Ronaldo and Luka Modric.

    The Egyptian is just the third African player to be chosen among the top three for Fifa’s main award for players.

    Liberia’s George Weah won in 1995 and was the runner-up a year later while Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o was third in 2005 - when the award was known as the Fifa World Player of the Year.

    Barcelona and Argentina forward Lionel Messi, a five-time Ballon d'Or winner, missed out on a place in the top three.

    There was also no place for any member of France's World Cup winning squad.

    Read the full story on the BBC website

  8. Why is China pouring money into Africa?published at 15:03 British Summer Time 3 September 2018

    The Chinese government has ramped up investment in the continent but some are worried that China is just exporting industries it no longer wants.

  9. 'Dozens of troops killed' in Boko Haram clashespublished at 14:39 British Summer Time 3 September 2018

    Nigeria army convoyImage source, Reuters
    Image caption,

    Nigerian troops have been battling Boko Haram militants in the north-east

    The Nigerian army has denied reports that dozens of soldiers were killed when Islamist militants attacked a military base in Borno State.

    A military statement said several jihadists died during airstrikes following clashes with government troops last Thursday.

    But a spokesman denied reports of heavy casualties on the government side.

    AFP news agency has spoken to military sources who say 48 soldiers died during the attack in Zari.

    Boko Haram has increased its attacks on the military casting doubt on government claims that the jihadists are on the point of defeat.

  10. The all female anti-poaching unit protecting elephantspublished at 14:05 British Summer Time 3 September 2018

    Holly Budge is determined to save the elephants being targeted by poachers.

    The conservationist from Alresford, Hampshire, is working with the Black Mambas, an all female anti-poaching unit in South Africa.

    With their help, Holly hopes to raise awareness of the ivory trade through her charity How Many Elephants.

    Media caption,

    The all female anti-poaching unit protecting elephants

  11. Pro-democracy activists arrested in DR Congopublished at 13:30 British Summer Time 3 September 2018

    Lucha members protesting

    More than 30 pro-democracy activists have been arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo after holding a protest against the planned use of controversial new voting machines in the presidential election, which is due in December.

    The activists from the organisation, Lucha, were also calling for a review of voters' lists.

    The Congolese police said they had released some of the demonstrators. There are also reports of arrests at similar protests in the cities of Goma, Lubumbashi and in Kasai Province.

    Correspondents say there is increased tension in the country, especially after the authorities barred two prominent opposition politicians from running.

    A prominent leader of Lucha, Luc Nkulula, died in a mysterious fire in June.

    In an obituary in the UK Guardian newspaper, journalist Ruth Maclean , externalwrote:

    "He died as he had lived: thinking first of Lucha, the movement he and other fearless young Congolese had built, enduring arrests, beatings and repression in order to further their ideals of democratic change and creating a future for the youth of the Democratic Republic of the Congo."

  12. New taxes on petrol angers Kenyanspublished at 13:00 British Summer Time 3 September 2018

    Hodeida Aden
    BBC Africa

    Kenyan commuters woke up on Monday to hiked public transport fares after the government introduced a 16% value added tax on all petroleum products.

    The hike has seen a litre of petrol sell at $1.27 (£1) in the capital, Nairobi, with reports of 100% increases in public transport fares.

    The new tax is likely to raise the cost of living as manufacturers who use diesel are expected to pass on the high cost of production to consumers.

    A local TV station has shared a video of motorcycle operators holding a protest against the tax hike in Nakuru town, 159km (98 miles) west of Nairobi.

    This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on Twitter
    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    Skip twitter post

    Allow Twitter content?

    This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

    The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
    End of twitter post

    Others protests are planned.

    The fuel levy came into effect following a recommendation by the International Monetary Fund two years earlier in a bid to plug holes in the budget.

    The taxman is expected to raise about $700m through the new levy.

    Meanwhile, MPs have threatened to impeach Kenya’s Finance Minister Henry Rotich over new tax.

  13. China to spend $60bn in Africapublished at 12:31 British Summer Time 3 September 2018

    The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has offered $60bn (£42bn) of additional financing for Africa. He was speaking at the opening of a China-Africa summit in Beijing.

    President Xi defended China's investment programme in Africa, saying there were no political strings attached to the projects - which he said were of mutual benefit.

    Critics have been warning that African countries have been going into unsustainable levels of debt with China which has loaned billions of dollars to finance major infrastructure development.

    Rwanda's president, Paul Kagame, dismissed talk of debt traps, and said the China-Africa relationship was vital.

    The South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, said the summit refutes the view that a new colonialism was taking hold in Africa.

  14. Court to hear Mauritius-UK islands disputepublished at 11:56 British Summer Time 3 September 2018

    Yasine Mohabuth
    Port Louis, Mauritius

    Map

    The International Court of Justice (ICJ) begins hearings from Monday into the dispute over the future of the Chagos Islands.

    Mauritius claims sovereignty over the British archipelago in the Indian ocean which hosts an important US military base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the 60 islands.

    The Chagos are at the heart of a five-decade dispute, since the British decision to separate Mauritius from the archipelago in 1965 in exchange for independence.

    The archipelago's entire population were evicted to Mauritius when the UK took control and some Chagossians are now hoping they will soon be allowed to return.

    In June 2017, the United Nations decided by a vote to ask the ICJ based in the Hague in Netherlands to decide on the future of the Chagos Islands.

    Navigating through this wave of sympathy, the leader of the Chagos Refugees Group, Olivier Bancoult, wants judges to come to a solution in favour of Chagossians.

    "We are confident that the Judge will provide for a solution to this great injustice against us", Bancoult says.

    Read more: Chagos Islands dispute: UK 'threatened' Mauritius

  15. White workers begin strike in South Africapublished at 11:07 British Summer Time 3 September 2018

    Pumza Fihlani
    BBC News, Lagos

    Striking workersImage source, Solidarity

    More than 6,000 workers from the mainly white union - Solidarity - have begun a three-week strike in South Africa over their exclusion from a company share scheme by petrochemicals company Sasol.

    Sasol recently introduced a new 10-year staff share scheme, Khanyisa phase 2, which excludes white workers and foreign nationals, something the union's Dirk Hermann says is “causing racial tensions on the work floor”.

    However, Sasol has defended its decision, saying the scheme is designed to boost black ownership within the company, as part of the legislated Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) programme which seeks to redress historic inequalities in South Africa.

    Mr Hermann, speaking to the BBC, said the union had chosen to go on strike after months of getting no joy from the company.

    "The company is in the middle of a scheduled three-week maintenance programme. The union has chosen to go on strike at the same time to ensure that the effects of the strike are felt."

    Delays in the maintenance programme will cost the company huge sums of money and many of the union’s members are technical staff and artisans and are needed to carry out the maintenance programme at various sections of the plant.

    The Khanyisa share scheme is the second employee related incentive scheme in recent years. In a previous scheme, known as Inzalo, all workers could take up share ownership.

    Mr Hermann said the change is purely aimed at earning Saso, BEE status with the government and was not meant to benefit workers.

    The strike action will include go-slows and lunchtime pickets, the union said.

  16. Swaziland in no-show at China-Africa summitpublished at 10:28 British Summer Time 3 September 2018

    Mswati IIIImage source, AFP
    Image caption,

    King Mswati III is one of the few absolute monarchs in the world

    The only country without a representative at the China-Africa summit in Beijing is Swaziland, recently renamed eSawtini.

    The kingdom, ruled by Mswati III, is the only country on the continent to reject pressure from China to drop diplomatic ties with Taiwan, which China considers as part of it.

    China has denied putting pressure on the kingdom to switch sides.

    Its special envoy for Africa, Xu Jinghu, said: “On this issue we won’t exert any pressure. We’ll wait for the time to be right... I believe this day will come sooner or later,” Ms Xu said.

    Taiwan has vowed to fight China’s “increasingly out of control” behaviour.

    The kingdom of Swaziland is one of the world's last remaining absolute monarchies.

    The king rules by decree over his million subjects, most of whom live in the countryside and follow traditional ways of life.

    Read more about Swaziland

  17. Teen girls at risk in Lake Chad conflictpublished at 09:49 British Summer Time 3 September 2018

    Dapchi girlsImage source, SEGUN ADEYEMI
    Image caption,

    Some 104 schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria's north-eastern town of Dapchi in February. They were later released.

    As a UN-sponsored conference on the humanitarian crisis in the Lake Chad basin opens in Berlin, one rights group has highlighted the plight of teenage girls.

    Plan International says adolescent girls in an area, which includes parts of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon, face violence from both Boko Haram insurgents and their own communities.

    The organisation says the teenagers are vulnerable to kidnap, rape and forced marriage, while rape victims often end up as prostitutes after being rejected by their own families.

    Relief agencies say 11 million people need humanitarian assistance in the region due to a nine-year conflict.

  18. Hundreds escape Libyan prison amid clashespublished at 09:16 British Summer Time 3 September 2018

    BBC World Service

    Police in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, say 400 inmates have escaped from a prison in the city, where fighting continues between rival militias.

    A police spokesman said the inmates rioted as the sound of clashes outside the prison intensified.

    He said the prisoners forced open the doors and the guards then allowed them to leave, fearing for their lives.

    In another part of Tripoli, two brothers were killed by a rocket which hit a camp for displaced people.

    Libya's UN-backed government has declared a state of emergency in Tripoli after a week of clashes in which dozens of people have been killed, including civilians.

  19. China defends Africa projectspublished at 09:06 British Summer Time 3 September 2018

    China's President Xi JinpingImage source, AFP
    Image caption,

    President Xi Jinping is hosting African leaders for the triennial China-Africa summit

    China's President Xi Jinping has defended the country's investments in Africa, saying they are not for "vanity projects" but are aimed at building infrastructure that would promote development on the continent.

    Mr Xi made the remarks ahead of the triennial China-Africa summit in the capital, Beijing.

    "China does not interfere in Africa's internal affairs and does not impose its own will on Africa. What we value is the sharing of development experience and the support we can offer to Africa's national rejuvenation and prosperity," he added.

    China loaned around $125bn (£112bn) to the continent from 2000 to 2016, data from the China-Africa Research Initiative at Washington's Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies shows.

    The money has been used to build bridges, roads, ports and stadiums, some whose economic viability has been questioned.

    China's influential Global Times newspaper refuted reports that Chinese investment in Africa is a "debt trap".

    It wrote in an editorial on Monday: "Western media deliberately portray Africans in misery for collaborating with China and they appear to have discovered big news by finding occasional complaints in the African media about Sino-Africa cooperation."

    Mr Xi also urged Chinese companies to respect the culture and traditions of host countries. This comes at a time when there is growing tension between Chinese workers and their hosts.

    Read more: Should Africa be wary of Chinese debt?

  20. Wise wordspublished at 09:04 British Summer Time 3 September 2018

    Monday's African proverb:

    Elephant and IbisImage source, AFP
    Quote Message

    It is mere courtesy for a small bird to invite an elephant to its nest."

    A Shona proverb from Zimbabwe sent by Yochana Ben Zakaria, South Africa, and Sam Pachawo Dhlamini, UK.

    Click here to send us your African proverbs.