Tesfalem Araia
BBC Tigrinya

Ethiopia’s capital is no stranger to street beggars. Many people from the countryside flock into Addis Ababa looking for jobs and sometimes end up begging.

But recently, Syrians have been seen on the streets - an incongruous sight for most city dwellers.

Anas Mahamat holds up a sign in Amharic saying: “We are your brothers, we fled from Syria. We are in dire conditions. We ask you to help us in God’s name."

He is on the street from dawn to sunset asking for help with his entire family.

They arrived in Ethiopia three months ago and in the last few months more Syrians have sought refuge there - it is not known how many, but the government says it has now started registering them.

“We are trying to survive. We beg in the streets close to traffic lights and in mosques. I wish we were not doing this but we have no other option,” Mr Mahamat told the BBC.

The homeless Syrians have touched the hearts of volunteers in the city.

Aisha Mohamed says, “They are helpless people. We are helping them when they come here. We give them blankets, food, and clothes.

“We are also asking others to help. They have children and don’t understand [local] language.”

Since the start of Syria’s devastating civil war 2011, around 5.6 million Syrians have fled their country while millions more are internally displaced.

Close to half a million people are believed to have been killed in the conflict.

“What can we do, we were never like this but this is our reality now. I plead with Ethiopian to help us,” says Mr Mahamat.

An Angolan activist critical of the government has met President Joao Lourenco, the AFP news agency says.

The president, known as "JLo", agreed to a one-to-one meeting with Rafael Marques after the anti-corruption campaigner and journalist was barred by aides from entering the presidential palace on Tuesday with a delegation of other civil society activists.

According to AFP, Marques praised the president's "noble gesture" and said they spoke about corruption during their 45-minute meeting.

"I think the contribution of society to morality... is important so that corruption is no longer a cancer that eats away at society and saps our resources," he is quoted as saying.

Marques was convicted of various crimes linked to his investigative reporting when José Eduardo dos Santos was president.

Mr Dos Santos stood down in 2017 as leader of the oil and diamond-rich country after 38 years in power.

A delegation from East Africa has been in the UK to educate the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, external about its collection of colonial-era Maasai objects.

During a week-long visit, they have been providing the anthropological museum with more accurate information about the 600 objects - and what they mean to the Maasai people, especially those items that are sacred to the community.

Samwel Nangiria told BBC Focus on Africa's Jenny Horrocks how the project came about:

Nigerian-Jamaican photographer, Nadine Ijewere, has become the first black woman to shoot a Vogue cover, according to pop culture site Konbin and Nigeria’s Vanguard newspaper.

The London-based fashion photographer posted the January cover of Vogue on her Instagram account, with her photo of English singer-songwriter Dua Lipa.

Accompanying the post, Ijewere wrote: “If you had told me last year I would have photographed for British Vogue, I would have said not possible.

“If you had told me a cover, I would have thought perhaps in a parallel universe.

“I am so grateful for this opportunity I have been given to shoot for a publication where I once felt perhaps I did not measure up.”

In September, Tyler Mitchell made history as the first black photographer to shoot a Vogue cover, marking a defining moment for diversity in the fashion industry.

It followed the appointment of Edward Enninful as the first black, male, editor of British Vogue.

Jonathan Paye-Layleh
BBC Africa, Monrovia

Image source, Getty Images

People steal about 60% of the electricity generated in Liberia annually by making illegal connections to their homes and businesses, the state-owned power utility has said.

The theft caused annual losses of about £35m (£27m), Liberia Electricity Corporation officials told state radio.

This robbed the utility of money needed to extend power supply, they added.

Liberia is trying to rebuild its power sector, destroyed during a civil war which lasted from 1989 to 2003.

The US is giving financial and technical aid to the West African state to increase connectivity, as part of the Power Africa initiative launched by former US President Barack Obama to bring electricity to 50 million people in sub-Saharan Africa by 2020.

But up to now only 12% of Liberians - and less than 20% of residents in the capital, Monrovia - have electricity, one of the lowest access rates in the world.

The government has set itself the target of rolling out electricity to 70% of Monrovia's population by 2030.

Samba Dialimpa Badji
BBC Afrique, Dakar

Senegal is to start using electronic tag bracelets for people facing trial to ease overcrowding in prisons.

According to official figures, of the 10,562 inmates in prisons nearly half, 4,804, are in pre-trial detention.

Justice Minister Ismaila Madior Fall said he expected the devices, which track the movements of those tagged, to be introduced next year.

Seydi Gassama, from the rights group Amnesty International in Senegal, welcomed the measure, but expressed some reservations.

In particular, he said the bracelets would not really solve the issue of long detentions for convicted inmates.

South Africa's first black president and anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela died exactly five years ago, on 5 December in Johannesburg, at the age of 95.

The BBC's Phil Darley captured moments of mourning days after Mandela's death on a hill outside his home village of Qunu in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province.

Oluwashina Okeleji
BBC Africa Sport

Image source, Getty Images

The Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) insists neither it nor the Ivorian government has been informed by the Confederation of African Football (Caf) of a possible shift to their hosting of the Africa Cup of Nations in 2021.

FIF reacted to an interview Caf President Ahmad Ahmad gave to Afrique Media TV on Monday when he said that Cameroon - stripped of the 2019 hosting rights - would replace Ivory Coast as hosts in 2021 and the latter would instead stage the 2023 tournament.

"We made this decision to shift, because we saw that Ivory Coast also is not ready for 2021. To do things in a more humane way, in 2021, the Cameroonians will be ready.

"And in 2023, we will organise the tournament in Ivory Coast. This is the decision taken by the Caf Executive Committee on November 30, 2018 in Accra," Ahmad said.

Caf, which is still looking for a new host for the 2019 Nations Cup, has not made any official statement on the reported swap and some top officials told the BBC that only president Ahmad or the general-secretary Amr Fahmy can confirm this latest development.

Read the BBC Sport story for more.

Image source, AFP

A court in France has agreed to the extradition of François Compaoré, brother of Burkina Faso's ousted leader Blaise Compaoré.

François Compaoré fled Burkina Faso in 2014 after his brother resigned amid popular street protests following 27 years in power.

He was arrested in France in October last year in connection with the murder in Burkina Faso in 1998 of investigative journalist Norbert Zongo.

Mr Zongo was looking into the killing of the driver of François Compaoré and had warned his readers that he may end up being killed after he received a series of death threats.

Image source, AFP

Known as the “little president” during his brother’s rule, François Compaoré, whose lawyers are likely to challenge the French extradition decision, has denied involvement in the journalist's death.

Read: How Blaise Compaore sparked his own downfall

Three years ago, French rapper MHD was working as a pizza delivery boy in Paris.

He now boasts over one million Instagram followers and has even performed at Coachella Music Festival.

He spoke to BBC What's New? about how blended his favourite genres to music to get "afro trap":

BBC World Service

Heavy rain has paralysed public services in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.

Flights have been suspended because of flooding at the airport, while schools and government offices have been temporarily put out of action.

Oil ports in the east of Libya have also closed because of the bad weather.

People have been evacuated in the Qattara valley where there is concern over rising water levels at a dam.

Families have also been evacuated from a refugee camp because of the flooding.

Image source, AFP

South African Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop Desmond has paid tribute to anti-apartheid activist Alex Boraine, who has died aged 87, saying he could not have managed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) without him.

Mr Boraine was one of the architects of the TRC, set up in the 1990s after the end of white-minority rule, and served as its vice-chair under Archbishop Tutu.

It held public hearings across the country and anybody who felt they had been a victim or perpetrator of violence could come forward. The panel would then recommend whether the perpetrators could receive amnesty from prosecution.

The archbishop said he and his wife were sad to bid farewell to a “true gentleman who loved his country, an admired colleague and dear friend”.

The BBC’s Vauldi Carelse in Johannesburg says Mr Boraine committed his life to seeking justice for victims of human rights abuses.

He was the founder of the International Centre for Transitional Justice, which was set up in 2001. It works in more than 40 countries troubled with conflict to seeking redress for victims. He sat on its board of advisers until his death on Wednesday.

During apartheid he served as an MP from 1974 to 1986, representing parties opposed to the racist system. He later went on to work for two non-profit organisations concerned with ending white-minority rule and addressing its legacy.

In 2014, he received the Order of the Baobab – one of South Africa’s highest civilian honours.

Stanley Kwenda
BBC Africa

Image source, Getty Images

South African national rugby team player, Tendai Mtawarira, nicknamed “the Beast”, has launched a foundation aimed at introducing the game to rural areas in his home country, Zimbabwe.

The Get Involved Foundation also seeks to foster social cohesion and promote education across Africa.

Explaining his motivation, Mtawarira said:

Mtawarira - who plays for the Durban-based side, the Sharks, and the national team, said he wants to use his foundation, launched in London on Sunday, to give African children a better chance in life through sport.

Mtawarira has played for the Springboks for the last 11 years and amassed more than 100 caps, a rare feat in the game.

Nebert Rugadya
Reporting from Kampala for BBC World Service Business

The move to have an East African Community (EAC) international passport has hit a snag in Uganda after MPs blocked it over its legality and the cost to users.

In 2016, EAC leaders agreed to upgrade the EAC passport from a regional to an international document, with Kenya and Tanzania launching it last year.

Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan were given until January 2019.

On Tuesday, Uganda launched the passport that costs an ordinary holder about $70 (£55) - up from $40.

The MPs, including Jacob Oboth, Michael Tusiime, Waira Majegere, Anifa Kawoya and Francis Mwijukye, queried the loyalty of some states to the community, and the laws under which the e-passport was issued.

Interior Minister Obiga Kania promised to answer all the concerns next week.

Killian Ngala Chimtom
BBC Africa, Yaounde

Image source, EPA

A court in the Cameroonian city of Douala has dropped charges against 52 opposition supporters who had been protesting against the re-election of 85-year old President Paul Biya.

Opposition candidate Maurice Kamto of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC) party, disputes the official results, alleging widespread fraud.

The activists had been in detention since October, all expect Barrister Michelle Ndoki, a senior MRC official.

He told the BBC that the public prosecutor dropped the charges “on the instructions of the minister of justice”.

It was a relief that sometimes “things can go right” in Cameroon, he said.

But he added that the “trumped-up charges only illustrate that freedom of speech, and freedom generally, is still a problem in Cameroon”.

The 52 had been accused of “insurrection” and holding “illegal demonstrations that threatened to disrupt public order” and if found guilty could have faced long jail terms.

Meanwhile, the case against journalist Michel Biem Tong - who was due to appear before a military court on charges of insulting the head of state, propagating false information and terrorism - has been adjourned until 2 January.

The director of the Hurinews site was arrested on 23 October after he was suspected of making WhatsApp recordings calling on Anglophone separatists to resist the government.

Mr Biya, in power since 1982, won a seventh term with 71.3% of the vote on 7 October.

But voter turnout was low in the country's two English-speaking areas - where people complain of marginalisation. The North West and South West regions have been hit by more than a year of violent protests and attacks by separatist rebels.

Read more: Cameroon's 'absentee' president

Kenyan distance runner Eliud Kipchoge has been named male world athlete of the year.

Colombian long and triple jumper Caterine Ibarguen won the accolade for 2018's best female athelte.

The pair were honoured by the IAAF at a ceremony in Monaco.

Kipchoge, 34, won the London Marathon and set a world record of two hours, one minute and 39 seconds in Berlin.

His time in the German capital bettered that of compatriot Dennis Kimetto, whose 2:02.57 was also set in Berlin, in 2014.

Kipchoge gave his reaction to the BBC, saying it was the biggest day of his life and should give a boost to younger Kenyans to have confidence in their future:

Ishaq Khalid
BBC Africa, Abuja

Image source, AFP

Suspected cattle thieves in north-western Nigeria have killed at least 17 police officers - in one of the deadliest incidents for the police in several years.

The clashes followed an ambush on a police patrol convoy in a remote area of Zamfara state where armed cattle rustlers frequently attack villages, carrying out mass killings and abductions as well as stealing livestock.

One officer was known to have died in the initial encounter near the village of Birnin-Magaji on Thursday.

Police say the bodies of 16 other officers were found during a search-and-rescue operation that went on for several days.

Twenty other officers were rescued and more than 100 gunmen killed, the police said.

Hundreds of cattle and sheep were also recovered from the bandits, the force added.

The government has deployed ground troops, the air force and the police to Zamfara state to quell the growing threats of armed cattle thieves.

Recent months have been disastrous for the security personnel trying to tackle the country’s multiple security challenges ahead of crucial general elections due to take place in February.

Dozens of soldiers have been killed in the north-east of the country in several attacks on their bases by suspected Islamist militants.

Read: Why no-one is talking about Zamfara

Image source, Gallo Images

Anti-apartheid activist Alex Boraine, one of the main proponents of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), has died aged 87.

After the end of white-minority rule in 1994, Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first democratically elected president, appointed Archbishop Desmond Tutu to chair the TRC with Mr Boraine as his deputy.

The TRC was set up to investigate the crimes committed by all sides during the apartheid regime - and to recommend whether people confessing their involvement should receive amnesty.

Botswana has the most elephants in the world which roam free. Numbers are disputed but conservation groups say there are around 130,000, though MP Kosta Markus believes it is actually closer to a 250,000.

He has tabled a motion in parliament to reintroduce elephant culling in the country after a four-year ban.

The motion to lift the ban on hunting elephants has angered wildlife campaigners.

But Mr Markus says the northern part of the country, where the elephants live, only had the capacity to sustain a population of 60,000 elephants:

He said that communities could have quotas and make money from trophy hunting - and this in turn would reduce poaching. Listen to his whole interview with the BBC World Service's Newsday radio programme:

Image source, Reuters

The US has established its first diplomatic presence in Somalia for nearly 30 years.

The state department said the "historic event" reflected the progress the east African nation had made.

Ambassador Donald Yamamoto is heading the embassy in Mogadishu. Previously it had been based in Nairobi, Kenya.

The US closed its embassy in Somalia in January 1991 amid fighting between rebels and the government and had to airlift out its ambassador and staff.

US President Donald Trump expanded operations against al-Shabab in March 2017 and the US military has conducted more than two dozen air strikes, including drone strikes, in Somalia this year.

Traditionally, US presidents have been wary of intervening in Somalia since 18 special forces soldiers died fighting militias in Mogadishu in 1993, a battle dramatised in the film Black Hawk Down.

Read the BBC News story for more.