Image source, Reuters

Sudanese MPs have backed a move to amend the constitution to allow President Omar al-Bashir to run for a third term in 2020 elections.

Unless the constitution is changed, Mr Bashir, who came to power in a coup in 1989, will not be allowed to stand again - as a two-term limit was introduced in 2005.

Parliament speaker Ibrahim Ahmed Omar said he had received a letter signed by a majority of lawmakers backing an amendment that would extend the limit.

He said it came from 33 parties representing 294 deputies.

"I will abide by the constitutional and legal steps and the regulations necessary to discuss these amendments in parliament for it to take any decision on them," Reuters news agency quotes him as saying.

The proposed constitutional changes would also give the president the power to sack elected governors.

Mr Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes and genocide in the western province of Darfur. He denies the allegations.

In 2016, he told the BBC he would step down in 2020.

According to Reuters, a proposal to amend the constitution should be submitted by the president or via a memorandum submitted by at least one-third of the members of the 581-seat parliament.

Read more: Omar al-Bashir in profile

A group of US Congress members have called on the Rwandan government to drop charges against Diane Rwigara, a government critic who is facing up to 22 years in prison on charges of incitement and fraud.

She is due to be sentenced in Rwanda this week.

Supporters say the charges are politically motivated and arose from Ms Rwigara's bid to run against President Paul Kagame in last year's elections.

Both she and her mother have spent more than a year in prison.

US Congress member Suzanne Bonamici told the BBC's Newsday programme:

She added that President Kagame must intervene to stop a human rights injustice:

Our proverb of the day:

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Click here to send us your African proverbs.

Welcome back to BBC Africa Live where we'll be bringing you the latest news and trends from across the continent.

BBC Africa Live
Dickens Olewe

That's all from BBC Africa Live today. Keep up-to-date with what's happening across the continent by listening to the Africa Today podcast or check the BBC News website.

A reminder of today's wise words:

Click here and scroll to the bottom to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this picture of a couple in Nigeria wearing matching T-shirts.

Gabon's ailing President Ali Bongo has appeared in a new video after weeks of rumours about his ill health.

He was pictured alongside the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, who visited him at a hospital in the capital Rabat, where the Gabonese leader is recovering from an undisclosed illness.

Mr Bongo has not been seen in public since 24 October after he was taken ill while attending an economic form in Saudi Arabia.

Kenya has appointed top British lawyer and scholar, Khawar Qureshi, as a prosecutor in charge of corruption cases against high-profile individuals.

"The stakes in such cases are very high, and therefore it is necessary that the proceedings are insulated from public perceptions of political interferences," the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said in a statement.

Dozens of civil servants and top business people are facing corruption charges.

One of the high profile cases is that of Deputy Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu Mwilu, who was arrested in August on suspicion of corruption, failure to pay tax and improper dealings with a local bank now in receivership.

She denies the charges.

Milton Nkosi
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

South Africa's parliament has voted by an overwhelming majority to adopt a report which recommends that the constitution be amended to pave the way for the expropriation of land without compensation.

A total of 201 MPs backed the report, while 91 voted against it. There were no abstentions.

MPs from the ruling African National Congress (ANC) supported by opposition colleagues from the radical Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and other smaller parties, voted for the report,giving them a majority of 201 to 91.

The main opposition Democratic Alliance was among the parties which opposed the adoption of the report.

The vote means that parliament can start the process of making what is probably the most significant change to the constitution adopted after apartheid ended in 1994.

The amendment might not go through before elections due in April, as it is a long and protracted process.

The ANC said it is trying to right a colonial wrong.

White people, who make up just 9% of the population, own 72% of the farmland that is held by individuals, government figures show.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) said the process of changing the constitution was flawed, and it warned that it could challenge the decision in court.

Mainly Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum said the ANC's plan to seize land without compensation amounted to "theft".

The government's Twitter account shared a video of MPs singing ahead of the vote:

BBC World Service

Protests have continued for a third day in parts of Ethiopia's Oromia region with young men on the streets of Burayu, near the capital Addis Ababa, as well as in the west of the country.

Some are calling for an end to ethnic clashes which, since October, have left close to 50 people dead - including police officers.

But there is also anger that local officials linked to human rights abuses of the former government are still in their posts.

When the reformist Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in April, two years of huge countrywide protests ended.

But correspondents say many Ethiopians are impatient for further reforms, that more protests are planned and pressure is increasing on the government.

Image source, AFP

Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has been criticised for a tweet that alleged that police had arrested 15 members of the "Nigerian mafia" in Turin, external.

Turin magistrate Armando Spataro reportedly said that Mr Salvini's message threatened to disrupt the ongoing operation in the city.

Moreover, not all those arrested have links to organised crime, and 15 was not the correct number of people arrested, he said in a statement.

The dawn raid in Palermo netted 80-year-old jeweller Settimo Mineo. He was reportedly elected Cosa Nostra godfather at a Mafia meeting in May.

Read more on the BBC website.

Jose Tembe
BBC Africa, Maputo

Reports from the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado say unidentified assailants, believed to be Islamic fundamentalists, attacked two villages in Nangade district, killing at least four people.

The authorities, including the district administrator and the police, are reluctant to confirm or deny the incident, which occurred on Saturday.

According to a report in Tuesday’s edition of the independent newspaper Mediafax, the insurgents attacked Machava village in broad daylight, after midday.

The paper says the attackers killed four people including a local administrator for Nangade district.

The other victims were a father and his two sons.

Nangade district administrator, Dinis Mitandi, told Mediafax that he could give any details of the attack because he had been on holiday for the past four days.

He suggested that the media contact the police, but the Cabo Delgado district police command has stopped talking to journalists about the attacks.

National police spokesperson Inacio Dina even denied that a previous attack on a Nangade village, Chicuaia Velha, on the 23 November, took place – although witnesses spoke of 12 deaths and 40 houses burnt down.

In another attack on Saturday villagers from Fifth Congress village in Cabo Delgado fought off assailants, injuring two of them with one later succumbing to his injuries.

Read: How Mozambique’s smuggling barons nurtured jihadists

BBC World Service

Italian prosecutors have placed five members of the Egyptian security forces under investigation for their alleged involvement in the case of the murdered Italian student, Giulio Regeni. The suspects include a general and other senior figures.

It's understood they're to be investigated in connection with Mr Regeni's kidnapping.

Nobody has yet been accused of killing the student - who was researching the politically sensitive issue of trade union activity in Egypt.

His mutilated body was found by a road on the outskirts of Cairo. The Egyptian authorities have repeatedly denied any involvement in the murder nearly three years ago.

Image source, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Johannesburg

A young woman who accused popular Nigerian Pastor Timothy Omotoso of rape - in a case that has captivated South Africa - has launched a foundation aimed at helping women and children who have been victims of sexual assault in “sacred spaces” like churches.

In October, Cheryl Zondi, 22, gave a graphic testimony of the alleged abuse, which she said started when she was 14 years old.

Her steely composure and eloquence during her testimony and cross-examination by the defence lawyers won her the support of many women in the country.

Ms Zondi is one of more than 30 women who were allegedly raped by Mr Omotoso while they were members of his church in Port Elizabeth.

She told a press briefing in Johannesburg that the foundation’s motto was “turning pain into purpose”.

It was going to run awareness campaigns on how families could best help abuse victims when religion was involved, as such cases were even more complex, she said.

Ms Zondi was supported at the launch by the CRL Rights Commission, a constitutional organisation that investigates bogus churches.

Mr Omotoso has pleaded not guilty to the charges of rape. The case will resume next year.

Read more: South Africa shocked by live rape trial of Timothy Omotoso

Andrew Harding
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, Reuters

South Africa has picked a new chief prosecutor - a key figure in the country’s struggle against corruption.

Shamila Batohi - the first woman in the role - said she was ready to fight the good fight.

The prosecution service has been engulfed by scandal, with claims that former President Jacob Zuma and his allies were shielded from corruption investigations.

Hence, there has been huge interest here in the appointment of a new chief prosecutor.

President Cyril Ramaphosa's government - anxious to show it is now serious about tackling corruption - took the unprecedented step of broadcasting the job interviews on live television.

Today, Mr Batohi - a highly experienced barrister - was declared the winner.

Her task will be to convince a sceptical public that powerful politicians will now be held to account.

She’s described the prosecution service as a house on fire, and South Africa as a victim of high-level corruption.

Mr Zuma is widely blamed for the rot. Last year a court condemned his interventions in the prosecution service as an abuse of power.

Mr Ramaphosa, has promised a fresh start.

South Africa is watching closely to see who Ms Batohi targets first.

Brighton FC defender Gaetan Bong stopped playing for Cameroon's national team in 2014, but he has now returned.

Bong tells BBC Sport what life is like under new coach Clarence Seedorf and how to persuade Kylian Mbappé, whose father is Cameroonian, to play for the Indomitable Lions.

Security officials in Nigeria's largest city of Lagos are holding Afrobeats star Small Doctor over unlawful possession of firearms and for allegedly threatening to shoot a police officer.

The artist whose real name is Adekunle Temitope was arrested along with three other suspects on Monday.

"It was alleged that some unknown men, four of them, in an unregistered green SUV had brought out a gun and threatened a policeman that if he does not leave the road, they will shoot him," Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, is quoted as saying in local media reports.

The artist was a bus conductor before he released his debut album Omo Iya Teacher in 2015, according to Premium Times newspaper., external

A woman who used various false identities to gain access to Nigeria's presidential complex to allegedly run business scams has been arrested.

The secret service said Amina Mohammed initially posed as Kogi state's first lady to gain entry to the presidential villa in the capital, Abuja.

She then allegedly invited people to the villa making them believe it was at the invitation of the president's wife.

At a press briefing about the arrest, Ms Mohammed shouted: "It is a lie."

Peter Afunanya, a spokesman for Nigeria's domestic spy agency, known as the Department of State Security (DSS), told reporters the scandal took place while First Lady Aisha Buhari was out of the country in November 2017.

Wealthy businessman Alexander Chika Okafor, invited to the the presidential villa by Ms Mohammed, accused her of defrauding him of 150m naira ($414,000, £323,000) over a property deal in the main city, Lagos, the secret service spokesman said.

Read the full story

Image source, PUNCH

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Official figures released in South Africa show that the economy is no longer in recession.

During the third quarter of this year it grew at an annual equivalent of 2.2%.

Correspondents say the news will come as a boost to President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has been struggling to fulfil a promise to turn around the economy and create jobs at a time of mass unemployment.

Mr Ramaphosa's effort to attract investors has been undermined by a crisis in the electricity sector.

There are also concerns that the mining sector, which has long been key to South Africa's economy, is still in decline.

Image source, AFP

Malawi's President Peter Mutharika has blamed blackouts across the country on what he called the "ignorance" of previous administrations, local media report.

"The problem with energy sector is due to ignorance that the previous governments had towards the sector in the last 50 years," President Peter Mutharika was quoted as saying on Monday.

He made the comments while opening a new solar plant in Salima, central Malawi, which has been funded by a Canadian firm.

The 60-megawatt solar plant will feed electricity into the main grid and is envisaged to benefit about 1.6 million people, The Nation newspaper reports. , external

The southern African country has been relying on hydro-electric power, 95% of which is produced on the Shire River, the sole outlet of Lake Malawi.

The lake has, however, experienced low water levels and siltation which have reduced production from the installed generation capacity of 350 megawatts to around 200 megawatts.

A senior US official is on a rare visit to Eritrea which until recently was internationally isolated and under sanctions.

The US Assistant Secretary for Africa, Tibor Nagy, has met President Isaias Afwerki and his visit comes at a time when significant changes are taking place in the region following an end to hostilities between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Eritrea's information minister has tweeted a picture of the meeting:

Sanctions imposed on Eritrea in 2009 over allegations it supported Islamist militants in Somalia were lifted last month - Eritrea always denied the allegations.

The human rights group Amnesty International has called on Mr Nagy to use the visit to address what it calls Eritrea's dire human rights record.

Amnesty wants the US to put pressure on the government to release what it calls prisoners of conscience.