Tomi Oladipo
BBC Africa security correspondent

Image source, AFP

Somali authorities say a former al-Shabab spokesman has been disqualified from contesting in this week's regional elections.

Mukhtar Robow was arrested last Thursday in the town of Baidoa and is accused by Somalia’s federal government of illegally bringing in weapons and militants.

The former Islamist militant had cleared all but the final required stage, which was a proposal pitch his candidacy to the state assembly on Sunday.

His arrest three days earlier led to a weekend of fury. At least 11 people were killed in violent clashes between his supporters and security forces in the town of Baidoa.

In Somalia’s capital city Mogadishu, the country’s Minister for Public Works Abdifitah Ibrahim also protested against the arrest by resigning from his post.

Witnesses said Ethiopian troops carried out Mr Robow’s arrest on Thursday but there has been no confirmation from the Ethiopian contingent in Somalia.

The African Union mission in the country denied any involvement in the incident.

Amnesty International has accused the Nigerian authorities of fuelling a conflict between farmers and herders by failing to investigate and prosecute those carrying out the violence.

Amnesty says over the past three years more than 3,500 people have been killed in the violence, which is largely about land and access to grazing for cattle.

It accuses the military of being slow to react to the clashes despite being positioned close to the attacks, which often lasted for hours.

The Nigerian army says the report is concocted and has accused Amnesty International of trying to destabilise and "dismember" Nigeria. It made those comments in a statement on its Facebook page, external:

South Africa's Tamaryn Green, 24, has been crowned runner-up at this year's Miss Universe pageant. She missed out on the top spot to Catriona Gray of the Philippines.

Miss Green is a trainee doctor and a survivor of tuberculosis (TB) who addressed the United Nations General Assembly on the topic of TB stigma in September.

Had she won, Miss Green would have become the third champion from South Africa - after Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters (2017) and Margaret Gardner (1978).

Fans have taken to social media to congratulate her:

While hugely popular, such pageants are often accused of objectifying women and promoting gender inequality.

Activists have described Miss Universe as a "display of flesh" which sets "unattainable beauty standards".

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BBC World Service

The United States says it has killed 62 al-Shabab militants in air strikes it carried out in Somalia over the weekend.

The US Africa Command (Africom) said all six strikes targeted a known al-Shabab encampment near the southern town of Gandrashe.

Africom said no civilians were killed or injured - but there's been no independent confirmation of this.

The American force say the air strikes were part of a campaign to prevent the Islamist group establishing safe havens in southern and central Somalia.

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC Africa, Addis Ababa

Ethiopia has confirmed that it has started withdrawing its troops from disputed territories on the border with Eritrea, in line with a landmark peace deal the two countries signed in July.

That agreement ended two decades of a bitter border dispute that killed tens of thousands of people.

The withdrawal of troops had always been a key demand of the Eritrean government prior to the deal.

The two countries fought a bitter war between 1998 and 2000. Despite a peace deal agreed two years later, the relationship between them remained strained.

But since July, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has spearheaded reforms that have seen trade and diplomatic ties between Eritrea and Ethiopia restored.

Families that were displaced by the conflict have also returned and are now rebuilding their homes in the once-contested areas.

Critics, however, say that despite the peace agreement very little has changed in Eritrea which remains Africa’s most secretive and isolated country.

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