The rarest bird in the world - a species of duck called the Madagascar pochard - has been given a new home in the north of Madagascar.

Here is the latest picture of how the bird is doing:

Image source, DURRELL/S. JAMES

When it hadn't been seen for 15 years, the Madagascar pochard was believed to have been wiped out completely. Then a tiny group of the birds was rediscovered in 2006 in one remote lake.

These were the last 25 Madagascar pochards on the planet.

Conservationists rescued a clutch of pochard eggs and raised them in captivity.

They then scoured Madagascar for the best site to bring the captive-bred birds back to the wild, settling on Lake Sofia in the north of the country.

And here is their protected new home:

Image source, WWT

Image source, WWT

See more photos on the BBC children's news site Newsround.

The wife of a South African man, Andre Hanekom, arrested in Mozambique on terrorism charges has said that the authorities only arrested him to get their hands on his beach house.

Francis Hanekom made the accusation on Facebook:

Her husband is accused of being one of the leaders of a jihadist group in northern Mozambique, reports Times Live, external.

Times Live goes on to say he was arrested in August, accused by Mozambican prosecutors of being responsible for the group's logistics.

Mozambican prosecutors had named Mr Hanekom and two Tanzanians as leaders of a group established to create instability, prevent the exploitation of natural gas in Palma and later create an independent state, reports EWN, external.

In her long Facebook post, Ms Hanekom complains that the police raided her home three months after his arrest and confiscated "three syringes, for the purpose of inoculating our goats, two bottles of expired vitamin tablets and my saline for the asthma nebulizer" among other "normal stuff from my house".

Louise Dewast
Kinshasa, DR Congo

Image source, Getty Images

Elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo were comparatively well managed and voting was relatively smooth, the African Union and the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), say.

That's despite a number of logistical problems and some violence.

Observers said that many polling stations opened late. They also concluded that voters had been insufficiently educated about electronic voting machines, which were used in the country for the first time.

While recognising the challenges of organising an election in areas facing an Ebola outbreak and armed conflict, the AU criticised the decision to exclude some voters from the polls, saying that political stakeholders were not adequately consulted.

These are the first self-financed elections in the country - an important milestone for democratic growth, according to Sadc.

The AU said it hoped results of these elections will reflect the will of the people and called on those who wish to contest them to do so using the legal means available.

The internet in the country has been suspended for three days.

The government says this is to avoid the spread of unofficial results.

The shutdown is expected to continue at least until provisional results are published on 6 January.

Ibrahim Aydid
BBC Monitoring

Somalia’s Ministry of Internal Security has condemned the shelling of the UN compound in the capital, Mogadishu.

“The Ministry of Internal Security condemns the ugly act in which the terrorist groups shelled mortar against Halane camp. We regret that property was destroyed and the staff at UN’s compound were hurt,” the statement posted on the ministry’s Twitter handle read.

Al-Shabab said it had fired seven mortars into the UN compound.

Meanwhile, UN chief Antonio Guterres asked the Somali government to “investigate the attacks and swiftly bring those responsible to justice”.

Image source, Getty

The proverb "necessity is the mother of invention" is playing out in real life with the problem of increasing water scarcity.

The inventor who has stepped forward to try and solve the problem is Kenyan Beth Koigi.

She has developed a method of collecting water from condensation which she says currently provides 1000 litres of water a day.

But this method uses quite a lot of energy so she has turned her attention to the silica gel sachets that are sometimes in new shoes or bags. These collect moisture to protect your clothing from going mouldy and she is using this same technology to collect water to drink.

She has been shortlisted for the 2019 Royal Academy of Engineering Africa Prize.

She told Newsday all about it:

Alou Diawara
BBC Afrique, Bamako

Image source, Getty Images

We reported earlier that Mali's government said more than 30 people have been killed in central Mali.

We now have more information on the incident.

Some 37 civilians, including women and children, were killed by gunmen who attacked the mainly Fulani village of Koulhogon, according to the government.

"In addition to the 37 people killed, several people were wounded and many houses set on fire," according to a government statement.

The authorities have announced an investigation to shed light on the situation. They also said they were sending the army to the area to restore calm and arrest those responsible.

The village is in the central region of Mopti. The Fulani association, Tabital Pulaku, has blamed the attack on the ethnic Dogon militia, Dana Amassagou, which is made up of Donso traditional hunters.

The attackers were wearing traditional Donso clothes, according to the government.

Dana Amassagou spokesman Marcelin Djinguéré told the BBC that the militia was not involved in the attack.

Violent confrontation between ethnic Fulanis and Dogons in central Mali have increased in recent months.

Last week, the government launched a process of disarmament, demobilisation and re-integration for the armed groups operating in the area.

Image source, Getty Images

The broadcaster Radio France International has come out to back their reporter who was banned from working in the Democratic Republic of Congo after the authorities accused her of reporting the unofficial results of the presidential election.

RFI denied the accusation made against Florence Morice in a statement this morning.

RFI had carried extensive coverage of the election and is very widely listened across the francophone country.

But it says its broadcasts have been jammed since Monday evening.

Yesterday, Western powers including the EU and US urged the Congolese authorities to refrain from blocking the media.

Internet access has been blocked since Monday and people are unable to send text messages

The presidential election took place on Sunday and the count is under way.

Current President Joseph Kabila's diplomatic adviser, Barnabe Kikaya Bin Karubi, told AFP news agency that the national security council had decided it was "imperative" to shut down the internet to allow the electoral commission to finish counting and compiling votes.

"There are people who have indoctrinated the public with false numbers about this election. This has laid the groundwork for a popular uprising," he told AFP yesterday.

The election result is expected on 6 January.

Image source, Getty Images

British victims of forced marriages overseas are being asked by the Foreign Office to pay costs associated with their own rescue, it has been revealed.

According to the report in the Times, external, those unable to cover flights, food and shelter were made to take out a loan.

The victims helped last year are reported to include seven women found imprisoned in a "correctional school" in Somalia.

Four of the group, who were each charged £740 ($940), told the Times the demand had pushed them to the financial brink.

Read more on the BBC News website.

The EU has called on the Democratic Republic of Congo to restore internet access, which operators say was cut on government orders.

The internet has been blocked since Monday, the day after the presidential election.

The joint statement by the European Union, the United States, Canadian and Swiss heads of mission in Kinshasa was issued on Monday.

The British Ambassador in the DR Congo tweeted the statement:

The statement also refers to the election observers the National Episcopal Electoral Conference of Congo (Cenco) and an alliance of citizens' observer missions, Symocel.

But the country's two main election monitors are still trying to get access to the election count, reports AFP news agency.

The result is expected on 6 January.

Image source, EPA

• Read more: Five things to know about DR Congo election

Malian singer and songwriter Fatoumata Diawara has toured around the world, singing in her Bambara language.

Speaking to Newsday, the singer explains her journey, which started with running away from home.

Listen to her interview:

BBC World Service

The authorities in Mali say gunmen have killed more than 30 ethnic Fulani civilians in the central Mopti region.

A government statement said the attackers, dressed as traditional hunters, raided their village early on Tuesday morning.

Some of those killed were children.

The violence is linked to longstanding competition over land and water in Mali, and the presence of Islamist armed groups.

France helped Malian forces stave off a jihadist insurgency that took control of large parts of the troubled north in 2012.

BBC World Service

Image source, Reuters

The government of Somalia has ordered the top UN official in the country to leave.

A foreign ministry statement accused Nicholas Haysom of breaching the appropriate conduct of the UN in Somalia.

On Sunday, Mr Haysom wrote to Somalia's security minister expressing his concern at the arrest, in early December, of Mukhtar Robow, a former Islamist militant, by Somali security forces which are supported by the UN.

His arrest led to violent protests in which at least 11 people were killed.

Wednesday's African proverb:

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