Image source, Reuters

A medic in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, tells BBC Africa Live what the protests - that started last month over cuts to bread and fuel subsidies and have grown into calls for the end President Omar al-Bashir’s rule - have been like over the last week:

The brutality and hostility of the security forces towards the protests is making people braver and braver - it feels like an unstoppable momentum for change as more people join them.

Over the last week, some opposition leaders, including the head of Umma Party, Sadiq al-Mahdi, who earlier in January had described the uprising as immature, encouraged their followers to join in. And at Friday prayers, a lot of religious leaders known to have supported the regime in the past urged people to stand up for their rights.

On Sunday, the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA), which represents health workers, lawyers, teachers and others and has become the organiser of the demonstrations, posted that protests would take place in most residential areas of the capital.

The head of the security forces had said if demonstrations were kept off the main streets, they would face no problems. But the armed forces camped out in residential neighbourhoods overnight to stop the gatherings, so the SPA had to quickly organise other places through social networks and more than 30 protests took place in the end.

The people faced the extensive use of tear gas, and live ammunition was fired into the air. Thankfully no-one was injured though more than 100 people were arrested.

Last Thursday felt like the greatest turning point.

The authorities, perhaps influenced by a US statement condemning the handling of the protests, allowed the huge crowds to march from the three cities of Khartoum state towards the presidential palace.

Trouble began early in the day at an unofficial gathering when students at a private college in Khartoum began protesting.

The Elrazi College authorities forced them off campus – and outside the security forces were waiting to arrest them.

Medical student Mahjob Eltag was captured by the security forces and was beaten with such brutality that he lost his consciousness. He was pronounced dead by the time he was taken to hospital and the authorities have refused to comment on his death.

Mourners outside his family’s house were stormed and the security forces refused to allow people to assemble there.

As the big marches progressed at around 16:00 local time the security forces began using live ammunition as if they were in a war zone, not caring about civilians – even those not protesting.

Abdulazim Abu Bakr, a well-known media graduate from East Nile University and early joiner of the protests, tried to remonstrate with those firing live rounds, saying it was too dangerous – but footage taken by those with him show he was shot dead at point-blank range in the chest.

Funding for this uprising - for things like medical supplies - is being organised by community youth activists with connections inside and outside the country and by other small initiatives.

The doctors have organised teams to go to each gathering.

They hand out masks to guard against tear gas and can give basic first aid until a doctor arrives.

We genuinely believe this is a golden opportunity to change the system as now many people from different parts of Sudanese society are joining in.

• Read: 'Why Sudan is shooting medics'

Image source, AFP

People are getting really excited about Bilal Hassani, a singer chosen to represent France in the Eurovision singing competition.

The singer, who was born in Paris to French-Moroccan parents, is not new to French public, as he won The Voice Kids in 2015, when he was 15 years old.

But his career then took an unconventional turn.

While he says that record companies tried to turn him into the next Justin Bieber, he instead insisted on going his own way.

And he built up a following.

Each of Hassani's posts on Instagram gets tens of thousands of likes, mainly for his big personality, his gender-neutral style, and his impressive collection of wigs.

Hassani first came out as gay to his fans online when he was 17, by writing a song called Hold Your Hand and posting it to Twitter.

But it has attracted critics.

While he was competing for France's Eurovision selection show, his critics dismissed him as an "Arab in a wig".

Despite this, he went on to win the competition in France and will compete against the rest of Europe in May with his song Roi, which is about self-acceptance.

Read more on the BBC News website.

Image source, Frances Hanekom

The widow of a South African accused of being a jihadist who died in detention in Mozambique has asked for an independent autopsy.

Andre Hanekom was arrested in August and then accused of being a leader of a jihadist group in northern Mozambique.

He died earlier this month before a court hearing where he had hoped to prove his innocence.

"The first doctor who admitted Andre said that it looks like poisoning. And I had a threat against Andre's life. So I have valid reason to suspect that there is something going on, and if there is, they will want to hide it." Mr Hanekom's widow Francis told AFP news agency.

Mrs Hanekom said on Facebook that "we need a second opinion":

She said the autopsy diagnosed a contagious disease and so the Mozambique authorities are insisting his remains must be cremated before they can be repatriated to South Africa.

The South African foreign ministry told AFP that its embassy in Mozambique was handling the request for his body to be repatriated.

Image source, Getty Images

The prime minister of Central African Republic (CAR) has led a rally of around 3,000 people calling for a global arms embargo to be lifted, reports AFP news agency.

Speaking on a podium in the capital Bangui's central Place des Martyrs, Prime Minister Mathieu Simplice Sarandji is reported to have said:

"The government respects the embargo while armed groups receive weapons! The people of Central African Republic cannot understand this law of double standards".

CAR has been subject to a UN Security Council arms and ammunition embargo for the past five years.

It bans weapon supplies to the country unless approved by a UN sanctions committee.

The sanctions are aimed at ensuring imported weapons do not end up in the hands of militias.

The UN Security Council will decide whether to renew the arms embargo on Thursday.

BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

French President Emmanuel Macron and his Egyptian counterpart, Abdul-Fattah al-Sisi, have held a tense joint news conference in Cairo in which Mr Macron spoke of a deteriorating human rights situation in Egypt.

Mr Macron said he had also raised the issue with Mr Sisi during his visit to Paris last year, but was alarmed to see that things had moved in the wrong direction.

"Stability and durable peace go together with respect for individual dignity and the rule of law, and the search for stability cannot be dissociated from the question of human rights," Reuters news agency reports Mr Macron as saying.

Mr Sisi told reporters that rights should be taken in the context of regional turbulence and the fight against terrorism.

A visibly angry Mr Sisi implored Mr Macron to stop seeing his country's human rights situation through Western eyes.

He said his administration had spared the country from civil war.

Mr Macron was asked to explain the deaths during protests in France by the so-called yellow vest activists. He said no protester had been killed by the police.

Leonard Mubali
BBC Africa, Dar es Salaam

Image source, Getty Images

The bodies of six children in Tanzania have been found with their ears and teeth removed, authorities told the BBC.

Some of the bodies were also missing limbs and were badly mutilated.

The killings raised concern about witchcraft in the area, the Njombe region in south-western Tanzania.

Njombe District Commissioner Ruth Msafiri told the BBC that three of the children came from one family.

She confirmed that the children were taken away from their homes at night while their parents were away.

Two people have been arrested according to reports from the area.

The district commissioner has urged parents there to be alert.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, Reuters

Hundreds of lawyers are protesting in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, against the recent suspension of the chief justice.

On Friday President Muhammadu Buhari suspended Justice Walter Onnoghen over allegations that he failed to declare his assets before taking up the post in 2017.

The move is controversial as the chief justice could play a key role in determining who becomes the next president should the outcome of next month's vote be challenged.

Image source, Reuters

The protesters say President Muhammadu Buhari's suspension of the chief justice was not just political but was also unconstitutional.

It is hard to see how this will be resolved.

The Nigerian president's spokesman has accused the European Union and the United States of meddling in the country's affairs by criticising the suspension and questioning its timing.

But plenty of Nigerians within the country are angered by the move which is fuelling tension ahead of next month's elections.

Image source, Reuters

Jonathan Paye-Layleh
BBC Africa, Monrovia

Protesters in Liberia are demanding President George Weah release the report of investigations he launched in September into how $100m (£76m) worth of Liberian currency allegedly went missing.

In March, stories emerged that the newly printed bank notes intended for the central bank did not reach their destination.

The notes allegedly vanished from containers in the main port in Monrovia and airport.

The government ordered an investigation, and President Weah also asked the US for help with the inquiry.

Now student protesters are chanting on the streets of the capital demanding that Mr Weah release the report.

One of the main organisers, Martin Kollie, said on the Monrovia radio talk show, The Costa Show on Roots FM, that the student community wanted the president to release the report of investigations into the “missing” money.

The protests come a few hours before the footballer-turned president delivers his State of the Nation address marking one year in power.

The deputy press secretary to the president, Smith Toby, said the president was “upbeat” about his address and it was going to happen as planned at 16:00 local time.

He urged the protesters to listen to what the president will have to say in his address instead of protesting ahead of the speech.

Mr Toby told the BBC that none of the groups investigating the matter had submitted a report to the president.

He wondered why the protesters were not pressuring these groups to make their findings public.

Mr Toby said the president is himself interested in the outcomes of the investigations and has promised to hold to account anyone found to have been involved the alleged disappearance of the money.

Read more: What is President Weah's Liberia scorecard one year on?

Image source, EPA

A drug cocktail called nyaope is destroying young lives in South Africa's townships.

It is a heroin-based drug, often mixed with antiretroviral medication or rat poison, and can be injected or smoked with cannabis.

For BBC Africa Eye, crime reporter Golden Mtika explores the problem through the story of an addict called Jesus.

Image source, AFP

Comoros President Azali Assoumani has denied targeting his opponents in the run-up to elections, in an interview with AFP news agency.

He said the detention of opposition members was an "unfortunate coincidence".

"No opposition figure can say they were arrested because they spoke. There are no political arrests in the Comoros," Mr Assoumani told AFP.

"I challenge any judge to say that they were acting on a call from President Azali," he added.

Several opposition politicians have been tried and convicted recently:

• Ex-president Ahmed Abdallah Sambi is under house arrest for fraud and corruption
• The head of his Juwa party Hassane Ahmed el-Barwane was sentenced in December to seven years in prison for assaulting a soldier
• Four others, including former vice-president Djaffar Said Ahmed Hassane, who has fled to Tanzania, have also been sentenced to hard labour for life for plotting against the state and endangering national security.

"Our leaders are being arrested or hounded," a senior member of Juwa told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The elections are on 24 March.

BBC World Service

Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa says he has ordered the arrest of members of the security forces who were caught on camera beating up a young man they had arrested.

In a tweet he said he was "appalled" by what he had seen in the report by Sky News, external.

It showed the man in handcuffs being pulled from a van and repeatedly beaten around the head.

A government-appointed human rights group in Zimbabwe has accused soldiers of using systematic torture against protesters.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission said at least eight people had been reported killed in a week - most of whom were shot with live ammunition.

Last week a government spokesman defended the crackdown telling the BBC: "When things get out of hand a bit of firmness is needed."

Image source, Plummer family

A British woman jailed after she was found with painkillers in her suitcase at an Egyptian airport has been released, according to her family.

Laura Plummer, 34, from Hull, was sentenced to three years in prison on 26 December 2017 for taking 290 Tramadol tablets into the country.

Tramadol - a strong painkiller used to treat moderate to severe pain - is available on prescription in the UK but is a banned substance in Egypt.

Ms Plummer said the tablets were for her partner to ease his back pain.

Her sister Rachel Plummer said the Egyptian authorities were preparing to send her home.

Read more on the BBC News website.

Image source, Reuters

Nigeria's government has denied suggestions that suspending the country's top judge on corruption charges was connected to the presidential election - which is happening in three weeks.

President Muhammadu Buhari replaced Chief Justice Walter Onnoghen on Friday.

He is facing charges for allegedly failing to declare his personal assets before taking office in 2017, which he denies.

But the EU, UK and US have taken serious issue with his removal, suggesting it could "cast a pall over the electoral process".

The suspension came less than 24 hours before Mr Onnoghen was scheduled to swear in members of election tribunals.

"The decision to suspend the chief justice has led to many Nigerians, including lawyers and civil society observer groups, to question whether due process was followed," said the EU Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) in a statement.

But Buhari's spokesman said late on Sunday that there was no connection.

"In Nigerian law there is no such linkage," Garba Shehu said in a statement.

"The CJN [chief justice] does not run the election. Nor is he the first arbiter of any electoral complaints.

"He and the Supreme Court will only get involved as the final arbiter at the end of the appellate process...

"To link the CJN to the elections in this way is illogical unless they assume that election complaints will be filed and go all the way to the Supreme Court."

Parliament has been recalled on Tuesday to discuss the suspension, reports AFP news agency.

BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

Reports from Burkina Faso say gunmen in the north of the country have killed at least 10 people in a village close to the border with Mali, reports AFP news agency.

During the attack on Sikire, near the town of Arbinda, shops and other businesses were looted and set alight.

Islamist militants have carried out a wave of killings across the region in recent years.

The defence and security ministers of Burkina Faso were sacked as part of a government reshuffle earlier this month following a previous attack in the north of the country.

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