Naima Mohamud
BBC Africa

Police have discovered the body of a 12-year-old girl in Galkayo, capital of Somalia's Puntland region.

She had been raped and strangled.

Puntland Police Chief told BBC Somali that the young girl's body had been found near her home a day after she disappeared.

"She was running errands for her parents and then she was kidnapped," Gashanle Sare Ahmed said.

Police are investigating the murder and have asked for co-operation from the public.

"Recently a young girl was raped. We tracked down the suspects but unfortunately their families gave them guns and vehicles and told them to escape. If the public is not working with us, there is not much we can do," Mr Ahmed told the BBC.

Although rape is a growing concern in the region, this is the first recorded rape-murder in Puntland, according to the Puntland Human Rights Defender's Office.

Image source, Getty Images

The UN's top court has ruled that Britain must end its administration of the Chagos Islands, as they were not lawfully separated from the UK's former colony of Mauritius in the 1960s.

The International Court of Justice says the territories should be handed over to Mauritius, to allow the decolonisation process to be completed.

The advisory opinion is not binding, but nevertheless carries significant weight.

The Chagos Islands are home to America's Diego Garcia military base. The UK and US have long denied reports that terror suspects have been detained on the site, external.

The BBC's Andrew Harding says the dispute over the Chagos Islands is being portrayed by some as an indication of Britain's waning influence on the world stage following the Brexit vote. Read more of his analysis here.

In Nigeria, four states and the capital have so far declared the results following Saturday's presidential election and President Muhammadu Buhari has consolidated his lead against his main rival Atiku Abubakar.

We have the figures from the states of Kwara, Osun, Ekiti, Nasarawa and the Federal Capital Territory.

President Buhari has 1,317,976 votes to Mr Abubakar's 1,173,437.

You can follow the results on our live results map here.

Catherine Byaruhanga
BBC Africa, Kampala

The Ugandan army says it has arrested two soldiers who are seen assaulting a female traffic officer in a video that went viral.

The short video, filmed by an onlooker, shows one of them grabbing Police Sergeant Esther Namaganda's arm as she tries to fight him off. She had stopped their vehicle over a traffic offence.

They are bodyguards for Major General Matayo Kyaligonza, who is seen dressed in a white shirt, walking around the scene with a cane. He doesn’t try to stop the soldiers from grabbing the traffic officer or from attacking onlookers.

In a photo from the scene, Gen Kyaligonza is shown stretching his hand out at Sergeant Namaganda while his bodyguards grab hold of her. According to the sergeant, the general also slapped her in the face, although this is not captured in any video or pictures shared from the scene.

The alleged assault happened on Sunday.

Gen Kyaligonza, who also serves as Uganda’s ambassador to Burundi, has had a controversial past.

In 1989, he was demoted for slapping a police officer.

Gen Kyaligonza denies any wrongdoing and says he is being unfairly targeted.

As a high-ranking officer and a member of the old guard of the army, who helped President Yoweri Museveni come to power in 1986, many are waiting to see whether his involvement in the latest incident will be fully investigated.

Naima Mohamud
BBC Africa

Marvel Studios' superhero film Black Panther emerged victorious at last night's Oscars with three awards.

They were for best costume design - which saw Ruth E Carter make history as the first African-American winner - best production design, and lastly best original score.

Image source, Getty Images

But what inspired the afro-futuristic styles seen in the film?

A quick look reveals that the film has drawn inspiration from several ethnic groups from across Africa. Here are some of them:

The Himba

The Himba people in Namibia are famous for their locked hairstyles, which they achieve by applying a mix of animal fat, ash and ground ochre, a stone found locally.

Some of the women elders in Black Panther wear a similar style:

The Basotho

In the film, the mountain-dwelling warrior tribe protecting Wakanda's border sport blankets very similar to those of the Basotho:

Dahomey Amazons

Dora Milaje, the all-female military group in charge of protecting the royal house, could also have real-life inspiration.

Some people have pointed out their resemblance to the Dahomey Amazons, who in the 19th Century protected the Kingdom of Dahomey, in what is the Republic of Benin today:

The Igbo

Large Mgbedike masks are sometimes worn during Igbo ceremonies, in south-eastern Nigeria.

Viewers familiar with the Igbo cultural practice say a mask worn by one of the main characters is inspired by the West African original:

Milton Nkosi
BBC Africa

South African police say three people have been killed and six injured in a shooting incident in the coastal city of Durban. It's a lower death toll than was originally reported by local media.

Some of those rushed to the hospital are believed to be critically injured.

I spoke to Kwa-ZuluNatal Provincial Police Spokesperson Col Thembeka Mbhele, who sounded frantic on the phone.

She told the BBC: "Two men and a woman died [at] the scene. For now, the police are still busy at the scene and it’s too early to establish a motive."

The shooting happened in an apartment block on the corner of JN Singh and Baker Street shortly before midday, according to paramedic Garrith Jamieson. The Durban High Court is nearby.

"On arrival, paramedics were escorted to the apartment and were faced with an absolute bloodbath. Nine people had been shot and sustained multiple gunshot wounds."

News24 has shared this footage showing the area cordoned off by police.

An aerial survey of northern Botswana by Elephants Without Borders revealed four poaching hot spots and 88 carcasses of elephants who showed signs of having been killed by poachers.

Since the last wildlife survey four years ago the number of carcasses has increased by 600%.

The government admits poaching takes place but disputes claims that the elephants were killed - saying they died "from natural causes and retaliatory killings".

The first results from Nigeria's presidential vote have been declared.

So far, two of Nigeria's 36 states have been declared, and President Muhammadu Buhari has taken the most votes in both of them. They are Osun State and Ekiti State, shown in green in the map below.

Taken together, the president has 566,865 votes and his main rival Atiku Abubakar has 491,409.

The candidate with the most votes is declared the winner in the first round, as long as that person gains at least 25% of the votes in two-thirds of Nigeria's 36 states.

Nigerians went to the polls on 23 February, with President Muhammadu Buhari (APC) expected to face a strong challenge from Atiku Abubakar (PDP) in the presidential contest.

Our election map will be automatically updated as the results are announced.

Read more:

• Vote as it happened around the country
• Five things about Nigeria: The superpower with no power
• Nigeria in nine maps and charts

Naima Mohamud
BBC Africa

A film based on the life of an anti-female genital mutilation (FGM) campaigner has premiered at the Dublin International Film Festival.

A Girl from Mogadishu tells the story of Ifrah Ahmed, who escaped the civil war in Somalia and arrived in Ireland in 2006 at the age of 17. She now advises the Somali government on how to combat FGM.

The film stars US actress Aja Naomi King and Academy Award-nominated Somali actor Barkhad Abdi.

Here are some shots from its premiere at the weekend:

Local media in South Africa are reporting that four people have been shot dead close to Durban High Court.

Details are still emerging about the incident.

In 2018, a photo of an alleged outbreak of a deadly sexually-transmitted illness was circulated in parts of Kenya, but it was later revealed the STI did not exist.

The news of the fake STI, which had allegedly hit the villages of Nyarombo gold mines, Komito mines in Rongo sub-county, Suna and Nyatike, was covered by the media and was denied by health officials.

It was later revealed that the photo was actually of George Otieno's penile cancer.

This is a video by BBC Africa's Fact Finder.

Video journalist:Anthony Irungu

The first Kenyan to run in the Olympics, Nyantika Maiyoro, has died at the age of 88.

Maiyoro ran under the British flag at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, coming seventh in the 5000m race with a time of 13:53:25.

He died in hospital in the south-western city of Kisii on Sunday night, after falling into a coma.

The exact cause of his illness is unclear but local media reports that he had tuberculosis.

"You were a hero, your legacy still lives," said one Twitter user called Adams Ondimu. Another, Sera Ngige, said: "May his soul rest in peace".

Image source, Getty Images

Trevor Noah used Sunday's Oscars ceremony as a chance to poke fun at people who think Wakanda, the fictional African homeland of Black Panther, is a real place.

While presenting the film's nomination for Best Picture, the South African comedian said solemnly:

But that's not what that phrase actually means.

The BBC's Pumza Fihlani says the true translation into English is: "White people don't know that I'm lying". His joke, which was of course lost on the Academy Awards' audience in Hollywood, tickled Xhosa speakers on social media.

Black Panther won three awards at last night's ceremony - Best original score, Best production design, and Best costume design.

Read more:

• Oscars 2019: Winners in full

• In pictures: The best of the ceremony

Rami Malek, the winner of this year's Academy Award for Best Actor, has paid tribute to his Egyptian roots.

"I am the son of immigrants from Egypt, a first-generation American," he told the audience as he collected his prize at Sunday's ceremony in Los Angeles.

Malek won the Oscar for his portrayal of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, who was born in Tanzania. The actor praised Mercury's story as that of a gay man and immigrant who "lived his life unapologetically".

Read more:

• Freddie Mercury's complex relationship with Zanzibar
• Oscars 2019: Winners in full

• In pictures: The best of the ceremony

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Image source, Getty Images

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