Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

The World Health Organization says only one in four health workers in Africa has been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, leaving the bulk of the workforce on the front lines of the pandemic dangerously exposed.

It says in contrast a global study of high-income countries reported that over 80% of health and care workers were fully vaccinated.

The WHO's Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, called for countries to urgently speed up the rollout of vaccines to health workers.

She warned a new surge in cases was looming due to the end of year festive season.

All countries in Africa say they prioritised health workers in their vaccination plans.

The WHO says supply to Africa has increased and said some of the low coverage was down to vaccine hesitancy.

Former Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o is cleared to stand in elections to be the next president of the Cameroon Football Federation.

Image source, Reuters

The head of the school in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, that was hit when a suicide bomber blew himself up nearby says that seven students were injured in the blast.

We had previously quoted a police spokesman who had put the figure at 13.

"Seven pupils were wounded in the explosion near the school," Yusuf Hussein, the director of Mocaasir school, told the Reuters news agency.

"Some classrooms were destroyed in the explosion. You can see that some of school and buses were also damaged in the explosion.”

Police earlier said eight people died and 23, including the pupils, were injured in the attack that has been claimed by the al-Shabab militant group.

The bomb was targeting a UN convoy.

Aboubakar Famau
BBC News, Dodoma

Image source, AFP

The World Bank has welcomed the decision by Tanzania to remove a nearly two-decade-long ban on pregnant students from attending school.

The organisation says the move will remove barriers to access of education.

"This important decision underscores the country’s commitment to support girls and young women and improve their chances at receiving a better education," a statement from the World Bank says.

The Swedish embassy in Tanzania has also praised the decision terming it is an "inspiration in the region for young mothers’ rights to education".

The ban was strongly enforced by former President John Magufuli who died in March this year.

The decision to remove the ban was announced on Wednesday by Education Minister Joyce Ndalichako.

Education and women rights campaigners have also welcomed the move but say the new directive needs to be enacted into law for it to be successfully implemented.

Statistics indicate that, more than 120,000 girls drop out of school every year in Tanzania, 6,500 of them due to pregnancies.

Plymouth Argyle will 'look after' Zimbabwe defender Brendan Galloway after he dislocated his kneecap on Tuesday.

The UN's Zebib Kavuma answers some of the most frequently asked questions about gender-based violence.

A top Ugandan investigative journalist and an opposition politician have said that their phones has been targeted by Pegasus spyware.

The software can infect both iPhones and Android devices, allowing operators to extract messages, photos and emails, record calls and secretly activate microphones and cameras.

In a series of tweets, journalist Raymond Mujuni highlighted the warning that he received from Apple saying that his phone may have been targeted by "state-sponsored attackers".

He added that he was not the only investigative journalist to have received the message:

The leader of Uganda's Democratic Party, Norbert Mao, also received a warning from Apple, he said on Twitter:

Apple is currently suing the inventors of the software, Israeli firm NSO Group, and its parent company for allegedly targeting iPhone users with the hacking tool.

NSO Group says it only supplies Pegasus to military, law enforcement and intelligence agencies from countries with good human rights records.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

The Danish military says the crew of one of its warships operating off West Africa have killed four pirates in a gun battle.

A statement said the frigate Esbern Snare accompanied by a helicopter approached a speeding motorboat south of Nigeria on Wednesday.

There were eight men on board with ladders and other tools often used by pirates to board ships.

After warning shots were ignored the suspected pirates opened fire on Danish troops.

The military said four of the pirates died and one was injured; there were no Danish casualties.

Several countries have deployed ships to the region after more than 130 sailors were taken from vessels in the region last year.

A legal case against Football Kenya Federation president Nick Mwendwa is closed.

Shingai Nyoka
BBC News, Harare

Zimbabwe’s finance minister will present a national budget almost double that of the previous year on the back of rising inflation and a weakening local currency.

The economy which had been severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic is recovering and expected to grow at about 6% this year.

The proposed allocations for 2022 are about a third of what ministries had requested.

Businesses will want to see how the minister proposes to deal with crippling power cuts and how he will prop up the faltering local currency. Many companies prefer to charge US dollars.

Civil servants are demanding wage rises of up to 100% to keep up with rising double-digit inflation.

Thomas Naadi
BBC News

Image source, AFP

The Gambia’s final report of a probe into alleged human rights violations during the 22-year iron-fist rule of former President Yayha Jammeh is set to be handed to the government today.

The release had previously been delayed because some sections had not been completed.

The country's Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission says it will submit the report to President Adama Barrow.

The president has one month to study the text and then submit copies to the National Assembly, the UN Secretary General and make a summary of it public.

The president is also expected to issue a detailed outline of how the government plans to implement the recommendations of the findings within six months.

Nearly 400 witnesses gave chilling accounts of alleged state-sponsored torture, rape, and enforced disappearances.

About 50 West African migrants were also alleged to have been killed by a notorious death squad known as the Junglers who received direct orders from former President Jammeh, and it’s likely he could be recommended for prosecution.

But with just about 10 days to the first post-Jammeh presidential election, it’s certain that justice for victims of human rights violations will be one of the main campaign issues.

A Somali was one of the two people who survived the fatal attempt to cross the English Channel that separates the UK from France, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has said.

The other survivor was from Iraq.

The two are in a critical condition with severe hypothermia and are being treated in a French hospital.

At least 27 people drowned on Wednesday as they were trying to make the journey in a small inflatable boat. Their identities are not yet known.

It's the worst tragedy since the area became a common crossing point for migrants in 2018. Four suspected people smugglers have been arrested.

Follow our live coverage here.

The news agencies have been filing some pictures of the aftermath of this morning's huge blast in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

The explosion went off near a school and this picture shows the wreckage of a bus alongside other damage to the school's buildings:

Image source, Reuters

The remains of a classroom can be seen here:

Image source, Reuters

"We counted eight dead people and 17 others including 13 students injured," the Reuters news agency quotes police spokesman Abdifatah Aden Hassan as saying.

The militant group al-Shabab said it was behind the attack and targeting UN convoy, the Reuters reports.

Image source, Reuters

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC News, Nairobi

Image source, Getty Images

Ethiopia has expelled four Irish diplomats because of Ireland’s stance on the ongoing conflict in the Horn of Africa nation.

The four have been given a week to leave, a statement from Ireland's Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said.

The ambassador and one other member of the embassy staff have however been allowed to stay.

The minister said that Ethiopian authorities had explained that the expulsions were because of Ireland’s position on the conflict and humanitarian crisis that has left millions in urgent need of food assistance.

He said he regretted the move but that the embassy would remain open.

Ireland has had an embassy in Ethiopia since 1994.

The country, which holds a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council, has been vocal in denouncing atrocities committed by both sides in the civil war which broke out a year ago.

Several UN officials were expelled from the country in September while at least five others remain in detention. No reason has been given for their arrest.

It comes as a growing number of countries including the UK and the US urge their nationals to immediately leave Ethiopia as fighting intensifies.

Rebel forces from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and allied militias say they are advancing towards the capital.

Earlier this week they said that they had taken control of Shewa Robit, a town about 225km (140 miles) from Addis Ababa. There is no independent confirmation of the claim.

The Ethiopian government says it’s facing undue pressure and interference from the west and alleges a coordinated campaign by international media against it.

Abdi Dahir
BBC Monitoring, Nairobi

Image source, AFP

Police in Somalia have confirmed the death of eight civilians in a car bombing in the capital Mogadishu, state television has reported.

Some 17 other people have been wounded, including 13 children from a school near the blast scene.

An al-Shabab suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden vehicle targeted a convoy of a private security firm, Duguf, which is contracted to protect the UN.

The police did not say if UN staff were hurt in the attack.

Local media reports said the blast occurred during the morning rush hour near the busy Kilometre Four junction.

The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab militants have confirmed carrying out the attack. Pro-al-Shabab media sources said the militants targeted “white military officers”.

Al-Shabab frequently targets security forces and government officials in Mogadishu.

The director of Mogadishu's Aamin ambulance service, Abdikadir Abdirahman, has shared photos of the aftermath of the morning explosion.

One of the photos show destroyed school buses of Mocaasir school.

A security source said students were among those injured.

Dr Adbdirahman tweeted that the explosion was a "tragedy":

Journalist Harun maruf tweeted photos of classrooms after the explosion:

Five people have been killed and dozens injured in an explosion in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, the AFP news agency reports, citing a security official.

The car bomb, reported to have been targeting an African Union convoy, also damaged a school nearby.

Those injured include school children, the security official is quoted by AFP as saying.

More to follow.

BBC World Service

There's been a big explosion in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

Local news reports say a car bomb targeted an African Union peacekeeping convoy close to a busy junction in the Hodan district in the north-west of the city.

A nearby school is said to have been badly damaged in the blast.

Details are still coming in.

Image source, AFP

The government in Burkina Faso has extended the suspension of mobile internet services.

Services were supposed to have been restored on Wednesday, after being shut down for four days.

The shutdown came amid anti-French demonstrations and growing political unrest in the country over insecurity.

The government explained the initial suspension by citing national security and defence reasons and a spokesperson said concerns still existed.

Earlier in the week, the government had however offered a different explanation saying the nation wanted silence while burying its soldiers on Tuesday.

Dozens of soldiers were killed last week in a suspected militant jihadist attack in the north.

Image source, AFP

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for an immediate end to the fighting in Ethiopia.

Mr Guterres, who was visiting Colombia to mark five years since a peace deal was signed with former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) guerrillas, asked the Ethiopian government to follow the example.

“The peace process here in Colombia inspires me to make an urgent appeal to the protagonists of the conflict in Ethiopia for an unconditional and immediate ceasefire to save the country,” he said., external

Mr Guterres said a ceasefire would “allow for an inter-Ethiopian dialogue to resolve the crisis and allow Ethiopia to contribute again to the stability of the region".

It came as the US warned that there was no “military solution” to the conflict in the country, amid an escalation in fighting.

A US Department of State spokesman said diplomacy was the "first, last, and only option" to the conflict.

It followed reports Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had joined the front line where government forces are battling with the Tigray rebel fighters - who say they are still advancing towards the capital Addis Ababa.

The year-long conflict has led to a humanitarian crisis, with hundreds of thousands facing famine-like conditions in the north of Ethiopia.

Thousands of people have been killed and millions forced from their homes.