BBC World Service

Pope Francis has said that the Roman Catholic Church must acknowledge its history of male domination, and the sexual abuse of women and children.

In a 50-page document, following a month-long synod about the role of young people, the Pope wrote that the Church needed to repair its reputation among the young, or risk becoming "a museum".

But he stressed that the Church could not agree with everything proposed by feminist groups, an apparent reference to proposals for women to take on traditionally male-dominated roles such as becoming priests.

Image source, Anadolu Agency

Kenyans have taken to social media to commemorate the Garissa attack. The hashtag #Garissa147 is the top trending topic on Twitter Kenya.

On 2 April 2015, five gunmen from the Somalia-based militant group al-Shabab stormed Garissa University College and took hostage almost 700 students, ultimately killing 142 of them.

It was the second deadliest attack in Kenya, after the 1998 US embassy bombing.

Social media users retweeted the names of all of the victims:

An interfaith prayer session was held at Garissa University to commemorate the attack:

Al-Shabab said it attacked the university because it was at war with Kenya.

The group was also behind the Westgate shopping mall attack, in which 67 people were killed

A hospital in Kenya's capital Nairobi has announced it will release 250 patients who have been detained because they were unable to pay their bills, reports Citizen TV, external.

It follows an investigation by Citizen TV last week, external that filmed more than 20 women detained at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).

The investigation found that some had been detained for as long as a year, but KNH have denied this.

Some had been referred to the hospital after developing childbirth complications and then couldn't pay their bills. One person said she had been separated from her baby.

A few days later, on Thursday, the Health Secretary Susan Mochache told MPs that KNH was holding 184 patients, in addition there were bodies of 387 people which had not been collected.

She named 11 other hospitals that had detained patients, reports the Standard newspaper, external.

In investigation by Associated Press last year, external reported that KNH used armed guards in military fatigues to stand watch over patients.

"All despite a court ruling years ago that found the detentions were illegal", it said.

Image source, James Wakibia

The Kenyan press is reporting "an outcry" over a ban on all plastic bags coming into effect today.

Traders have been left with huge stocks of the now banned carrier bags, reports Kenya's Citizen TV, external.

It adds that customers complain that the alternatives to plastic bags are too costly.

The Kenyan government's decision in 2017 to ban plastic bags made international news - with the New York Times calling it, external "one of the world’s toughest bans".

It reported at the time that Kenya will punish with up to four years in jail anyone making, selling or importing plastic bags or hand out a fine of up to $19,000.

Since then, shops issued alternative bags. But the authorities are enforcing the ban on these too from today as they are not made out of woven natural material.

According to ReusethisBag.com, external - a US supplier of reusable bags - at least 32 countries around the world have plastic bag bans in place, with nearly half of the bans in Africa

Environmental activist James Wakibia told BBC World Hacks in 2018 that plastic bags clog drains leading to increased mosquito swarms and, as a result, bouts of malaria.

Thomas Naadi
BBC Africa, Accra

Police in Ghana have said that a suspect is in custody in connection with the murder of undercover journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale.

Hussein-Suale, who was a member of Tiger Eye Private Investigations and worked on an exposé of corruption in Ghana's football leagues, was shot dead near his family home in the capital, Accra, in January.

He was shot three times by unidentified gunmen on a motorbike. According to the police, they are still following up multiple leads to unravel the mystery behind his killing.

The police also said that they had questioned 13 others as part of their investigation. These include his colleague Anas Aremeyaw Anas, who runs Tiger Eye, former Ghana FA boss Kwesi Nyantakyi, who was at the centre of the exposé, and MP Kennedy Agyapong, who exposed pictures of the undercover journalist months before he was shot dead.

There is no suggestion that they were involved in the killing.

• Read more: The life and death of Ahmed Hussein-Suale

Senegal TV channel RTS is showing live pictures from the hall where President Macky Sall will be sworn in for a second term.

There are several heads of state there including Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso:

Image source, RTS

And Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara is also there:

Image source, RTS

The presidents of Liberia, The Gambia, Rwanda and Nigeria are also present.

Mr Sall took 58% of the vote in February's election in which he faced four challengers, but was accused of preventing some of his main rivals from running.

The opposition candidates have rejected the results, but say a court challenge would be futile.

You can follow the ceremony here:

Image source, AFP

AFP news agency has reported on the irony of Equatorial Guinea hosting a summit for petrol-producing nations while the country itself rations supplies to citizens.

Currently, taxis are limited to 10 litres of fuel per day (worth $8.50; £6.50) and private cars are entitled to double that amount, under an agreement between Equatorial Guinea's government and the country's main fuel supplier, Total.

Equatorial Guinea is one of Africa's biggest oil producers according to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, external, but does not have its own refinery.

The oil-dependent country is now putting pressure on oil and gas operators to increase drilling activity or "move aside", according to the Petroleum Economist website, because it is keen to capitalise on its maturing oil fields now that global oil prices have risen after a long slump.

You may also be interested in:

• More about Equatorial Guinea
• Africa's longest-serving leader

Image source, Getty Images

Almost a million cholera vaccines are set to arrive in Mozambique to help deal with an outbreak of the water-borne disease that has come in the wake of the impact of Cyclone Idai, World Health Organization (WHO) Africa director Dr Matshidiso Moeti told the BBC's Newsday programme.

The first death from cholera was recently confirmed in Beira, which is where the cyclone made landfall last month.

There are now 1,000 cases of people with cholera, Dr Moeti said.

She expects that the vaccines will start being administered by the end of the week.

She added that the WHO is now working to control the outbreak, with support from the Mozambican authorities as well as other international agencies:

The capital city of the self-declared republic of Somaliland, Hargeisa, has captured the hearts of a Canadian couple who tied the knot there in a colourful ceremony.

Nicole and Alan Lebeoff said they decided to have two weddings because they wanted their friends in both Somaliland and Canada to be part of their celebration.

The two have been together for four years, two of which Mrs Lebeoff, née Audette, spent living in Hargeisa.

"We decided to have one wedding here because our Somaliland friends wouldn't be able to come to our Canadian wedding in July.

"Everybody who is here is just as important to me as my friends back in Canada," Mrs Lebeoff told BBC Somali.

The bride was wearing a white top and a flowing skirt made out of the traditional Somali fabric and had her hands decorated with henna. The groom was in a formal suit.

"I thought the wedding was beautiful [similar to] all the other ceremonies I have attended with my friends here.

"I also thought the fashion was super-beautiful and unique," said Mrs Lebeoff.

She added she wanted to honour the culture that she has "really grown to love".

Nigeria's Department of State Services (DSS) has released a journalist who was arrested on Saturday.

Jones Abiri, who is the editor and publisher of the Weekly Source newspaper, was released from the secret police's detention facility in the capital, Abuja, on Monday, his lawyer Samuel Ogala said.

He was arrested during the weekend in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state capital, where he publishes his magazine.

In 2016, Mr Abiri was detained for over two years over allegations of sponsoring militant activities.

Image source, Reuters

An Algerian protester says she and others will continue to demonstrate against Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika regardless of his pledge to quit by 28 April after 20 years in power.

"It's not a victory," Soumes Farah tells BBC Newsday. The filmaker adds:

She says demonstrators, after weeks of mass protests, want bigger changes. Listen to the full interview:

BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

Macky Sall will be inaugurated for a second term as president of Senegal today.

He took 58% of the vote in February's election in which he faced four challengers, but was accused of preventing some of his main rivals from running.

Two well-known opposition figures were barred from taking part because of corruption convictions.

The opposition candidates have rejected the results, but say a court challenge would be futile.

The ceremony will be attended by among others President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda.

Jonathan Paye-Layleh
BBC Africa, Monrovia

Image source, Getty Images

Around 100 people, most of them young motorcycle taxi operators, have been arrested following a violent protest on Monday in the central Liberian rubber-growing town of Weala, police spokesman Moses Carter has told the BBC.

The riot - which led to two police stations, a magistrate’s court and a vehicle being set alight - was over the suspected murder of a motorcyclist whose body was found in a nearby bush on 7 March, he said.

Police have so far not made any arrests over the death of the motorcyclist, but were searching for a man whose ID card was found near the spot where the body was discovered, Mr Carter added.

The angry motorcyclists made the town - which had only 25 police officers - “ungovernable”, he said.

The protesters barricaded roads with burning tyres, and there were also reports of looting.

Police reinforcements were sent from the capital, Monrovia, and those arrested have been brought to the city, Mr Carter said.

Weala is situated in Margibi County where the world’s largest rubber plantation, US-owned Firestone Rubber Company, is situated.

It is also located on the main highway leading to the borders with Guinea, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone.

Under Liberian law, the authorities have 48 hours to charge and bring to court those arrested.

A group of women in Madagascar, who have had life-changing surgery, are travelling to remote villages to help others who need similar treatment.

They've become patient ambassadors, using the power of their own stories to persuade others to get free medical help.

A film by Raissa Ioussouf and Amelia Martyn-Hemphill for People Fixing the World.

A governor in Kenya has been arrested over a fuel supply scandal allegedly involving about $827,000 (£632,000), local media reports say.

Samburu governor Moses Kasaine's reported arrest came after Kenya's chief prosecutor Noordin Haji ordered that he be charged with conspiracy to commit economic crimes, abuse of office and conflict of interest.

Mr Kasaine or his lawyers have not yet commented.

In a statement tweeted by his office, Mr Haji said Mr Kasaine had been "trading with the county government through Oryx Service Station for the supply of fuel" since 27 March 2013.

The service station had received $827,000, and the money was "shared" between the governor and a "proxy" of his, Mr Haji added.

The governor had failed or neglected to disclose his interest in the service station, and had engaged in "conduct that is expressly prohibited in law", Mr Haji alleged.

Samburu is located in the northern part of Kenya's Great Rift Valley.

Here's Mr Haji's full tweet:

The flood waters caused by Cyclone Idai in Mozambique are beginning to recede. But as the water level drops, new devastation emerges.

Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their homes and many have lost family members.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is supporting flood affected communities to recover bodies, identify them and to bury them in clearly marked graves.

ICRC forensic expert Stephen Fonseca, working in the province of Manica in western Mozambique, describes the challenges that he and his colleagues face:

Listen to his BBC Newsday interview here:

Image source, Getty Images

Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika will step down before his mandate expires on 28 April, Algerian state media reports.

The 82-year-old, who has been in power for 20 years, will ensure "continuity of the state's institutions" before he quits, a presidential statement carried by APS news agency said.

The news comes after weeks of mass protests demanding his resignation.

As a result, he had dropped plans to seek re-election for a fifth term.

The elections have been postponed and the government has promised to organise a national conference which would discuss reforms to address the discontent.

Up until now, it had been unclear when or if he would step down, observers say.

Read the full BBC story here

Image source, CDC/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is spreading at its fastest rate since it was detected about eight months ago, a World Health Organisation spokesman is quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.

A total of 72 cases were reported last week, higher than the record 57 of the previous week, Christian Lindmeier said.

"People are becoming infected without access to response measures," Mr Lindmeier told Reuters.

The current outbreak has killed more than 600 people and has infected more than 1,000 people, making it the second-largest ever recorded.

Image source, Getty Images

Saudi Arabia has executed a Nigerian woman convicted of trafficking drugs, AFP news agency quotes state media as reporting.

The woman was executed along with two Pakistani men and a Yemeni man in Islam's holiest city, Mecca, on Monday.

A total of 53 people have been executed in the kingdom so far this year, AFP reports.

Saudi Arabia has resisted pressure from campaign groups to abolish the death penalty, saying it is a deterrent against crime.

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