BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Residents of the south-eastern Tanzanian region of Mtwara have been fleeing their homes following a directive by the authorities to evacuate because of a looming storm.

Cyclone Kenneth is forecast to hit southern Tanzania and northern Mozambique on Thursday, bringing winds of up to 200km/h and torrential rain.

"Reports from Mtwara indicate that residents have been using various means of transport [to leave]. Some have had to walk to higher ground that the authorities had advised," the privately owned East Africa TV website reported.

Mtwara District Commissioner Evodi Mmanda said it had been raining in the region since morning.

"The wind speed is between 70km/h and 150km/h... The strong winds are accompanied by rain, thunderstorm and there could be damage," he said.

"When we ask people to go to high altitude [areas], it is so that they can survive when the storm strikes. But we pray that it does not happen," the official said.

Meanwhile Mozambique's Institute of Disaster Management is using Facebook to reach residents of areas at risk from the approaching cyclone. It has also posted pictures of people seeking shelter.

BBC World Service

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) says pirates have stormed an oil tanker off the coast of Nigeria, kidnapping six sailors.

The IMB says the Palau-flagged tanker was anchored south of Port Harcourt when the armed group attacked it on Friday.

It says the Nigerian navy was notified and an investigation into the attack has been launched.

Earlier this month four armed men boarded another anchored tanker but reports said the pirates had been fought off by Nigerian naval guards on the vessel.

Pirates operating off Nigeria's oil-rich coast often kidnap crew for ransom and sometimes siphon off the petroleum products.

South Africans go to the polls in a fortnight for sixth national elections since the beginning of democracy.

But what was the first vote like in 1994?

After apartheid ended all South Africans regardless of race were finally able to vote for the first time in April of that year.

Organising the elections was a huge logistical challenge - white supremacists staged terror attacks to try to sabotage the vote and violent clashes between rival political groups threatened to disrupt voting day.

Rev Frank Chikane was on the Independent Electoral Commission which organised the elections, and he remembers the day when all South Africans finally got democracy.

A leader of the Chinese community in northern Nigeria has been crowned, or "turbaned", as a chief by the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

The emir holds a lot of influence and is a religious and cultural leader in the region.

At a traditional ceremony in Kano Mike Zhang took the title of Wakilin Yan China, meaning the leader of the Chinese residents, as his head was wrapped in a turban.

This ceremony is a recognition of the growing importance of the Chinese community in Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria, BBC Hausa editor Jimeh Saleh says.

There are a lot of Chinese businesses and traders in the city who are sometimes accused of taking other people's jobs and engaging in unfair competition.

Mr Zhang will be a vital link between the Chinese community and the locals.

Image source, .

Cyclone Kenneth, which is approaching south-eastern Africa, has been upgraded by forecasters to an Intense Tropical Cyclone, a technical term based on the wind speed.

BBC Weather says that sustained winds of up to 209km/h (130mph) are expected.

The cyclone is due to make landfall on the north coast of Mozambique later on Thursday.

People are "expecting catastrophic flooding, damaging winds and a significant storm surge of 3-5m", which will bring significant coastal flooding, BBC Weather adds.

There is some uncertainty on what the system will do after landfall, but it looks like becoming slow moving, resulting in huge rainfall over the next week.

Women without money in Mozambique who were affected by Cyclone Idai have been forced to have sex with local officials in exchange for aid, rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) alleges, external.

It says it has spoken to people alleging that the officials have demanded money from people in order for their names to go on a list of aid recipients and some who cannot pay have been coerced into sex.

HRW has called for the government to investigate the allegations.

Among others, it quotes three women in the town of Mbimbir in Nhamatanda district who said that they had been forced into having sex.

“The Mozambican authorities have an obligation to ensure that everyone gets the protection they need in this situation, including vulnerable women at risk of sexual exploitation and abuse,” HRW’s said Dewa Mavhinga said.

Image source, Reuters

Kenya's tourism minister Najib Balala has warned that a park known worldwide for its flamingos and other wildlife is fast losing its glory, as its lake becomes polluted with raw sewerage, privately-owned newspaper Daily Nation reports., external

He said the numbers of the tall and pink wading birds, and wild animals like lions, were falling at Lake Nakuru National Park, located north-west of the capital Nairobi.

"To me, Lake Nakuru National Park is as good as dead," Mr Balala was quoted by the Daily Nation as saying.

"It is very sad. A number of trees have also withered,” he added.

The paper says the minister described his game drive as "a major disappointment" after he travelled for several miles without spotting any of the "Big Five" - the lion, leopard, rhino, elephant and Cape buffalo.

The minister said the government would allocate $3m (£2.2m) to build artificial waterfalls to boost tourism.

He urged the Nakuru county government to prevent the flow of sewage into the lake.

“The park has been famous for its high number of flamingos but many of them have relocated to other places,” Mr Balala added.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Mozambique's disaster management officials have declared a "red alert", the highest state of disaster readiness, ahead of the approach of Cyclone Kenneth to the northern Mozambican coast, the state-owned news agency reports.

The cyclone formed in the Indian Ocean, north of Madagascar, about three days ago.

It is projected to continue heading west, making landfall in the province of Cabo Delgado on Thursday evening.

It is also predicted to hit southern Tanzania, where schools have shut and people have been urged to move to safe areas.

It is due to reach the Comoros islands at 12:00 GMT, and people have been told not to travel in parts of the archipelago, the privately-owned Comores Infos News reports.

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari is travelling to the UK on a "private visit", the presidency's Twitter account says.

No reason for the trip was given but Mr Buhari, who won re-election in February, has been beset by ill health since taking office in 2015.

The 76-year-old was on "medical leave" in the UK for three months in 2017.

Details of his medical condition were never made public.

Mark Savage
Music reporter, BBC News

From the crowded streets of Lilongwe, a busker named Lazarus Chigwandali has risen to challenge the myths and superstitions about people with albinism.

Malawi is home to an estimated 10,000 albinos - a condition that affects the production of the pigment that gives skin, hair and eyes their colour.

But a widely held belief that their body parts can impart wealth or good luck means people with albinism are frequently abducted, murdered or mutilated in East Africa. Others are raped due to a myth that sex with an albino can cure HIV.

Growing up in Nankumba village, 50 miles south of Malawi's capital, Lazarus was subjected to violence and marginalisation first-hand.

"People would come and beat me up for no reason," he tells the BBC. "Even when I was walking around the village, people would just throw stones at me.

"If I went to see a soccer match, people would stop playing and leave the field because they didn't want to associate with me."

Read the full story here

Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent, BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

Around 12 million hectares of forest in the world's tropical regions were lost in 2018, equivalent to 30 football fields per minute, according to a report by campaign group Global Forest Watch, external.

While this represents a decline on 2016 and 2017, it is still the fourth highest rate of loss since records began in 2001.

Of particular concern is the continued destruction of what are termed primary forests, including in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

After Brazil, it is now the country with the second largest losses by area.

Countries, including Ghana and Ivory Coast, showed the highest rise in percentage terms in losses of primary forest. Ghana saw a whopping 60% increase while Cote d'Ivoire saw a 26% rise.

Most of this increase, particularly in Ghana, is likely to be due to small-scale gold mining. There has also been an expansion of cocoa farming.

Campaigners are concerned that the rise comes despite pledges made in 2017 by leading cocoa and chocolate companies to end deforestation within their supply chains.

Read the full story here

BBC Sport

Image source, Reuters

Four-time Olympic champion Mo Farah and Haile Gebrselassie are involved in a dispute over an alleged theft at a hotel belonging to the Ethiopian athletics great in Addis Ababa.

The Somali-Briton said he had money, a watch and two phones taken from his room, and that Gebrselassie did not help him.

"I was just disappointed with Haile," said 36-year-old Farah.

Gebrselassie, 46, responded by accusing Farah of "blackmail" and "defaming" his reputation and business.

Read the full BBC story here

Eagan Salla
BBC Swahili, Mtwara, Tanzania

Authorities in southern Tanzania have ordered workers and schoolchildren to remain at home, as the country braces it for Cyclone Kenneth.

Mtwara regional commissioner Gelasius Byakanwa issued the directive after the Tanzania Meteorological Agency warned that winds of up to 200km/h (124mph) and torrential rain could hit the Lindi, Mtwara and Ruvuma regions.

Authorities have urged people who live in mud houses to move to safe areas.

The storm is also forecast to affect Mozambique's northern Cabo Delgado province and the island nation of Comoros.

Mozambique is still reeling from the effects of Cyclone Idai that made landfall near the port city of Beira on 14 March.

Richard Galpin
BBC World Affairs reporter

The UN children's agency, Unicef, is warning that cases of measles around the world have nearly trebled compared with the same period last year.

Unicef says this has created the environment for major outbreaks of the disease, including in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Madagascar.

Measles is highly contagious and can be fatal.

Image source, Getty Images

According to Unicef, an estimated 160 million people around the world missed out on the measles vaccine in the period from 2010 to 2017.

And it says outbreaks of the disease are on the rise around the world. In 2017, more than 100,000 people died, most of them children.

And the problem is not just in developing countries. In the US, France, the UK and many other wealthy parts of the world, comparatively large numbers of children are unprotected.

There are many reasons for what's happening, including poor health facilities in parts of the developing world.

In wealthier countries it's linked to anti-vaccine messages which have been spread on social media and are untrue. But as a result some people have been choosing not to inoculate their children.

Image source, Getty Images

Pro-democracy activists in Sudan have called for "a million-strong march" to demand a civilian administration.

Trainloads of people have been arriving in the capital, Khartoum, to take part in the protest outside the army headquarters.

For the first time, judges said they would join the protest "to support change and for an independent judiciary", AFP news agency reports.

Read: How Sudan's military strongmen stayed in power

BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

Three of the most controversial figures on Sudan's ruling transitional military council have offered their resignations - one of the key demands of the protest movement.

The three generals - Omar Zain al-Abideen, Jalal al-Deen al-Sheikh and Al-Tayeb Babakr Ali Fadeel - were seen as staunch Islamists and allies of deposed President Omar al-Bashir.

It follows talks between the military council and protest leaders, who are demanding a rapid handover to a civilian administration.

At a press conference, military spokesman Lt-Gen Shamseddine Kabbashi said the two sides had reached agreement on most of the demands, and that they decided to set up a joint committee to bridge their differences.

Read: Why Bashir was overthrown

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

The Supreme Court in Rwanda has rejected a challenge to a law which says it is a crime to insult the president.

The law which was introduced last year means that anyone insulting President Paul Kagame faces between five and seven years in prison.

Lawyer Richard Mugisha had argued that the law was unconstitutional as it undermined freedom of expression. The court ruled that it should remain due to the responsibility that the office holds.

The same court ruled that a law which prohibits writing articles or drawing cartoons that humiliate MPs, ministers or other government officials should be annulled.

Mr Mugisha had also argued that articles which criminalised adultery should be scrapped. The court rejected that appeal.

Read: Kagame - visionary or tyrant?

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Welcome back to BBC Africa Live where we will bring you the latest news and trends from around the continent.

BBC Africa Live
Clare Spencer & Ashley Lime

That's all from BBC Africa Live for now. Keep up-to-date with what's happening across the continent by listening to the Africa Today podcast or check the BBC News website.

A reminder of our wise words of the day:

And we leave you with this birds-eye view from southern Angola: