Image source, AFP

Protesters in Sudan have said that the only option available is to continue their sit-ins outside military headquarters, because they are dissatisfied with the transitional military council.

Protest leaders had handed the military a list of proposals for an interim government, following the ousting of President Omar al-Bashir in April.

But the 10-member military council said it had "many reservations" about their suggestions - including the protesters' conspicuous silence on Islamic law.

Speaking in a press conference earlier today Khalid Umar, a leading figure in the Sudanese Congress party, accused the transitional military council of wasting time:

He suggested the protesters may refuse to engage in further talks:

And he vowed to continue protesting:

As South Africa goes to the polls, more than nine million people, around one in four eligible voters, have not registered to take part in the election.

Many people say they are not voting because politicians have failed them.

We heard from some of those people in Tumahole, Free State province, where there are high levels of unemployment and many told us they weren't going to vote:

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Soweto

Image source, Getty Images

This is the South Africa’s sixth democratic election – and only 25 years since black people were allowed to vote.

The political leaders have cast their ballots and they are hoping, that the nearly 27 million people who registered in this vote will do the same.

Voting has been proceeding smoothly in most parts of the country but there were some delays in the opening of polling stations in some areas.

A record 48 parties are contesting these elections but there are three main parties to watch, the governing African National Congress (ANC), the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

All have had their fair share of scandals in recent times but all these parties say they are the answer to South Africa’s future.

But for many South Africa the time of making promises has passed – now they want results.

There are very real and pressing needs here – economic growth is slow – millions are without jobs, this remains a hugely unequal society.

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, Reuters

There has been fighting in the Ebola epicentre in the Democratic Republic of Congo between government troops and a rebel force.

The mayor of Butembo said 12 people, mostly rebel fighters, had been killed in clashes with the Mai Mai militia.

The health ministry has issued an order suspending all the activities of Ebola response workers in the town until further notice.

More than 1,000 people have died in DR Congo as a result of the Ebola outbreak which began in August last year.

Shingai Nyoka
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

For most of the day the lines here at the polling station in the suburb of Norwood in the South African city of Johannesburg have been relatively long.

People have braved the winter chill and some rain to vote in what is being seen here as one of the most hotly contested polls since the first democratic elections 25 years ago.

The ballot paper is half a metre long, filled with new political parties including a former residence association, and a pro-local content media group. To some it shows how entrenched democracy is here, to others it's evidence of discontent with the main political parties.

Two young women in their twenties, who are voting for the first time, told me they don’t believe promises made by any of the parties especially the promise to create jobs. They say they are voting out of a sense of obligation.

Another man tells me he is happy with the leaders of the three major parties, it's the best it has ever been, he said.

The location of Norwood polling station reflects some of the key electoral issues, especially the economic inequality that South Africa has come to be known for.

On one side is Houghton estate with its swanky, expensive mansions cloistered in gated communities. It is where Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first democratically elected president, lived after his release from 27 years in prison.

On the other side are the overcrowded suburbs of Yeoville and Hillbrow, with their grinding poverty and high crime rates. They are also home to migrants from neighbouring countries seeking a better life.

Some of the people who live here feel let down by the governing African National Congress (ANC) since it took power in 1994. The party has reduced poverty, especially amongst the black majority, but not enough in the eyes of some.

Youth unemployment stands at 54% - a truly staggering figure.

The results will show whether President Cyril Ramaphosa, a rich businessman in his own right, has managed to connect with the poor to convince them that his policies on job creation and rooting out corruption will end the rot his predecessor entrenched.

People will also be interested in the gains and losses made by the main opposition party Democratic Alliance (DA), led by Mmusi Mainane, and Julius Malema's Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the country's third largest party.

Ishaq Khalid
BBC Africa, Abuja

The legislature in northern Nigeria's Kano state has passed a controversial law that will give the speaker of the house and the deputy speaker pensions for life, an annual medical trip abroad and a brand new car every four years.

The move has been strongly criticised, given rising poverty levels across the country.

It is unclear how much the pension will be, but if the state governor eventually approves it, Kano state would be the first in Nigeria to implement such a law.

Nigeria has the largest number of people living in extreme poverty in the world and Kano is the country's most populous state.

But the current speaker of the Kano state House of Assembly, Kabiru Alhassan Rurum, told the BBC the new law was to counteract corruption and prevent politicians from facing hardship when they are out of office.

At the moment, former Nigerian presidents, state governors as well as the Senate president and the speaker of the Federal House of Representatives are entitled to pensions at the end of their tenure.

Transparency International scores Nigeria as highly corrupt on its corruption perceptions index.

South African journalist Alex Mitchley has tweeted this scene from outside the Union Buildings in the capital Pretoria:

The symbolic inauguration is one of many protests people from the Khoisan community who say they are being marginalised in South Africa.

The Khoisan are South Africa's oldest inhabitants and some argue that the rock paintings that dot the country serve as the Khoisan's title deeds.

History has been hard on them - they were dispossessed by the colonialists and oppressed under white-minority rule.

Under apartheid, they were classified as "coloured" or mixed race, and their indigenous languages and traditions were lost as they were forced to assimilate.

Read more: The first South Africans fight for their rights

The Wikipedia page for the South African election was changed on Wednesday morning by someone expressing their displeasure at the policies of some the parties contesting in the country's sixth national polls since the end of white-minority rule in 1994.

The protester changed the list of national parties to "national criminals" with the subheading "the following list of parties intending to strip you of all your money and keep you poor".

They listed almost every party with the word "criminal" somewhere in their name.

So the Azanian People's Organisation was changed to "Azanian People's Criminals" and Women Forward was changed to "Women Criminals".

Out of the 48 parties competing in Wednesday's election, the only parties that escaped the rebranding were the Congress of the People, the Democratic Alliance, the Free Democrats, the Front National, Good, the Land Party, the National People's Front, the Patriotic Alliance and the People's Revolutionary Movement.

The heading "Electoral system" was also changed to "rigged electoral system":

But eagle-eyed editors at Wikipedia quickly noticed and removed the amendments, external.

Stanley Kwenda
BBC Africa

Image source, Reuters

Tottenham Hotspur's Kenyan midfielder, Victor Wanyama, says he would like to follow in the footsteps of his brother, McDonald Mariga Wanyama, and win the Uefa Champions League.

"I would love to follow his footsteps. To win Champions League is every player's dream," Wanyama told BBC Africa ahead of his side's second leg semi-final clash against Ajax Amsterdam on Wednesday evening in Amsterdam.

His brother won the Champions League with Inter Milan in 2010 and was the first Kenyan to play top level football in Italy and Spain.

"He did it and if I can do that then that would be very good. He is my inspiration, he's helped us know how it is to play abroad. We are happy and glad to have him as a brother," Wanyama added.

However, for Wanyama's dream to come true, Tottenham Hotspur will have to overturn a 1-0 semi-final first leg defeat at home.

"I know the first leg wasn't good for us but we are aware of that. We are still alive so we will go there and fight and I think if we fight we can get something," said Wanyama.

The Champions League final will be played in Madrid next month. The winner of the Ajax Amsterdam and Tottenham Hotspur match will play Liverpool in the final after the Reds achieved a historic victory against Barcelona on Tuesday evening at Anfield.

What people search on Google can give a little insight into what a nation is thinking.

So journalist Rachel Irvine has tweeted the top five searches from Google to give us some clue about what is going through voters' minds on the day of the election in South Africa:

1. South Africa elections 2019
2. Voting station near me
3. Can I vote anywhere
4. Mmusi Maimane
5. ACDP

ACDP stands for the African Christian Democratic Party. It's one of a record 48 parties that are contesting nationally.

Among these parties are a lot known by TLAs - three-letter acronyms.

The main TLAs are the ANC (the African National Congress, currently the governing party) and the EFF (the Economic Freedom Fighters, the third-largest party).

The leading opposition party keeps it to two letters, DA, for Democratic Alliance.

Their leader is Mmusi Maimane, who is the fourth of the top Google searches today.

Read more about him and the two other main leaders on the BBC news website:

• ANC's Cyril Ramaphosa - union leader, mine boss, president
• DA's Mmusi Maimane - the man who vows to end ANC rule
• EFF's Julius Malema - South Africa's radical agenda setter

South African runner Caster Semenya, who is in a battle against athletics' governing body, IAAF, over testosterone levels in female runners, has tweeted "resist".

It comes after new rules come in on Wednesday which means athletes with differences in sexual development have to submit blood samples to their medical team.

In order to compete, athletes' testosterone has to be below a prescribed amount of less than five nanomoles per litre.

Semenya said before the rules came in that they were "unfair" and that she wanted to "run naturally, the way I was born".

She may now have to take medication to reduce her testosterone, or compete against men, if she wants to keep running on the international stage.

Read more about why this matters on BBC Newsround.

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC Africa, Nairobi

An environmental tribunal in Kenya has postponed to 24 June the verdict in the case challenging the setting up of a coal plant in the country.

See post below

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Image source, Getty Images

An environmental tribunal in Kenya is set to rule on a case challenging the setting up of the country’s first coal plant.

Residents and environmentalists have opposed the building of the plant in the coastal town of Lamu, saying the environmental assessment carried out on the viability of the project was flawed and that the plant would threaten the area’s rich ecosystem.

The Kenyan government has signed a multi-million dollar agreement with a consortium of local and Chinese firms for the construction of the dam, which will generate more than 1,000 MW of electricity once completed.

But residents of Lamu, a popular tourist destination, say their livelihoods will be in danger if the plant is built.

In October, a court temporarily halted the construction of the plant, following a case lodged by Lamu residents who have initiated a campaign dubbed Save Lamu.

Analysts have also questioned the government’s push for exploiting fossil fuels while it has huge potential in renewable energy like wind and solar power.

It's bitterly cold in the South African city Johannesburg, our reporter tweets:

As Vauldi says, this matters because it could deter some of the country's more than 26 million registered voters from going out to cast their ballots.

Local surveys suggest some six million young people didn't bother to register to vote.

And polls suggest two million people have not decided who they will vote for yet.

Read more on the BBC News website.

Favour Nunoo
BBC Pidgin, Accra

Image source, Getty Images

A Chinese woman has been arrested in Ghana for allegedly attempting to smuggle four containers of rosewood out of the country.

Police intercepted two trucks loaded with containers of rosewood in Northern Region's capital, Tamale, which the suspect was allegedly transporting to Tema port for export.

Northern Regional police officer Otuo Acheampong, says she failed to produce documents to prove she was operating legally.

In March, Ghana’s Lands and Natural Resources Ministry directed the Forestry Commission to ban the harvesting, transportation and export of rosewood in the country.

Civil society and interest groups have intensified their campaign for the government to prosecute Chinese nationals operating illegally in the country after Chinese-led illegal mining left most of Ghana’s water bodies polluted.

Last month, the Chinese government, through its ambassador in Ghana, said it was ready to collaborate with the government Ghana to fight illegal operations by Chinese nationals.

It blamed the growth of illegal Chinese operations partly on local people who partner with them.

Read: Can Chinese migrants integrate in Africa?

A Kenyan athlete has said she will not take drugs to suppress her testosterone levels, saying the new rule by the global athletics governing body is discriminatory and intended to "bring down African athletes", privately owned newspaper Daily Nation reports., external

National 100m and 400m record holder Maximilla Imali outlined her position after South African Olympic champion Caster Semenya lost a case against the IAAF's new rule seeking to restrict testosterone levels among female athletes.

The 28-year-old Semenya had said the regulations were "unfair" and that she wanted to "run naturally, the way I was born".

The Daily Nation says Imali has accused IAAF of segregation, saying the affected athletes didn't choose to be born the way they were.

“Where is the fairness in all these when other sporting disciplines have embraced athletes [with hyperandrogenism] like us?” Imali was quoted as saying.

The paper says the 23-year-old Imali is among three Kenyan athletes affected by the new IAAF rule.

The others are Olympic 800m bronze medallist Margaret Nyairera and 400m runner Evangeline Makena.

The daily says a source at the local football agency Athletics Kenya on Tuesday disclosed that results of random tests done at a Nairobi hospital revealed the three athletes were found to have higher levels of testosterone.

Tomi Oladipo
BBC Africa security correspondent

A brother of Equatorial Guinea's long-serving ruler Teodoro Obiang Nguema and the minister in charge of his security has died.

Antonio Nguema died of an unspecified illness at a hospital in South Africa.

He survived numerous cabinet reshuffles as defence minister and, until his death, as minister of presidential security.

In fact, he was among the top brass who helped strengthen his family’s grip on power, crushing two attempts at overthrowing the government.

This kind of loyalty and effectiveness convinced President Teodoro Obiang to elevate the affairs of his personal security to cabinet status.

It is not immediately clear who will replace him, the president will will be looking for an ally who will help keep his government entrenched.

After 40 years in power, he remains the world’s longest-serving non-royal head of state.

Image source, Getty Images

Tanzania plans to introduce a cable car to take people to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, in a move aimed at boosting the number of tourists who visit Africa's tallest mountain.

The authorities are already in talks with a Chinese and a Western company.

About 50,000 tourists climb Mount Kilimanjaro every year.

Constantine Kanyasu, the deputy tourism minister, said a cable car could increase tourist numbers by up to 50% by enabling those who cannot climb to go to the top of the mountain.

However, porter and guide groups who take visitors up the mountain are opposed to the plan.

The head of Tanzania Porters' Organization, Loishiye Mollel, told the Reuters news agency that visitors usually spend a week climbing the mountain.

“One visitor from the US can have a maximum of 15 people behind him, of which 13 are porters, a cook and a guide. All these jobs will be affected by a cable car,” he told the news agency.

Mr Mollel said about 20,000 porters work between Mount Kilimanjaro and Meru, which is a nearby mountain.

A BBC reporter from Kenya is in South Africa to cover the general election - and he is surprised that so few people are at polling stations as voting starts:

Origi is trending on Twitter, with people praising the Belgium-born Kenyan footballer, Divock Origi, for helping Liverpool defeat Barcelona by scoring two goals on Tuesday.

Liverpool have now qualified for the Champions League final and will meet with either Ajax or Tottenham in Madrid on 1 June.

Origi is the son of former Kenyan professional footballer Mike Origi, and plays as a forward for Liverpool and the Belgium national team.

Social media has been awash with praise for Mr Origi:

The BBC's Ferdinand Omondi is among people who wanted the world to know that Origi is of Kenyan origin:

The odds had been stacked against Liverpool after their loss in Spain last week and with both Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino out due to injuries.

A tweeter said it showed that you can succeed despite the odds: