Tomi Oladipo
BBC Africa

Image source, AFP

A court in Sudan has ordered the internet to be restored, five weeks after it was shut down by the ruling military council.

The move comes several days after the country's military leaders reached an agreement with the opposition alliance to share power until elections are held in three years' time.

The internet was blocked on 3 June after a deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in the capital, Khartoum, in which more than 100 protesters died.

While it was a court ruling that preceded the re-connection, it would not have happened so smoothly if the military had not felt the threat of protests had gone.

Two weeks ago, a lawyer who challenged the internet blackout won his case, but services were restored for him alone as he had filed it in a personal capacity.

The regime shut down access to the internet to keep the opposition from rallying crowds to the streets to push for a civilian government.

Image source, Getty Images

Arrest warrants have been issued in South Africa for two celebrity musicians after they failed to appear in court.

In March, Mampintsha, whose real name is Mandla Maphumulo, was charged with assault after a live video showed him hitting his girlfriend Bongekile Simelane, known by her stage name Babes Wodumo.

The two musicians have reportedly since reconciled.

According to News24, the court was expected to hear a report on the outcome of relationship counselling, external, which the pair had agreed to at an earlier court appearance.

Pat Magwaza, a lawyer representing Mampintsha, told the court that he did not know the whereabouts of the couple.

"Unfortunately, I cannot find them. I was told they were at their home. I have not seen them or spoken to them. I cannot get hold of them," he said.

Mampintsha, who had laid a counter charge of assault against Babes Wodumo, later dropped it and released a song called called Khona Ingane Lay'Ndlini, which indicated the couple were back together.

In Zulu the title translates as "There is a 'Baby' in the House".

The BBC's Milton Nkosi says fans are disappointed with Babes Wodumo, who stars in the song, saying they stood by 24-year-old Gqom musician after she was slapped repeatedly in the Instagram video in March.

Violence against women is seen as a major problem in South Africa.

Image source, AFP

In a candid speech on South Sudan’s independence day, President Salva Kiir has apologised for the “failures” of his government.

After a long civil war, South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 to great fanfare. That optimism was shattered following the start of South Sudan’s own civil war in December 2013.

Mr Kiir said that the war had led to “very serious financial challenges”.

He added that he was “fully aware that our people are angry because of the difficult living conditions imposed upon them by insecurity and economic hardship.

“This is further exacerbated by the failure of my government to pay salaries of our civil servants on time…

“I want to sincerely apologise to you my people on my own behalf and on behalf of the government for those failures.”

The president tried to strike an optimistic tone by saying that despite it not yet being fully implemented, last year’s peace deal has meant that “peace is holding throughout the country”.

He added that when a unity government was created the “economy will thrive”.

Radio Miraya in Juba has posted audio of the speech., external

The death toll from last week's oil pipeline explosion in the Nigerian state of Lagos has risen by 10, authorities say.

On the day of the inferno it was confirmed that two people had died.

An official in the state's health ministry told the BBC that those who had died since Thursday had been treated in hospital but succumbed to injuries sustained in the fire.

The authorities blamed criminals stealing petrol from an oil pipeline for starting a blaze that caused a huge fireball in the state's Ijegun area.

One of those who died on Thursday was one of the suspected vandals, according to Ibrahim Farinloye from Nigeria's emergency agency.

BBC World Service

Forty-seven migrants rescued in the Mediterranean have been allowed to disembark from an Italian patrol boat on the island of Sicily.

They are reported to come from Tunisia and sub-Saharan Africa.

They arrived hours before a planned ceremony in Sicily marking the closure of what was once the biggest migrant reception centre in Europe.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini is expected to attend the event.

The centre, at Mineo, once housed more than 4,000 migrants. It is now empty, with the remaining migrants transferred to smaller centres.

On Monday, a German charity, Sea-Eye, rescued 44 people off the Libyan coast.

It is working with the Maltese authorities to transfer them to their custody.

Ishaq Khalid
BBC Africa, Abuja

Nigeria has the highest number of children out of school in the world, according to a report by UN's cultural and education agency Unesco.

It estimates that at least 10 million Nigerian children, mostly girls, are missing out on education.

Despite the country having a law making school attendance compulsory, millions of children still roam the streets to beg or to do manual labour.

Primary school education is free in Nigeria but parents incur some costs such as transportation, school uniforms and learning materials.

The government says that a school-feeding programme - launched in 2016 - is benefiting close to 10 million children and is helping to keep them in school.

However, this intervention is facing allegations of corruption and dishonest dealings by some of the officials handling it at local levels, a situation that the authorities acknowledge and say they're trying to address.

Unesco says the world will miss its target of having full transition of children to primary school by 2030 as part of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.

It warns that at least one in six children will be dropping out by then.

Egypt says it will instruct a law firm in the UK to file a civil suit over the sale last week in London of a rare bust of Tutankhamun.

The sculpture of the boy pharaoh was sold for about $6m (£4m) at Christie's auction house, despite appeals by the Egyptian government to stop the sale.

Khaled Al Enany, the minister of antiquities, told the BBC that Egypt would try to repatriate the stone bust and 32 other artefacts sold by Christie's.

The auction house has maintained that all necessary checks were made over the provenance of the Tutankhamun sculpture and its sale last week was legal and valid.

Our colleague from BBC Arabic tweeted this photo from the auction:

Habtom Weldeyowhannes
BBC Tigrinya

Image source, EPA

The only black African cyclist in this year's Tour de France has told BBC Tigrinya that he is "not only representing Eritrea" but the whole continent.

Natnael Berhane, riding with French team Cofidis, came into the 21-stage three-week race, as this year's Eritrean champion.

Eritrean cyclists first took part in the competition in 2015 when Daniel Tekelehaymanot and Merhawi Kudus competed.

In that race, Daniel became the first black African to wear what's known as the King of the Mountains jersey - signifying success on the mountainous stretches - for four consecutive days.

Eritrea has a long history of road racing and its cyclists are known for their success in the steeper sections of races.

Image source, EPA

Two South Africans are also participating in this year's Tour: Reinardt Janse van Rensburg and Daryl Impey.

The race, which began on Saturday, covers 3,480km (2,160 miles) and Natnael told the BBC that his aim is to try and break up the leading pack and win one of the stages.

Using a speech to mark Independence Day, South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has apologised to civil servants who went without salaries for several months, Juba's Radio Miraya quotes him as saying.

Mr Kiir said the failure to pay the money was "caused by weak governance" in the departments that are supposed to raise funds and pledged to personally get involved in the issue.

Last month, the finance minister was unable to present the annual budget because MPs walked out over the salary issue, Reuters news agency reported at the time.

The eighth anniversary of independence in South Sudan is not being marked by big celebrations as there is a shortage of money, the information minister told Juba's Eye Radio on Monday.

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has said he was pleased with the performance of the national football team, the Cranes, at the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.

They were impressive in their group matches but were knocked out by Senegal in the the round of 16.

Mr Museveni tweeted that he would give the team of players and officials a gift of $1m (£800,000) to share.

He added that the players would get much more of the money than the officials.

Image source, AFP

The mandate of Algeria's interim President Abdelkader Bensalah runs out on Tuesday but he says he will carry on until elections are held.

Many Algerians however view him as being too close to the former leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who was forced to give up power in April after weeks of protests.

Elections for a new president have been postponed because of continued protests and logistical difficulties.

Omar Djabim, a young protester, told the BBC's Newsday programme that Mr Salah was part of the old system and people want him out of power.

Azzedine Layachi, associate professor of political science at St John's University in New York, told the BBC that a caretaker government could break the deadlock.

"Create a temporary caretaker government with new faces which will govern over the transitional period, and hold a national conference to come up with new electoral laws and a constitution," he said.

The owner of a floating restaurant in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, wanted to make "something that people can stay on the ocean and sit and drink".

Abdulkader Mohamed Ibrahim owns the Lanterna, a double-decker boat, which is a floating restaurant moored off Mogadishu’s popular Lido beach.

Mogadishu is one of the most dangerous cities on the African continent, with militant attacks creating fear and instability.

Against this background, residents have learned to escape to the sea, to the Lanterna, which Mr Ibrahim says "is like the light and we are the only light shinning there".

Mr Ibrahim - with some guests - told BBC Newsday all about the experience.

A motorbike ban aimed at curbing crime has come into effect in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.

It was announced last month, with city mayor Takele Uma saying that a large number of crimes were being carried out by people on motorbikes.

At the time Mr Takele said that exceptions would be made for people using the vehicles for business, but there seems to be some confusion.

One food delivery company has suspended its services while it works out what is happening:

Last month, another company announced on Facebook that the authorities had begun seizing motorbikes and it was suspending operations "for the safety of our drivers".

Deliver Addis said it was talking to the city government to find out how to comply with the new regulations:

In recent years, motorbikes have become increasingly popular in the city as a means to avoid traffic jams, but there are not as commonly seen as in many other African cities such as Nairobi, the BBC's Kalkidan Yibeltal says.

Tuesday marks eight years of South Sudan's independence from Sudan but there will be no big celebrations because of the tough economic situation in the country, independent Eye Radio reports quoting Information Minister Michael Makuei.

There have only been big celebrations once since the civil war began in 2013.

"There will be no celebration at the national level, but there will be a low-profile celebration at the presidency, because we don't want to lose money for doing celebrations as we used to do," Mr Makuei told Eye Radio.

President Salva Kiir is expected to make a national address.

South Sudan seceded from Sudan in 2011 after a decades-long civil war. But fighting that began in 2013 has thrown the country into turmoil and severely dented economic development.

A peace deal has been agreed but has not yet been implemented.

Image source, Getty Images

Mayeni Jones
BBC News, Lagos

An opera written entirely in Pidgin is being performed in Nigeria's city of Lagos for the first time.

Helen Epega, also known as the Venus Bushfires, is the creator of Song Queen, which she says is the world’s first Pidgin opera.

In Nigeria, Pidgin has long been considered the language of the streets. But initiatives like Song Queen, show this may be changing.

Bringing people together is central to the message and look of the opera and Epega borrows from multiple cultures to promote its message of peace and unity.

In a country that often struggles to reconcile different identities, this celebration of the Pidgin language may well be something that can cross divides.

Watch more here:

Kenyan MPs are demanding an increase to several allowances, including money to buy a vehicle and attending parliamentary sessions, privately owned Daily Nation newspaper is reporting.

On the front page, the newspaper says the MPs are "on a binge" and then inside it says "greed [is] at its peak".

In the past, Kenyan MPs have been accused of being among some of the highest paid lawmakers in the world, but in 2017 they got a 15 % pay cut as part of efforts to reduce public spending.

The Daily Nation has seen a memorandum sent earlier this year by MPs to parliament's Salaries and Remuneration Commission.

It estimates that if the demand to boost allowances is agreed to, then members could take home at least $20,500 (£16,400) a month, nearly double their current monthly income.

The newspaper says that according to the memo, which is signed by the speaker of the National Assembly, MPs want to increase mortgage entitlements, improve medical cover and double their car grants to $97,500.

They also want a 50% increase in the sitting allowance - the amount MPs get paid to attend a session.

The authorities in Nigeria's main city of Lagos have seized a "truckload" of poisonous cowhide imported into the country.

Cowhide, popularly known as ponmo, is a delicacy in the western states of the country.

The Lagos state government said on Twitter that the cowhide had been "preserved with chemicals to serve as a leather material, but was being sold for human consumption".

It said the police had made arrests.

This is not the first incident this year, and in April the authorities warned consumers of "toxic cowhides" , externalin markets, especially in Lagos.

Image source, Getty Images

The aid charity Oxfam says that inequality is at crisis levels in West Africa, external but accuses many governments in the region of ignoring the issue, despite economic growth.

A report, co-authored with financial consultancy Development Finance International, ranks West African countries on their commitment to public spending, taxation and labour markets.

The authors cite several eye-catching statistics highlighting the state of inequality.

They say the "wealthiest 1% of West Africans own more than everyone else in the region combined".

The report also says that the combined wealth of Nigeria's five richest men - $29.9bn (£24bn) - is more than their government's budget in 2017.

Overall, the authors found that the three countries most committed to reducing inequality were Cape Verde, Mauritania and Senegal.

The least committed were Niger, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

To address the problems "West African governments must promote progressive taxation, boost social spending, strengthen labour market protection, invest in agriculture and strengthen land rights for smallholder farmers," Oxfam's Adama Coulibaly said.

Image source, Getty Images

Tunisia beat Ghana on penalties to set up an Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final with Madagascar.

Goalkeeper Farouk Ben Mustapha was the hero, coming on for the shootout and saving Caleb Ekuban's penalty.

Tunisia had been seconds away from winning in 90 minutes, but substitute Rami Bedoui headed into his own net in injury time, with his first touch.

They had led in Ismailia through Taha Yassine Khenissi's goal from Wajdi Kechrida's cross.

Ghana striker Ekuban was the only player to fail with his kick in the shootout, with Ferjani Sassi scoring the winning kick.

Tunisia now face Madagascar, ranked 108th in the world, on Thursday, despite not having won a game in 90 minutes. The Eagles of Carthage drew all three group games before their penalty shootout win over Ghana.

The Black Stars dominated the opening stages of the game, and had a first-half goal controversially disallowed. Thomas Partey fed Jordan Ayew, who crossed for his brother Andre to score a backheel.

The referee ruled the goal out for a Partey handball, with VAR not coming in until the quarter-finals, but the Atletico midfielder controlled the ball with his chest.

Many in Ghana were not too happy with the officiating:

In Monday's first game, Wilfried Zaha scored the winner as the Ivory Coast beat Mali 1-0 to reach the quarter-finals.

Mali had been wasteful with Moussa Marega and Moussa Djenepo both missing good opportunities when well placed.

The Ivory Coast play Algeria in the last eight on Thursday (17:00 BST).

There are no games on Tuesday.

Image source, Caine Prize

The Caine Prize for African Writing has been won by British-born Nigerian writer Lesley Nneka Arimah.

Her satirical short story Skinned, external focuses on the challenges faced by women in African societies still dominated by traditional rituals.

The story follows the fortunes of Ejem, who comes from a culture where girls are uncovered at a certain age and go naked until they are claimed by a husband.

The 36-year-old told the Literary Hub , externalthat the idea came from a conversation about the difference between married and single women in Nigeria: “A newly wed friend marvelled at how her family - usually difficult - became easy going after her wedding. Marriage gave unconventional women cover to be themselves, we observed.”

Arimah told the BBC's Newsday programme that her story is set in an "alternate Nigeria... a parallel universe to ours".

She uses the setting to "touch on this aspect of Nigerian culture that privileges marriage and a woman being married [being] essentially her duty".

The chairperson of the judging panel, Peter Kimani, described the story as a "unique retake of women’s struggle for inclusion in a society regulated by rituals".

Arimah was shortlisted for the award in 2017 and her debut collection What It Means When A Man Falls From The Sky was published to critical acclaim the same year.

The Caine Prize, which is worth $12,500 (£10,000) is awarded for a short story published in English. It was established in 2000 with the aim of bringing African writing to a wider international audience.

Listen to Arimah's interview with Newsday: