A video of lorry drivers playing football at the Uganda border has prompted hilarity and exasperation as the country experiences a fuel crisis.

In the short clip, which is being widely shared online, fuel tankers can be seen queuing up along a road as drivers strip down to their vests to pass time kicking around a ball.

It was first shared two days ago when tweeters said the footage was shot at the Malaba border between Uganda and Kenya.

Queues of trucks as long as 70km (40 miles) have been reported over the last few days.

The delays have been attributed to the requirement that drivers be tested for Covid-19 at the border, regardless of whether they have a negative PCR test.

Even though the requirement has since been suspended, it led to a build-up at the Malaba and Busia borders in the east of the country and has also led to an increase in fuel prices.

Vumani Mkhize
BBC News, Cape Town

Image source, EPA

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has opened a new manufacturing plant which will be the first in Africa to produce Covid-19 vaccines from start to finish.

The Nant-SA facility in Cape Town was an initiative by the US-based, South African-born biotech billionaire Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong.

It aims to start producing the vaccines within a year and to make a billion doses annually by 2025.

Image source, AFP

South Africa has two other facilities which produce vaccines from semi-finished batches.

At the opening Mr Ramaphosa said the move showed that the African continent was moving towards self reliance.

“Africa should no longer be the last in line to access vaccines during pandemics, we shouldn’t be going cap in hand begging for vaccines.”

Augustine Eguavoen backs the appointment of Jose Peseiro as his successor as Nigeria coach after the Africa Cup of Nations.

After Comoros beat former champions Ghana at the Nations Cup, the islanders' coach thinks they can reach an expanded World Cup.

Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

Image source, Getty Images

A court in Mozambique has sentenced the leader of a poaching gang to 30 years in prison.

Judges in Maputo Province found Admiro Chauque guilty of illegal possession of weapons, and numerous poaching offences in southern Mozambique, as well as in South Africa's Kruger National Park.

He was arrested trying to poach rhinos in May last year.

There is a strong demand for rhino horn in China and Vietnam.

The court also gave a nine-year sentence to a man who was caught laying traps to catch animals in Maputo National Park.

In recent years the judiciary in Mozambique has imposed heavy penalties on poachers and people transporting the protected animals.

Ameyu Etana
BBC Afaan Oromoo

Ethiopians are mourning pioneering musician Nuho Gobana, who has died aged 74 after a long career that saw him produce timeless classics, including many songs urging the Oromo people to find their strength and unite to demand change.

The Oromo ethnic group, despite being Ethiopia’s largest, was marginalised by successive Ethiopian rulers until Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power a few years ago.

Nuho had been ill for some time - and when his fans realised the seriousness of his situation a few months ago, they bought him a house in Adama, east of the capital, Addis Ababa, where he died on Tuesday night.

During the Marxist military dictatorship of the 1980s, the musician left Ethiopia, living as a refugee in a number of countries including Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, and Canada.

''Back then, Nuho was doing songs to empower his people. His music was easily memorable,'' his long-time friend and notable musician Elemo Ali recalls of their life in Saudi Arabia.

Another of his friends, Abdo Alisho, has spoken of how powerful his songs were: “They made you love your country. Nuho lived for his people.”

He went on to influence younger Oromo singers like Hachalu Hundessa, who was killed in 2020 and whose songs had become anthems in a wave of protests that led to the downfall of Mr Abiy’s predecessor.

Nuho didn’t just sing in Afaan Oromoo, writing lyrics in other Ethiopian languages and in Arabic when he was abroad.

Speaking to the BBC from his hospital bed two years ago, the musician had the same message to his fans: ''Keep your unity strong.''

One of his most famous songs was Tokkummaa, which means unity in Afaan Oromoo - and which was also the title of a popular Hachalu hit.

Chelsea and Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy feels "immense pride" to be named as Best Fifa men's goalkeeper for 2021.

Zambia's football association appoint former Croatia international Aljosa Asanovic to take charge of their national team.

Lalla Sy
BBC News

Image source, AFP

Mali has been making overtures to neighbouring Guinea and Mauritania as it seeks allies following last week’s decision by the regional bloc Ecowas to impose sanctions.

The move came after the military government announced a four-year delay to elections originally planned for February following coups in August 2020 and May 2021.

The sanctions include the closure of the vast landlocked West African country’s borders and a trade embargo.

Mali hopes Guinea will be receptive as it too has been suspended from Ecowas following a coup last September, while Mauritania is not an Ecowas member.

A large delegation went to Conakry on Monday and another to Nouakchott on Tuesday to discuss ways to ease the movement of people and goods.

Besides Guinea and Mauritania, the country shares borders with Algeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, Ivory Coast, Niger and Senegal.

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, Reuters

A man accused of setting fire to South Africa's parliament is being released from a psychiatric hospital and moved to an regular prison from where he can request bail.

This follows a decision by a high court which said that Zandile Christmas Mafe’s referral to Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital in Cape Town to undergo 30 days of evaluation was unlawful.

Prosecutors said they had a report that he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia - a diagnosis both he and his lawyers have rubbished.

"The further detention of Mr Mafe in Valkenberg is unlawful and should come to an end with immediate effect," Judge President John Hlophe said on Tuesday, ordering he be moved on Wednesday morning.

The 49-year-old has denied setting the parliament building in Cape Town ablaze.

Mr Mafe faces a few charges, including arson and terrorism. Prosecutors say he detonated explosives in parliament that totally destroyed the National Assembly, or lower chamber, earlier this month.

But his legal team have said he is being used as a scapegoat by a prosecution rushing to get a conviction. He is due to apply for bail on Saturday.

Ferdinand Omondi
BBC News, Yala

Kenyan police now say that incidences of decomposing bodies being recovered from a river in the western part of the country have been going on for two years.

However police spokesman Bruno Shioso told the BBC that investigations had yet to reveal those responsible or the motive behind the killings.

There seems be some discrepancy over the numbers.

On Tuesday, activists went to the Yala Sub-County Hospital, about 40km (24 miles) north-west of the lakeside city of Kisumu, and said they counted 20 bodies recovered from River Yala which had been unclaimed.

As the hospital only keeps unclaimed bodies for 90 days, they must have been recovered over the last three months.

BBC journalists have since seen two more bodies in the river.

But in a statement on Wednesday, the National Police Service said it had cases of only 19 bodies being reported over a period of two years.

A diver who says he has been helping retrieve the corpses for the last six months believes there could be many more bodies in the river.

Families missing their loved ones have started reporting to the local police headquarters hoping to identify the bodies, some of which are badly decomposed.

The police say a special forensics team has been sent to Yala to speed up the identification of the victims.

Anxious Kenyans are demanding answers, amid allegations that most of the bodies recovered from the river had shown signs of torture.

England play New Zealand in the final of the Netball Quad Series after South Africa play New Zealand in the third place play-off at the Copper Box Arena, London - listen to BBC radio commentary.

Wycliffe Muia
BBC Monitoring

Ghana has denied reports that it would consider hosting a processing centre for asylum seekers on behalf of the UK.

Several British news outlets had reported that the UK was drawing up plans to send thousands of asylum seekers to countries "such as Ghana and Rwanda" for processing and resettlement.

It is reportedly part of an initiative codenamed "Operation Red Meat".

In a statement on Twitter, external, Ghana’s Foreign Ministry referred to the policy as "Operation Dead Meat" and said it had not engaged with the UK on the matter and did not intend to consider "any such operation in the future".

Rwanda said last year that while it had signed a memorandum of understanding on migration with Denmark, receiving asylum seekers for processing was not part of the deal., external

The African Union last year opposed the exportation of asylum seekers, external from Europe to Africa, terming the move "xenophobic and completely unacceptable".

Image source, Sierra Leone Attorney General's Office

Sierra Leone's President Julius Maada Bio has sacked the attorney general who is also the justice minister.

No reasons have been given by the presidency.

Local media have linked the sacking to the pardoning of prisoners on New Year's Day and photos of the attorney general with one of the freed inmates.

Anthony Yeiwoh Brewah has been replaced by Mohamed Lamin Tarawalley.

Local media reports that Mr Brewah sat on a committee that made recommendations to the president for the pardoning of 160 inmates.

The attorney general was then pictured at his house with Baimba Moi Foray - who had been convicted of the murder of a DJ - which sparked outrage.

Foray's pardoning has since been revoked.

Mr Brewah has not commented about the photos or his sacking.

Image source, Getty Images

Lions and pumas at a South African zoo may have contracted Covid from their handlers, according to a study by scientists at the University of Pretoria.

The scientists warn of the risk of new variants emerging if the virus "establishes itself in other animal reservoirs” and is transmitted back to human beings.

The study was done after the animals fell ill with symptoms that were similar to coronavirus in human beings - including breathing difficulties, runny noses and a dry cough.

Covid tests on the animals turned out positive, the research noted, with data suggesting that they contracted the virus from staff handling them.

The authors noted that the zoo keepers had coronavirus circulating among them at the time but showed no symptoms.

They have recommended measures such as wearing masks and infection control when dealing with captive animals.

The research has been published in the peer-reviewed journal Viruses.

The Newsroom
BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

The transitional authorities in Chad have released from prison the first of some 250 members of armed groups they had promised to set free under an amnesty.

Chad's Justice Minister Ahmat Mahamat Alhabo led a short ceremony at a prison near the capital where 22 detainees who had been convicted of taking up arms against the government were released.

Rebel groups have been invited to join national peace-building talks which are due to start next month.

One of those officially pardoned, Samedi Torde Tanel, thanked those who made it possible, and said he hoped others could benefit from such a gesture in the future.

The amnesty was proposed following President Idriss Déby's death at the battlefront last April.

Chad's transitional military council is led by his son, Mahamat Idriss Déby.

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Former BBC reporter Mohamed Moalimu is recovering after being targeted on Sunday in Somalia.

Morocco draw 2-2 with Gabon in one of the best games of the Africa Cup of Nations so far as both sides progress from Group C.

Ghana suffer a humiliating group-stage exit at the Nations Cup as the four-time champions are beaten 3-2 by debutants Comoros.