Emmanuel Igunza
BBC News, Nairobi

Kenyan presidential hopeful Raila Odinga has released a music single as campaigns for the August general election heat up.

It's rare for candidates themselves to release campaign songs - usually famous artists do it for them - but Kenya does have a few entertainers-turned-MPs such as singer Charles Njagua aka Jaguar.

Mr Odinga's song titled Leo ni Leo, meaning "Today is Today" in Swahili, is a remix of song by a popular artist from western Kenya - one of the areas considered as a stronghold for the former prime minister and opposition leader.

This is the fifth time he is running for president, and many believe it'll be his last.

The catchy tune, which has an accompanying video, goes on to say that "whoever tells us to wait for tomorrow, is a liar".

Kenya is currently in full campaign mode ahead of the vote in six months time polls. It is being seen as a two-horse race between Mr Odinga and current Deputy President William Ruto.

President Uhuru Kenyatta, who has served his two terms in office, is backing Mr Odinga - once his biggest political rival.

The campaigns have deeply divided the country, with several politicians already in trouble for utterances that authorities say could lead to violence during the elections.

The 10-year-old refuse worker in Sudan became trapped in the truck's crushing mechanism.

The arrest of Nigerian "super cop" Abba Kyari on drug-trafficking charges has laid bare the "public bickering" between two of Nigeria's law enforcement bodies, an analyst tells BBC Focus on Africa.

"There was a kind of attempt to protect [Mr Kyari] from investigation," says Idayat Hassan, director of the Centre for Democracy and Development.

"We got to this point due to the refusal of the Nigerian police to release Kyari immediately to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency [NDLEA]."

She notes that the police only handed over Mr Kyari once it also publicly indicted a number of NDLEA officers accused of being involved in the drug-smuggling.

The real challenge is the "clean-up" they'll now have to do to "convince" the Nigerian people, Ms Hassan tells the BBC.

"There is only one Nigeria and all these agencies are expected to work together. It doesn't infuse the trust citizens want to have."

But she believes the spat will "have a positive impact because people will know there are no sacred cows. Even with the slight on their integrity by the police I think the [NDLEA] will want to do more".

Shingai Nyoka
BBC News, Harare

Image source, Getty Images

Zimbabwe's largest teachers' union, Zimta, says most of its members are returning to work after it called off a strike over poor wages.

Teachers are demanding salaries of $540 (£400) - two to three times more than what many earn now. The government has offered a 20% rise as well as a one-off bonus of $100, among other incentives.

Other teachers' unions have vowed to continue the work stoppage until all their demands are met.

Among them are the Amalgamated Rural Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe, which continues to strike. It called the government's three-month suspension on all striking workers "illegal" and is challenging it in court.

All of Zimbabwe's civil servants have been offered a wage increase, following years of stagnating salaries.

The teachers' strike began last week as schools opened after a long delay caused by Covid-19 lockdown measures that caused widespread disruption to learning.

Kenyan teachers will now be entitled to up to four months of paid parental leave following an agreement with their government employer.

Female teachers will get 120 days of maternity leave while their male colleagues will be entitled to three weeks of paternity leave.

This is an increase from the three months and 14 days that Kenyan female and male workers are respectively entitled to.

Parents who adopt a child will be given 45 days of leave under the agreement.

Teachers constitute the majority of Kenyan public workforce, with more than 300,000 of them employed by the Teachers Service Commission.

The teachers will be required to submit their leave requests online and early enough to allow planning on how the vacancies are to be filled.

BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

US troops have joined several hundred soldiers from 10 African countries for an annual military exercise in Ivory Coast.

The two-week exercise, known as Flintlock, is designed to strengthen co-ordination against Islamist militant groups in West Africa and the Sahel.

It opens just before French President Emmanuel Macron hosts a summit in Paris this week on the future of the French-led multinational force based in Mali.

Following the coups there and in neighbouring Burkina Faso - as well as the growing influence of the Russian mercenary force known as the Wagner Group - France and its European allies have said they are prepared to withdraw security assistance unless the military regimes pledge to restore democratic government.

A section of the border fence separating Kenya and Somalia has been vandalised, Kenya's Nation newspaper reports.

It says the damaged 8km (five-mile) stretch near Mandera town had cost a whopping 3.4bn Kenyan shillings ($30m; £22m) to build.

"They have been pulling the wires using lorries and as you can see, it’s only the concrete poles standing," local resident Adan Siad told the Nation.

The paper said its reporter also "witnessed men with a donkey cart uprooting some of the remaining poles".

Kenya's government had originally promised to build a complex wall to run about 700km along the border.

But the "wall", which was meant to stop al-Shabab Islamist militants from crossing into Kenya, remains incomplete.

• Read more about the fence here

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Ugandan police have arrested seven people for allegedly belonging to two terror cells, and having links to a raid in the central Lukaya and Butambala districts.

Police Spokesman Fred Enanga said intelligence operations had showed that the suspects were being prepared for attacks by fugitive cleric imam Suleman Nsubuga.

Police raided two hideouts of suspected terror cells.

Mr Nsubuga escaped a raid to his hideout in the central Wakiso District last year.

Mr Enanga said police were working to dismantle any regrouping cells following sustained crackdowns after militant attacks in October and November 2021.

"These are operational cells which are autonomous, mobile and flexible. However, we want to reassure the public we will ensure we eliminate them and prevent creation of new cells," he said.

The Ugandan government last year blamed Islamic State-affiliated Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) for a series of attacks in the capital, Kampala, which left scores dead and dozens wounded.

The attacks led to a joint operation with the Democratic Republic Congo forces against the rebels that began with air strikes on 30 November.

A second phase of the operation is currently ongoing in eastern DR Congo, while no attacks have been reported in Uganda in recent times.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

Two Sudanese protesters were shot dead by security forces on Monday, a union of doctors in Sudan says.

This takes the number of people killed since October's coup to at least 80.

The latest pro-democracy protests on Monday took place in several cities and towns across the country to reject military rule and call for the release of recently arrested politicians.

Since last week three politicians who had once been in the ruling sovereign council have been detained.

They had all been part of a task force appointed to dismantle the economic and political networks set up during the former president Omar al-Bashir's rule of almost three decades.

Jonathan Paye-Layleh
BBC News, Monrovia

Image source, Reuters

Year-long celebrations have begun in Liberia to commemorate the time when freed slaves from the US first arrived there two centuries ago. They then went on to establish the country as an independent republic in 1847.

Thousands were at a ceremony on Monday in the capital, Monrovia, led by President George Weah and attended by a number of West African heads of state, star singers and people from the diaspora - mostly African-Americans.

Liberia's current economic frustrations under Mr Weah's presidency prompted many people to ask that the celebrations be cancelled.

US envoy Dana Banks, who spoke at Monday's ceremony, also urged Liberia to do more to "root out corruption".

But Information Minister Ledgerhood Rennie told the BBC that Liberia needed to showcase its "rich history and culture - and we should tell the rest of the world that we’re back as a country, shining as the oldest black independent country south of the Sahara".

"Liberia stood as the pedestal for black independence south of the Sahara and also - far afield - where other nations of black people were looking up to Liberia as a glowing nation on the continent of Africa," he said.

Celebrations are happening as hospitals run out of drugs as well as fuel to power the generators that are needed to deal with frequent blackouts.

University and secondary school teachers go on strike regularly over salary cuts and delays, the cost of transportation has become unaffordable while underpaid police have developed a habit of erecting checkpoints to collect money from motorists in the name of highway patrol.

Mr Rennie insisted "the economic situation of our country is not bad - the economic boom is going on".

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC News

Image source, AFP

The Tigray region's top Islamic council has severed ties with the country’s umbrella body - the Ethiopia’s Islamic Affairs Council.

This comes days after Tigray's Orthodox religious leaders announced they had cut ties with the Ethiopian Orthodox church to establish their own synod.

Muslim leaders say they took the decision due to the failure of the country's Islamic body to denounce the war that's been raging on since 2020.

The council cited the attacks on one of its holiest sites, Al Nejashi mosque, which was shelled and damaged in the early months of the conflict.

The mosque is believed to have been built in the 7th Century by the first Muslims to migrate to Africa during the time of Prophet Muhammad.

Analysts say the religious splinters mark a significant chapter in the conflict in a country where more than 40% of the population identify as belonging to the Orthodox faith, while Muslims account for about 34%.

The Orthodox Tewahodo Church has the largest following in Ethiopia and has massive influence in both the social and political spheres of the country.

Kalkidan Yibeltal
BBC News

Image source, AFP

Ethiopia’s lower house of parliament has approved with a majority vote a resolution to lift a state of emergency ahead of its expiry date.

It follows the proposal by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s cabinet last month to end the emergency period.

The emergency decree was passed in November last year for six months as an alliance of rebel forces - including the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) - advanced towards the capital Addis Ababa.

The government has cited an improved security situation and the economic costs of the decree as the reasons for its decision.

While intense fighting between government and the Tigray rebels has reduced, attacks and armed confrontations have continued in the Afar region, Tigray’s eastern neighbour.

Aboubakar Famau
BBC News, Dodoma

A Tanzanian man has shocked his village by building his own grave in preparation for his death.

Patrick Kimaro, 59, says his family is slowly accepting his decision, which is viewed by the community as a bad omen.

Traditional leaders from Mr Kimaro's ethnic group in Kilimanjaro region say a grave should not be dug in anticipation of death and it should not remain empty for long.

Mr Kimaro, who works as a policeman, told BBC Swahili that he started building his grave in January to cushion his family from high funeral expenses when he dies.

"Being a first-born child, I had a difficult time burying my parents when they died six months apart... so I decided I'll not take my children through the same [experience]," he told BBC Swahili.

Mr Kimaro plans to set aside some money for his casket and believes his family will be able to raise money for other related expenses after his death.

He is also planning to take insurance for his grave in the event of natural calamities like flooding that may destroy it.

The preparation of the grave, including its exquisite finishing, cost him a total of $3,000 (£2,200).

Mr Kimaro's home security guard says some neighbours have shied away from visiting since the grave was dug within the compound.

Some of his family members have however got used to the grave and even sit around it to chat.

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC News, Nairobi

Image source, ICC-CPI

The trial of a Kenyan lawyer accused of bribing prosecution witnesses of the International Criminal Court is due to begin in The Hague.

Paul Gicheru faces charges of hindering the administration of justice by corruptly influencing witnesses regarding the 2007-2008 post election violence cases in Kenya. He denies the allegations.

He surrendered himself to the court in November 2020 - five years after the ICC issued an arrest warrant against him.

Prosecutors said the allegations against him undermined the case that Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto faced at the court.

Mr Ruto faced murder, deportation and persecution charges during Kenya's post-election violence in which about 1,200 people were killed - accusations that he has always denied.

The ICC threw out the case against him citing lack of evidence but refused to acquit him. It said there had been witness interference and political meddling.

President Uhuru Kenyatta also faced charges over the election violence, becoming the first sitting head of state to appear before the court in 2014.

The charges against him and three others were dropped the same year.

Image source, AFP

France has said that "conditions are no longer in place" to continue the fight against Islamist militants in Mali.

President Emmanuel Macron has asked to reorganise French troops in the Sahel region.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the country would continue to fight against terrorism in neighbouring countries.

France had already cut the number of troops in Mali.

Mali's military took power in 2020 and there has been growing tension between the rulers and international partners.

In December, 16 countries - mostly in Europe - condemned Mali's decision to work with private military contractors from the Russian Wagner group.

BBC World Service

Israel has clinched a $500m (£370m) deal to supply Morocco with an air defence system.

The contract with Israeli Aerospace follows the signing last November of a memorandum of understanding on defence collaboration by the two countries.

Morocco agreed to normalise relations with Israel in a US-brokered deal in late 2020.

BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

Dozens of refugees have protested in Tunisia – complaining about their treatment and demanding to be evacuated.

The migrants – mostly from Sudan and sub-Saharan countries – held a sit-in in front of UN offices in the southern port of Zarzis.

Some held up banners reading "stop the violence against us."

The Tunisian coastguard intercepted nearly 20,000 migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe during the first three-quarters of last year.

Nicolas Negoce
BBC News

Image source, AFP

Separatist rebels in Senegal’s southern Casamance region have released seven soldiers who they captured last month.

The soldiers were captured on 24 January during a clash with the MFDC separatists, in which four other soldiers were killed.

They were handed over to a representative of the West African regional bloc Ecowas in The Gambia on Monday, according to a statement by the Senegalese army.

The Senegalese army said that the soldiers appeared to be in good health.

The troops had been part of Ecowas peacekeeping mission deployed in The Gambia for the past five years.

The Senegalese army said they had been captured in The Gambia - denying allegations that they were seized by the rebels after crossing to Casamance to pursue the separatists.

The Casamance region, which has a distinct culture and language, has been at the centre of a long-running conflict.

It is is separated geographically from the rest of Senegal by the Gambia River.

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Nigeria's largest city is notorious for its traffic, which is having an impact on children's education.