Image source, Getty Images

Another plan to boost travel to Ghana has been announced, three years after the "Year of Return" encouraged Africans in the diaspora to visit the country.

President Nana Akufo-Addo launched "Destination Ghana" at the weekend, external, extolling his nation's "rich culture", business opportunities and political stability.

Visitors to Ghana no longer have to take a PCR test before entering, and across the country mask-wearing is now optional instead of mandatory.

Tourism figures show there was a 45% increase from January to September in 2019 compared to the same period the previous year.

But it's not possible to prove if this was specifically because of the Year of Return initiative, as tourists were not asked to state this on arrival as the reason for their visit.

More stories about travel:

• 'I rode through 22 states across Nigeria in seven days'
• What does it mean to be a black traveller?
• Did Ghana's Year of Return attract visitors?

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

A gunboat used patrol Nigeria's southern coast in a fight against against piracy, valued at $103m (£78m), reportedly sank at a container terminal in the commercial capital, Lagos.

In a video circulating on social media, seafarers are seen blaming the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (Nimasa) for the sinking due to "negligence".

The seafarers said they had reported the impending disaster to the authorities.

Nimasa has, however, absolved itself of blame.

But Osagie Edward, a spokesperson for the maritime authority, said the boat belonged to a private security contractors and was among 24 vessels seized by an anti-corruption agency several years ago from individuals who it is alleged bought them from the proceeds of corruption.

"It must be stated that this vessel was not in our jetty and under our management at the time of the incident. The crew onboard do not report to Nimasa but to Global West management, its owners," he is quoted by local media as saying.

The average South African is fed up of the pandemic and the president's decision to end the disaster management phase "should have happened a long time ago", a top medic has told the BBC.

Angelique Coetzee is the South African doctor who first spotted the Omicron coronavirus variant last year.

"We should not let our guards down," she told BBC Newsday. "We are not out of the pandemic, we still have over 1,000 new cases per day. But we have seen that the average citizen out there is not adhering to [restrictions]."

She said ventilation, hand-washing, sanitation and water were vital in controlling the spread of coronavirus - not just "pharmaceutical interventions" such as vaccines.

Labour union Solidarity were reportedly due to have their case against the health ministry heard in court on Tuesday, but before that could happen the end of so-called state of disaster was announced.

Listen to the interview in full:

Chris Ewokor
BBC News, Abuja

At least 22 people have been abducted from a kidnapping hotspot in Nigeria just one day after it was patrolled by Nigeria's police chief.

This stretch of the Abuja-Kaduna highway, in north-western Kaduna state, is notorious for attacks blamed on armed gangs, known locally as bandits, who run huge money-making kidnapping operations.

Local residents told the BBC that large numbers of bandits, clad in military uniforms and wielding sophisticated weapons, stormed Angwar Maji village, which is located close to the highway, on Sunday night.

They reportedly went from house to house, selecting their victims before marching them away at gun point. Many people thought it was a military operation until some of the victims who escaped later returned to say they had been kidnapped.

It follows last week's horrific attack on a busy train travelling from the capital, Abuja, to the city of Kaduna. Earlier this month, there were reports that Kaduna's airport was attacked.

In the last 24 months in Nigeria alone, armed gangs have killed hundreds of people and forced thousands to flee their homes.

More on Nigeria's kidnapping crisis:

• 'I was kidnapped and now only travel by train'
• Letters replace phones in Nigeria's kidnap zone
• Outrage at Nigeria's brazen bandit attacks

A junior tennis player has been filmed slapping his opponent across the face after losing their match in Ghana's capital, Accra.

France's Michael Kouamé, 15, struck Ghana's Raphael Nii Ankrah, 16, when the pair shook hands at the net, to the shock of onlookers:

No official statement has been given by the players or by the International Tennis Federation, which is running the juniors' world tennis tour.

Following his win on Monday, Ankrah will now play fellow Ghanaian Ishmael Nii Nortey Dowuona in the next round.

Emery Makumeno
BBC News, Kinshasa

Long queues have been witnessed at petrol station in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital, Kinshasa, as the city struggles with fuel shortages.

Fuel prices have not changed, but only limited amounts are being sold per day.

The shortage started to bite on Monday although the authorities insist there is sufficient supply.

The government has tried to reassure people by saying the situation is being addressed.

Oil marketers in the country have demanded that fuel prices go up to match international prices.

BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

The first trial for war crimes committed in Darfur nearly 20 years ago has begun at the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

The trial began with a reading of a summary of the charges against Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb.

He is charged with 31 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, relating to his time as leader of a pro-government militia in the Sudanese region.

He is alleged to have participated in attacks on civilians in four towns in Darfur between August 2003 and March 2004.

He denies the charges.

The ICC has also issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's former President Omar al-Bashir on charges of committing genocide and war crimes in Darfur.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Image source, Getty Images

Tunisian MPs face charges that may carry the death sentence for attending an online session of the suspended parliament last week, legal and political figures have said.

The session was condemned by the Tunisian president as a "failed coup attempt".

The legislators stand accused of having "attempted to change the political system and to cause disorder", said former MP Samir Dilou, who attended the session, as quoted by French-language Realites website on Monday.

The former dean of Tunisian lawyers, Abderazzek el-Kilani, has announced the creation of a national committee to defend the MPs and raise public awareness of the "serious charges" they face, Mosaique FM website reported.

Last Friday, several MPs, including the leader of the Islamist Ennahdha party, Rached Ghannouchi, were summoned by the anti-terrorism unit after they attended the online session.

During the session, they voted to nullify exceptional measures taken by President Kais Saied last summer, which included the suspension of the parliament.

After the session, the president dissolved the parliament and condemned the meeting as a "plot against the state's internal and external security".

The trial is a momentous day for victims of the conflict in Sudan, a human rights lawyer says.

Police in South Africa's capital, Pretoria, are looking for a shopping trolley rider who was filmed holding on to the back of a fuel tanker that was speeding on a major highway.

The incident happened on Sunday following heavy rains, local media report. The man was seen smiling and waving at other motorists.

Footage of the incident has been shared widely among social media users in the country.

“Investigations into the alleged hitch-hiking incident is currently under way and the hitch-hiker will be brought to book soon,” local traffic police spokesperson Sello Maremane is quoted as saying.

She urged people to "make use of public transport as an alternative means rather than endangering their lives and that of other road users."

Abdi Dahir
BBC Monitoring, Nairobi

Image source, AFP

Somalia’s spy agency has warned about an alleged plot by al-Qaeda-allied al-Shabab militants to attack the president and the prime minister.

The National Intelligence and Security Agency (Nisa) said in a tweet that it had briefed the nation’s leaders on the "plot being hatched by the al-Shabab mafia".

The agency did not provide further details, but said that it was pursuing everyone involved.

The warning comes amid a political crisis in the country due to the much-delayed indirect elections.

Al-Shabab has also intensified attacks across Somalia.

The group recently attacked a heavily-fortified airport complex which houses UN offices, foreign embassies and various diplomatic missions in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

It also carried out two suicide bombings in the central Beledweyne town, killing at least 48 people, including a female member of the federal parliament.

Read more:

• Who are Somalia's al-Shabab?
• Al-Shabab 'collects more revenue than government'

Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

A section of Rwandan refugees living in Mozambique have began their return home after nearly three decades since they escaped the 1994 genocide.

Between April and June 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the space of 100 days. Millions others fled to neighbouring countries.

The Mozambican authorities estimate that there are about 3,000 Rwandan refugees living in the country.

Many of them now believe that the situation that forced them to leave their country has changed.

The Rwandan government is supporting the refugee reintegration programme. The return is voluntary and some 19 refugees will this week be flown back home.

One of the refugees, Miyonsenoa Domoties, said she was confident of the peace in Rwanda and was returning homes after spending eight years in Mozambique.

“We chose to flee to Mozambique. But after some time, good information arrived indicating that there was peace in Rwanda, so we have decided to go home,” she said.

The genocide was sparked by the death of the Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, when his plane was shot down above Kigali airport on 6 April 1994.

Read more on this topic:

• Rwanda genocide: 100 days of slaughter

BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

France has called for an international investigation into reports that hundreds of civilians have been killed by government troops and Russian mercenaries in Mali.

The EU and the US have made similar calls related to the deaths in the central Moura region.

On Friday, the Malian military said it had killed more than 200 Islamist militants during 10 days of fighting in the area.

It has not been possible to verify independently who was killed and by whom.

Mali denies mercenaries from Russia's Wagner group are helping it fight an Islamist insurgency.

BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

South Africa has announced the ending of Covid restrictions, two years after they were imposed.

In a televised address, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the national state of disaster would end at midnight on Monday.

Masks will still be required indoors for another month..

He said although the pandemic was not over, he was confident that there were only better times ahead.

Mr Ramaphosa said it was important to boost the economy and create jobs.

South Africa has recorded far more coronavirus cases than any other African country, accounting for almost a third of infections across the continent.

It has officially registered over 100,000 deaths.

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Most waiters at one Kenyan café are deaf, so customers use sign language, mimes or gestures.

Increasingly sophisticated tech tells us more than ever about our food's journey from farm to fork.

That's all for now from the BBC Africa Live team. There'll be an automated news feed here until we're back on Tuesday morning.

You can also keep up to date on the BBC News website, or by listening to the Africa Today podcast.

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this photo from Senegal, where these jubilant soldiers are marking the country's independence from France in 1960.

Image source, AFP

Abdulbaki Jari
BBC Hausa

Image source, @MuhammadKhalid

An Islamic cleric removed from his post for criticising President Muhammadu Buhari has told the BBC that he would only stop talking about the insecurity in the country if government tackled the problem.

Sheikh Muhammad Khalid was suspended as the Imam of the Apo Legislative Quarters Mosque in the influential Apo area of Abuja last Friday for bemoaning insecurity across Nigeria and what he termed a collective leadership failure, especially from President Buhari.

“You have been given four years and an addition, yet people are dying like fowls, killing is becoming the norm in Nigeria under your watch Mr President,” he said.

His sermon, coming days after armed men attacked the Kaduna-Abuja train killing at least eight people and abducting others, led to his suspension by the mosque committee.

Senator Sa’idu Dansadau, chairman of the mosque committee, told the BBC that he had spoken to the imam on several occasions about his preaching but that his last sermon was akin to throwing petrol on fire.

Senator Dansadau is from Zamfara state in north-west Nigeria which has been ravaged by bandits’ attacks that killed hundreds, a point not lost on the Sheikh.

“The chairman of the mosque is from Zamfara state, he cannot visit his village today. The deputy chairman of the committee is from Niger state, he cannot go there too,” he said.

Sheikh Khalid, fondly called the Digital Imam, has since turned to Facebook and other social networks to continue his preaching amid growing interest in his sermons, posting new teachings for Ramadan.

Asked if he would return to the mosque, he said that would depend on how he is treated and a promise “not to interfere with my activities”.

Northern Nigeria is in the grip of a spate of insecurity with motorcycle bandits sacking several villages in the north-west and a decade-long war on insurgency in the north-east that has displaced hundreds of thousands.

Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo says the region will continue to oppose military takeovers.