Thomas Naadi
BBC News, Accra

Image source, Getty Images

Ghana's government has announced a raft of measures including injecting $2bn (£1.5bn) into the economy to help prop up its falling currency, and slashing the salaries of government appointees, including ministers and heads of state-owned enterprises, by 30%.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said the measures were to help Ghana cope with the impact of Covid-19 and the current rise in crude oil prices, caused by the Ukraine war.

At a press conference, Mr Ofori-Atta also announced a further 10% cut in government spending, as well as a more than 1% reduction in prices of petroleum products.

The West African country has been struggling to deal with the rising cost of living due to inflation and the falling value of its currency, the cedi.

On Monday, Ghana’s central bank also increased the interest rate for lending to commercial banks to 17%.

This will increase the cost of borrowing for individuals and businesses, experts say.

Tanzanian opposition leader Freeman Mbowe says the treason charges against him were politically motivated.

Lalla Sy
BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

The court of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) has ordered the suspension of its sanctions against Mali, pending a "detailed" court ruling, the body's spokesperson said.

In January, the organisation instructed the suspension of all financial institutions under its wing in Mali, after its ruling military junta decided to delay elections meant to restore civilian rule after coups in 2020 and 2021.

A month ago the military junta, which had repeatedly asked for the sanctions to be lifted, filed a complaint with the UEMOA Court of Justice to overturn the decision.

According to the interim government, the sanctions had severe consequences for the population, with Bamako blaming them for debt defaults worth $180m (£136m) since January.

The court's ruling does not apply to sanctions imposed by the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas).

The regional bloc, which is organising an extraordinary summit on the situation in Mali on Friday, froze Malian state assets, and suspended non-essential financial transactions.

Mali's military leader Col Assimi Goïta is invited to take part in the meeting but has not confirmed his attendance yet.

Ex-DR Congo captain Gabriel Zakuani says the country has come a long way since Zaire played at the 1974 World Cup as they face Morocco in a play-off to qualify for Qatar.

Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

The Islamist militant attacks reported in the Nangade district in the northern province of Cabo Delgado have already displaced around 24,000 people since the beginning of the year, according to a press release from the United Nations refugee agency.

Another 5,000 people sought protection in the district of Mueda, with hundreds of families still on the move, the UNHCR said.

“The number of people arriving in Mueda continues to increase, as the threat of violence remains,” the press release stated.

It also warned that the reception centres were overcrowded.

"These people need urgent humanitarian assistance and protection services," UNHRC said, highlighting the psychological trauma experienced by the displaced people, including witnessing murders, beheadings and dismemberment of people’s bodies, sexual violence, kidnappings, forced recruitment and torture.

Toby Luckhurst
BBC News, Krakow

Marik, a 22-year-old Moroccan studying in Zaporizhzhia, south-eastern Ukraine, remembers getting a call from a friend in Dnipro at 05:00 on 24 February.

"She called and said: 'There are some lights in the sky, maybe the invasion has begun.' I said: 'Stop joking, that's impossible, it's not.'" Minutes later, he saw on Telegram that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered the start of the attack.

Within an hour, he had thrown his belongings together and boarded a train to Lviv in the west. Marik shows me dozens of videos of him and his fellow students on the 22-hour trip across the country.

Once in western Ukraine, a friend drove them as close to the border with Poland before traffic forced him to turn back. Marik and his friends walked the last 40km (25 miles) overnight to the frontier.

There, officials put the international students in one line and fleeing Ukrainian women and children in another.

After three days in line, he finally crossed into Poland.

Now in Krakow, Marik says he will wait in the city in the hope the war ends quickly. If it does not, he'll go back to his hometown of Oudja in eastern Morocco.

But the medical student is keeping busy. His university has kept classes going online, despite the war.

"Because Ukraine is so strong," he says. "We have a war, but we study!"

Image source, Getty Images

A well-known Nollywood actor has addressed rumours reportedly circulated online that he had died, by cursing the person behind the gossip.

Speaking on Instagram Kanayo O Kanayo warned: "You will not live past the next seven days. You've got the wrong guy."

He said before people start rumours about famous people, they should think about the impact on their families.

"Do most people think that Nollywood actors or entertainers or popular people don't have families? What kind of life do they think we live? Somebody wakes up, compiles three, four, five pictures, and puts RIP," he said.

"My life has never been in anybody's hand. I want to thank all friends who have called since morning. I don't even have fever," he continued.

He concluded the video by thanking fans for their kindness.

Kanayo O Kanayo is a veteran in the industry and has featured in hundreds of movies over 30 years, according to Nigeria's Pulse news website., external

BBC World Service

More than 30 people were killed in twin jihadist attacks on Wednesday evening, police in central Somalia say.

The police chief for the Beledwyne district, Colonel Isak Ali Abdulle, told state television that the first attack used a suicide bomber, killing the local MP Amina Mohamed Abdi and several of her guards.

The second came from an explosive-laden vehicle, detonating a blast so powerful it destroyed a hospital and businesses nearby, causing mass casualties.

It followed an earlier assault on the international airport outside the capital, Mogadishu, in which eight people including five foreigners died.

The al-Shabab militant group has said it carried out both attacks.

There's been a recent increase in al-Shabab attacks as Somalis vote in parliamentary elections.

All the Russian Wagner group cares about is making money when it enters conflicts in Africa, the Director of Intelligence Analysis at the US Africa Command, Eric Miller, warned in an interview with the BBC's Newsday radio programme.

He warned that all mercenaries aim to do is provide services and get paid in return.

“They’re not there to support democracy or good governance, they’re not there to build infrastructure or help boost the economic potential of the country," he said.

The group was first identified in 2014 when it was backing pro-Russian separatists in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Since then, it has been involved in countries including Syria, Mozambique, Sudan, the Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali.

Mr Miller also highlighted human rights abuses that the Wagner group is accused of committing, including in Tripoli where he said they had "left a series of landmines and booby traps in those areas - they even placed grenades and other explosive in children’s toys.

"I mean who does that?” he asked.

He also outlined the group's work in Mali, saying they were conducting training, close protection and counter-terrorism, but also warned of reports that they were targeting civilians.

He said there were around 2,000 Wagner mercenaries in Libya, 1,000 in CAR, 1,000 in Mali and none in Sudan at the moment.

The Russian government has previously denied any links to Wagner.

Read more:

• Wagner: Scale of Russian mercenary mission in Libya exposed

Alfred Lasteck
BBC News, Dar es Salaam

Image source, Getty Images

Tanzania has explained why it is not taking sides in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and is calling for peace talks to bring the war to an end.

It comes a day after a delegation of European Union ambassadors in Tanzania called on the country and other African countries to raise their voices against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Tanzania's stance is echoed by its decision not to vote on a UN General Assembly resolution adopted earlier this month, calling on Russia to immediately suspend its attacks on Ukraine and withdraw its troops from the country.

Liberata Mulamula, Tanzania’s foreign minister, says Tanzania does not support war and believes that best way forward is to promote peace talks through diplomatic means.

“We are against wars, but we decided to be neutral. We stand by our policies and specifically our foreign policy which is clear that we can’t align with any party, especially in a situation like this,” she further said.

BBC World Service

Ethiopia's armed forces killed more than 50 civilians in an air strike in the northern region of Tigray in January, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says.

50 others were injured when a drone dropped bombs on a school compound housing thousands of people displaced by fighting, it added.

Most of the victims were women, children and elderly people sleeping in makeshift tents.

It also accuses Ethiopia of committing a war crime because there were no military targets in the area.

Former Liverpool midfielder Mohamed Sissoko says the addition of Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure could help Mali qualify for a first ever World Cup.

Grace Kuria
BBC News

Image source, AFP

Liberia’s House of Representatives has unanimously passed a bill requiring mothers to breastfeed their children for at least six months.

The bill also seeks to regulate marketing of substitutes for breast milk to avoid the import and sale of substances that might affect infants and young children.

MPs said the bill was designed to “nurture a strong relationship between a mother and child,” according to the Liberian Observer website.

The bill was pushed by Rivercess Country District Representative Byron Zahwea.

It needs to be passed by the Senate before it becomes law.

In 2020, Unicef reported that five out of every 10 babies in Liberia receive plain water, other liquids, and foods in addition to breastmilk during their first six months of life, contributing to child malnutrition, illnesses and even death.

The report said that it costs Liberia $200,000 (£152,000) annually to treat children with diarrhoea and pneumonia, and type II diabetes in mothers that visit health facilities due to inadequate breastfeeding.

The World Health Organization and Unicef recommend that children initiate breastfeeding within the first hour of birth and be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life.

Eric Tumuhairwe, from the Batwa community, takes us on a trip through his ancestral forest.

Chris Ewokor
BBC News, Abuja

A Nigerian soldier said to have been under the influence of drugs killed at least three civilians and injured 13 others during a mass shooting.

The incident happened on Wednesday in the main square of Mafa town in the north-eastern Borno state.

Eyewitnesses said the fatalities included a three year-old girl, while 13 others sustained gunshot wounds and were receiving treatment at a hospital.

The soldier is among troops on the frontline fighting jihadist insurgents in the region.

Reports say the soldier was eventually disarmed and arrested by military authorities.

Security experts say such killings occur when soldiers suffer post-traumatic stress disorder due to long-time exposure to battles at the frontline, without constant psychological evaluation.

The Nigerian army is yet to react to the incident.

Nichola Mandil
BBC News, Juba

Image source, Jemila Ebrahim / WHO

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has sacked the country’s health minister, according to a decree announced by state media on Wednesday night.

No reasons were given for the firing of Elizabeth Acuei Yol.

She is the first cabinet minister from the party of the First Vice-President Riek Machar, the Sudan People’s Liberation in Opposition (SPLM-IO), to be dismissed from the unity government.

President Kiir and Mr Machar formed the unity government in February 2020 after sealing a peace deal aimed at ending six years of civil war.

During her tenure, Ms Acuei was praised by health partners for the country's response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

But she also faced criticisms for her handling of the ministry's affairs, which saw her booed by MPs in December during a presentation in parliament.

The MPs urged Mr Machar to recommend for her dismissal over what they described as incompetence.

South Africa qualify for the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup despite their game against West Indies being abandoned due to rain.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Image source, AFP

The governor of Ethiopia’s north-western Amhara region has asked Russia to support his administration in rebuilding public infrastructure that was destroyed in recent fighting in the area.

The state-run Amhara Media Corporation reported that Yilkal Kefale met the Russian ambassador to Ethiopia, Evgeny Terekhin, on Monday and discussed the reconstruction efforts being undertaken in the region.

“We are ready to work with the region to overcome this problem,” Mr Terekhin was quoted as saying.

He also said Russia would work with education institutions in Amhara state on human resource development, the report added.

The government has said rebels from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) destroyed infrastructure when they seized some areas in Amhara last year.

On 1 March, many people waved Russian flags during a ceremony to mark the 1896 Battle of Adwa, in which Ethiopia defeated Italian would-be colonisers.

Abdi Dahir
BBC Monitoring, Nairobi

At least 15 people, including a female member of the Somali federal parliament, were killed in two suicide bombings in Beledweyne town in central Somalia.

Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble has termed the killing of Amina Mohamed Abdi “an assassination”.

Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has tweeted a message of condolence:

Other victims included former MP Hassan Dhuhul and Somali soldiers.

Local media reports suggest the death toll could be higher.

The Somali National TV has tweeted pictures of the victims killed in the attack.

The suicide bombings in Beledweyne occurred hours after al-Qaeda allied militants killed at least eight people, including five foreign nationals, in an assault on the Halane Camp, a fortified airport complex that houses UN offices and foreign missions.

Al-Shabab has said it was behind the attacks in Mogadishu and central Beledweyne.

The militants intensified attacks across Somalia as the Horn of Africa nation conducts much-delayed elections.

Nigeria defender Kenneth Omeruo discusses the meaning of an international cap.