Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

Image source, Getty Images

A plan to reintroduce rhino species to the Zinave National Park in southern Mozambique – which became extinct there 40 years ago - has been announced by the governments of Mozambique and South Africa.

The governments approved the reintroduction of more than 40 rhinos to a specially constructed high-security sanctuary within the 4,000 sq km (1,540 sq mile) park.

The rhinos will be translocated from South Africa over a period of one to two years.

The project to bring in the critically endangered black rhino and the near-threatened white rhino to the park is being spearheaded by the South African non-governmental organisation Peace Parks Foundation and the Exxaro Resources company, which is a coal and mining firm.

In 2002, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe entered into a treaty to establish the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area, spanning over 100,000 sq km (3860 sq miles) and incorporating five national parks, including the iconic Kruger National Park.

Since 2016, a rewilding programme has reintroduced more than 2,300 animals representing 14 species – including buffalos, elephants and leopards - into the park.

The park was ravaged during the Mozambique civil war that ended in 1992 and subsequent poaching.

Angolan side Petro Atletico 'can still do more' in the African Champions League after beating Mamelodi Sundowns in the quarter-finals.

Ishaq Khalid
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, EPA

Nigeria’s national emergency management agency, Nema, says mass burials are expected to take place Monday afternoon for dozens of victims of a huge explosion at an illegal oil refinery in the south-eastern state of Imo.

Head of operations of the agency in the region, Ifeanyi Nnaji, told the BBC that so far 110 people have been confirmed dead - including a pregnant woman.

About 70 others were wounded in the blast - some now in critical condition in hospitals.

Most of the victims including workers and people who had come to buy fuel were burnt beyond recognition.

Many families could not identify the bodies of their loved ones caught in the disaster.

The authorities say the mass burials are planned to take place near the scene.

The owner of the refinery has been declared wanted by the authorities.

It is still unclear what caused the explosion, which occurred on Friday night through Saturday morning in the Abaeze community of the Egbema area.

Read more:

• Nigeria in trauma after Imo refinery deaths - President Buhari

BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

The World Health Organization says it has identified more 100 people who came into contact with a new case of the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It says they are being closely monitored for symptoms and vaccinations will start in the next few days.

Over the weekend the health authorities declared the third Ebola outbreak in Equateur Province since 2018.

A 31-year-old man who contracted the virus in the city of Mbandaka died.

DR Congo has experienced 14 outbreaks which have claimed thousands of lives.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Image source, Getty Images

Togo's parliament has passed a resolution asking the government to make a formal bid for membership of the Commonwealth, a group of mainly former British colonies.

The country is already a member of the Economic Organisation of West African States (Ecowas) and the International Organisation of La Francophonie - a group of French-speaking countries that are mostly former French colonies.

"Togo is not leaving the Francophonie. It will only strengthen the English teaching programmes and reactivate other partnerships," the privately-owned Icilome news website quoted speaker of parliament Yawa Tsegan as saying.

The resolution, passed on Friday, asked the government to submit its application for Commonwealth membership at the bloc's next summit in Rwanda in June.

The West African nation embarked on the process of joining the Commonwealth in 2014.

Patricia Oyella
BBC News, Kampala

Image source, Yoweri Museveni Twitter

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame has held talks with Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni in his first visit to the northern neighbour after tensions in 2019 led to border closures for three years.

A statement from State House Entebbe said the two leaders agreed to push for peace and stability in the region by addressing the crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo through the East African Community bloc.

It said the pair held talks on Sunday.

Mr Museveni urged the regional bloc to address the insecurity in eastern DR Congo before the crisis there escalates.

Mr Kagame said it was important that all parties in the conflict are involved to solve the crisis once and for all.

Last week, Kenya, Burundi, Uganda, DR Congo and Rwanda agreed to deploy a regional force to fight rebel groups in the troubled region.

President Kagame was on a private visit to the country to attend a dinner in honour of Mr Museveni's son and commander of Uganda's land forces Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who celebrated his 48th birthday over the weekend.

Mr Museveni later tweeted photos, external of the dinner and thanked President Kagame for honouring the invitation "after years of not coming here".

African leaders are congratulating French President Emmanuel Macron on his re-election after a convincing victory over rival Marine Le Pen.

Mr Macron is the first sitting French president in 20 years to be re-elected.

Senegal's President Macky Sall, the current African Union chairman, sent his best wishes for Mr Macron's re-election

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said he looked forward to working with Mr Macron to strengthen ties between the two countries.

President Paul Kagame of Rwanda hailed Mr Macron's leadership that "seeks to unite and not divide".

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

The military in Mali says it has restored control at three bases in central Mali after they were simultaneously attacked by jihadists.

Six soldiers died and 11 enemy fighters were killed, according to a statement.

There has also been an attack in neighbouring Burkina Faso.

These four jihadist attacks show just how vulnerable the military forces are in the Sahel region.

As suicide bombers were driving cars packed with explosives into army bases in Mali's Mopti region, another jihadist group was killing soldiers and civilians across the border in the north of Burkina Faso.

In both countries soldiers seized power after accusing the elected governments of failing to deal with the jihadist threat.

The man now in charge of Burkina Faso - Lieutenant Colonel Paul-Henri Damiba - recently announced the setting up of local committees that are to try holding talks with the Islamist militants.

Image source, State House Nairobi

Mourners are gathering at Kenya's parliament to view the body of the country's third post-independence President Mwai Kibaki, who died last week at the age of 90.

Mr Kibaki's casket, draped in the national flag, was earlier in the morning escorted by a military procession to parliament where it will lie in state from Monday to Wednesday.

President Uhuru Kenyatta is scheduled to preside over the public viewing at parliament.

Kenya's parliament which is currently on recess will have a special sitting on Wednesday to pay tribute to Mr Kibaki.

President Kenyatta declared a mourning period until Mr Kibaki's burial, with flags flying at half-mast.

The late president will be given a state funeral with full military honours.

Local broadcaster Citizen TV has tweeted footage of the casket's arrival in parliament:

Read more on Mwai Kibaki:

• Mwai Kibaki: The hope and disappointment
• Remembering Kenya's 2007-8 election violence

BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

The United Nations has called for an investigation into the reported killing of at least 168 people in clashes in the Darfur region of Sudan.

The UN special representative Volker Perthes condemned the violence in Krink region of West Darfur, during which homes have been set on fire, hospitals attacked and goods looted.

Almost 100 more people were wounded in the violence, the General Coordination for Refugees and Displaced in Darfur, an independent aid group, said.

Several non-governmental organisations said an individual dispute sparked the fighting between Arab nomads and members of the Massalit community in Krink.

There have been some reports that the Sudanese authorities deployed a notorious militia called the Rapid Support Forces, which was formerly known as the Janjaweed.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has warned of a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation and called for the injured and sick to be allowed to seek help.

The Janjaweed carried out widespread killings in the Darfur region two decades ago.

Our proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

Winnie Byanyima is a human rights advocate and executive director of Unaids, the joint UN Programme which was set up to eradicate Aids as a threat to public health by 2030.

Winnie was born in the village of Ruti, in south west Uganda, where her teacher parents raised her and her siblings to follow their example of doing good things for others. From an early age Winnie adopted the family motto of ‘truth and justice’.

Winnie fled the country in 1978, during the regime of President Idi Amin, and came to the UK as a refugee. She won a scholarship to study aeronautical engineering at Manchester University, graduating in 1981. She returned home where she found a job as an engineer for Ugandan Airlines while secretly working for Yoweri Museveni’s resistance movement that opposed Amin’s successor, Milton Obote.

In 1994 Winnie was elected as an MP in the Ugandan Parliament and was instrumental in drawing up a new constitution for the country. In 2013 she was appointed executive director of Oxfam International and became executive director of Unaids in 2019. She currently lives in Geneva.

DISC ONE: Sanyu Lyange by Juliana Kanyomozi DISC TWO: Cantata No. 147: Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring by New London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leopold Stokowski, with the Norman Luboff Choir DISC THREE: Le Bûcheron by Franklin Boukaka DISC FOUR: Heart of Glass by Blondie DISC FIVE: Umqombothi by Yvonne Chaka Chaka DISC SIX: Steal Away (Remastered) by Nat King Cole DISC SEVEN: Don't Worry Be Happy by Bobby McFerrin DISC EIGHT: I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free by Nina Simone BOOK CHOICE: The Second Sex by Simone De Beauvoir LUXURY ITEM: A basket weaving needle CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free by Nina Simone

Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Paula McGinley

Follow the journey of the mighty Zambezi - Africa's wildest river.

It floods across endless plains, fuelling the migration of 30,000 wildebeest, turning villages into islands accessible only by boat. It plunges over cliffs, creating the largest curtain of water on Earth - Victoria falls. It swells up to form great rapids, a challenge for elephants to cross, and it carves out deep, treacherous gorges where the mysterious Zambezi Wave offers the ultimate surfing experience.

Zambezi spreads out to fill one of the greatest man-made lakes on Earth, home to giant crocodiles and the iconic African fish eagle, and it flows through 'lost worlds', some of the best places to see African wildlife, where unusual 'wild guests' check in at a safari lodge.

Finally, as it nears the Indian Ocean, the vast Zambezi delta gives local scientists a sign of hope for the future - a glimpse of the legendary herds of elephant and buffalo that once roamed here before the devastation of civil war.

Writer Colin Grant examines the implications of evolving attitudes to cannabis use in the 21st century. Recalling a trip to Burkina Faso some years ago, Colin explores the relationship between cannabis and the local community he encountered there, and how the boom in acceptance of the drug worldwide, for both medical and recreational purposes, has led to ‘green’ venture capitalism – and possibly a net loss for those subsistence farmers he met on his trip.

While the 20th century was replete with prohibition, the 21st century is rediscovering tolerance. From Canada to South Africa, Georgia to Uruguay and numerous US states; the legalisation of cannabis appears to be snowballing. But, Colin asks, what might it really mean to those who produce and consume it?

Producer: Kirsty Pope A Far Shoreline production for BBC Radio 3

Hundreds of young women from Sierra Leone, West Africa, have been trapped in the Arabian sultanate of Oman, desperate to get home. Promised work in shops and restaurants, they say they were tricked into becoming housemaids, working up to 18 hours a day, often without pay, and sometimes abused by their employers. Some ran away, to live a dangerous underground existence at the mercy of the authorities. Now, they are being rescued with the help of charities and diplomats. Back home, some have empowered themselves for the first time, joining a women’s farming collective. But others can’t easily recover from the ill-treatment and isolation they suffered in Arabia.

Reporter: Tim Whewell.

(Photo: Sierra Leonean women hoping for repatriation after leaving their employers in Oman. Credit: Do Bold)

It’s ten years since Libya’s dictator Col Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown. But the country’s still not a a democracy – or even a unified functioning state. The militias that brought down the dictatorship in 2011 never disbanded. They turned the country into a battleground, abducting and murdering countless citizens. Since last year, there’s been a ceasefire in the long civil war. Elections are planned. But how powerful are the militias – even now? And how hopeful are Libyans about their future? Reporter Tim Whewell, who covered the uprising in 2011, returns to find out what happened to Libya’s revolution. At spectacular horse-races in the city of Misrata, he meets Libyans who say they have more opportunities now than under Gaddafi. But many writers and activists have fled the country or gone silent, fearing they might disappear if they say anything that displeases armed groups. Some militias have officially been turned into security arms of the state. But that’s given them access to valuable state resources - and militia commanders are accused of becoming mafia bosses. Tim meets possible future leader Fathi Bashagha, who vows to tame the armed groups. But would he prosecute their commanders for past crimes? And can the eastern and western sides of Libya, effectively still under separate authorities despite a unity government, be brought together? Many think war may break out again, and some young Libyans, despairing for their country’s future, are even risking the dangerous passage across the Mediterranean, to emigrate.

Producer: Bob Howard

Since December, armed gangs have seized more than a thousand students and staff from schools across northern Nigeria. Parents face extortionate demands in exchange for the freedom of their sons and daughters and many families in Africa’s most populous nation are now too afraid to send their children to class. The wave of abductions has devastating consequences for the country, which already has the highest number of children out of education anywhere in the world. For Crossing Continents, the BBC’s Mayeni Jones travels to the region and meets those affected in order to understand what’s fueling Nigeria’s kidnap crisis.

Producers: Naomi Scherbel-Ball in Lagos and Michael Gallagher in London Editor: Bridget Harney