Esau Williams
BBC Focus on Africa radio

Image source, Gambia State House

Gambian President Adama Barrow has been on a four-day trip to Equatorial Guinea, where ex-President Yahya Jammeh is living in exile, according to the state broadcaster GRTS.

This comes days after The Gambia said it was ready to prosecute the 57-year-old ex-president for the “myriad of crimes” committed during his 22-year rule - a recommendation of the Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission.

No mention was made in the media reports of Mr Jammeh - who has lived in Equatorial Guinea since January 2017 when he went into exile after a shock electoral defeat.

Image source, Reuters

During the trip Mr Barrow met his Equatorial Guinean counterpart Obiang Nguema and state media said their wives had dinner together.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Gambia’s Office of the President said, external the two-countries signed several accords at a ceremony at the Presidential Palace in the capital, Malabo, on Sunday.

These included one that focused on strengthening diplomatic ties and a mutual visa-waiver scheme for those holding diplomatic and official service passports.

The establishment of an extradition treaty was not mentioned in the statement.

More on this topic:

• How ex-Gambia President Yahya Jammeh's US mansion was seized

• The 'peace-loving' country grappling with a gruesome past
• Ex-BBC reporter: I was tortured in The Gambia
• 'I was raped by Gambia's ex-President Jammeh'

Shingai Nyoka
BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

A reported 3,000 travellers in South Africa have been left stranded after the Comair airline abruptly suspended all its flights with immediate effect.

The airline announced the suspension on Tuesday evening, citing financial problems.

Angry customers say Comair offered specials and accepted bookings just hours before announcing the suspension.

Some travellers were scrambling to find alternative flights this morning.

Comair is seeking more funding to be able to resume operations.

It operates low budget airline Kulula as well as domestic and regional flights for British Airways airlines.

The firm says it has been affected by the coronavirus-related travel restrictions and the recent increase in fuel prices due to the Ukraine-Russian war.

It has been plagued by financial and operational problems. In March, South Africa’s Civil Aviation Authority temporarily grounded all its planes, citing safety concerns.

BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

The Somali government says more than 300,000 children are facing acute malnutrition and nearly 800,000 Somalis have been displaced by the drought affecting the Horn of Africa.

On Tuesday the new President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, visited Baidoa, in the worst affected region.

His Special Envoy for Drought and Humanitarian Affairs, Abdirahman Abdishakur Warsame, told the BBC that people were desperate for help and he had seen children in critical need.

He said Somalia had hardly received any assistance from the international community and he was concerned that the drought could develop into a famine.

The United Nations has warned that the Horn of Africa is suffering from its worst drought in 40 years, following four consecutive poor rainfall seasons.

Cameroonian basketball star Joel Embiid undergoes surgery but is expected to be fit for pre-season training with his NBA team the Philadelphia 76ers.

Chris Ewokor
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, AFP

Lagos, one of the most populous cities in Africa, has started enforcing its ban on motorcycle taxis.

Nigeria's economic powerhouse announced the ban two weeks ago that covers major districts in the city.

The clampdown follows the gruesome murder of a 38-year-old man, suspected to have been killed by some taxi riders during a disagreement over a fare.

The incident sparked public outrage.

The authorities said they will arrest riders who flout the ban and seize their motorbikes.

Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu described the taxi riders as a threat to road users, citing surging crime and road accidents.

The taxis are a preferred means of transport because they are faster in weaving through the city's traffic jams.

A large number of young people in the state make a living as motobike taxi riders and the ban is bound to face a backlash.

The authorities on Tuesday deployed security personnel and armoured personnel carriers in the city amid fears of possible violent protests.

Update: This post has been amended to say Lagos is one of Africa's most populous cities

Morocco captain Romain Saiss announces he is leaving English Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers after six years.

Sao Tome e Principe are reinstated to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers to replace Mauritius a day before the group phase of the campaign begins.

Aklilu Tsegay
BBC Tigrinya

Image source, AFP

The largest referral hospital in Ethiopia's Tigray region has suspended its regular operations due to lack of medicines and power outages, its medical director has told the BBC.

Dr Kibrom Gebreselassie said the Ayder Referral Hospital had reached a point where it could not provide services, after 18 months of war in the northern region.

He said the lack of medicine and medical supplies, as well as a lack of fuel, had prompted the suspension.

“Now there is no electricity in Tigray and we have stopped producing oxygen,” he added.

Doctors in the hospital had been working without pay for more than a year and could not support themselves or their families.

Since Tigray forces took control of the region last June, it has been under a de facto blockade, according to the UN, with many people in need of medical treatment dying due to a lack of medicine.

Medical professionals had told the BBC in April that the hospital has reached a point where it was discharging four to six bodies daily - up from between one and two bodies every two to three days.

Among those at risk of death due to lack of medicines and proper medical services were medical professionals at the hospital, according to sources from the hospital.

Namibian sprinter Christine Mboma will miss this month's African Athletics Championships after failing to recover from a thigh injury.

New Mali boss Eric Chelle has the potential to emulate other home-grown African coaches, according to former team-mate Djimi Traore.

Image source, Nigeria Presidency

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday met state governors of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party where he asked to be allowed to choose his successor.

The party is scheduled to hold primaries later this week to choose its presidential candidate.

The elections are due in February next year.

In his address to the governors, the president said the party's candidate "must be someone who would give the Nigerian masses a sense of victory and confidence even before the elections".

"I wish to solicit the reciprocity and support of the governors and other stakeholders in picking my successor, who would fly the flag of our party for election into the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2023," he said at the meeting held at the presidential villa, external in the capital, Abuja.

BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

Mali has denied allegations in a UN report that its national army (Fama) carried out human rights violations.

A report by the country’s UN mission, Minusma, released last week highlighted alleged gross rights abuses by the Malian army between January and March this year.

It attributed to Fama an "exponential rise" in abuses, including summary executions and forced disappearances, in its quarterly report on 26 May.

On Wednesday Mali’s foreign affairs ministry issued a memo , externaloffering detailed rebuttals to various parts of the UN report.

“These allegations are very often tedious, uncross-referenced, reported in non-contradictory ways, and not supported by any tangible evidence," it said.

The ministry said the allegations were intended to" damage the image of the [defence and security forces] and to discredit it vis-a-vis the population and the international community”.

Mali has been at loggerheads with rights agencies over rising reports of abuses by Fama and mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner paramilitary firm.

Hundreds of civilians have reportedly been killed in joint Fama-Wagner counterinsurgency operations that began last December.

Dorcas Wangira
Africa health correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

The World Health Organization says that while the monkeypox virus has not spread to new African countries where it is not common, it has been expanding its geographic reach in recent years.

The WHO cites Nigeria where the virus has spread from the south, where it was mainly reported until 2019, to central, eastern and northern parts of the country.

The WHO says it is working with partners to better understand the magnitude and cause of a global outbreak "as many cases are being reported in non-endemic countries that have not previously had significant spread among people with no travel to endemic zones".

The WHO has called for a common response to "ensure we reinforce surveillance and better understand the evolution of the disease, while scaling up readiness and response to curb any further spread”.

“We must avoid having two different responses to monkeypox – one for Western countries which are only now experiencing significant transmission and another for Africa,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s regional director for Africa.

Seven African countries have cumulatively reported about 1,400 monkeypox cases this year up to mid-May, according to WHO. These include 1,392 suspected and 44 confirmed cases.

Cases were reported in Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Nigeria, Congo-Brazzaville and Sierra Leone.

Monkeypox was first detected in humans in 1970 in African and since then most cases have been reported in rural and rainforest areas.

BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

Two years after their closure, Spain has reopened the borders of its North African enclaves Ceuta and Melilla to Moroccan workers following the resolution of a drawn-out diplomatic crisis.

The frontiers were initially closed at the height of the coronavirus pandemic but later became part of a row over migration and the issue of Western Sahara.

Tensions flared in May last year when Madrid allowed Brahim Ghali, the leader of the Western Saharan independence movement Polisario to be treated for Coronavirus in a Spanish hospital.

Ten thousand migrants then surged into Ceuta as Moroccan border forces looked on - a move widely seen as retaliation by Rabat.

BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

Hundreds of people took to the streets of the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, to denounce Rwanda's alleged backing of the M23 rebel group.

The protests were organised by the civil society group, NDSCI.

On Monday, the chairman of the African Union, the Senegalese President Macky Sall, telephoned the Rwandan and Congolese leaders to try to ease tensions between Kigali and Kinshasa.

Both sides accuse each other of supporting rebel groups in eastern DR Congo.

Mr Sall had earlier expressed "grave concern" at rising tensions between the two countries.

He appealed for dialogue to resolve the dispute.

BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

Angolan President João Lourenço says the Democratic Republic of Congo has agreed to release two Rwandan soldiers it detained last week, amid rising border tensions.

Mr Lourenço - who's acting as a mediator - made the announcement after separate talks with his Congolese and Rwandan counterparts.

His office said Félix Tshisekedi and Paul Kagame had agreed to meet face-to-face in Angola, but didn't give a date.

Rwanda and the DR Congo have accused each other of aiding armed militias in the border region and encouraging attacks.

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The decision comes after the election of a new president, and a surge in attacks by al-Shabab.

That's all for now from the BBC Africa Live team - we'll be back on Wednesday morning Nairobi time.

Until then you can find the latest updates on the BBC News website, or listen to our podcast Africa Today.

A reminder of our wise words of the day:

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And we leave you with this photo of supporters cheering on Wydad Casablanca - who've won the African Champions League:

Image source, AFP

Marcus Erbe
BBC World Service Newsroom

Image source, AFP

The British government says the first flight forcibly taking asylum-seekers to Rwanda as part of a new policy, is scheduled for 14 June.

The Home Office did not specify how many refugees would be removed.

An official told the BBC that all of them were now being held in detention centres.

Priti Patel, the home secretary, said she expected - but would not be deterred by - legal attempts to prevent the removal to Rwanda of people who had entered the UK from France by boat.

More on this topic:

• UK-Rwanda asylum seekers' deal: Good news for Kigali hotels
• UK asylum deal: Is Rwanda a land of safety or fear?