BBC World Service

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The Tunisian president has published details of a new constitution that would vastly expand his powers.

Kais Saied, who has ruled by decree since sacking the government a year ago, says the draft document published in the official gazette, will be put to a referendum next month.

Under the proposals - drawn up by a committee handpicked by Mr Saied - most political power would be exercised by the president.

He would have ultimate authority over the judiciary and army as well as the government.

Critics accuse Mr Saied of dragging the country back towards the autocratic form of government that was overthrown during the Arab Spring revolt of 2014.

Opposition political parties have rejected the referendum in advance.

Read more:

• Tunisia crisis: Democrats, despots and the fight for power

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC News

Image source, AFP

The death toll in Sudan has risen to nine following protests against military rule.

Doctors said many of the victims had been shot as security forces confronted large crowds in multiple cities.

According to medical staff, the security forces attempted to storm hospitals where some of the injured were being treated.

The protesters barricaded roads, waved placards and chanted slogans calling on the military to leave power.

Police used tear gas, water cannon and live ammunition as they tried to block the swelling crowds from marching towards the presidential palace in the capital, Khartoum.

Many more were injured and taken to hospitals in Khartoum and neighbouring city of Omdurman.

Earlier, internet and telephone services were cut off as the authorities attempted to stop the online mobilisation of protesters.

Protests erupted in Sudan last October after the military toppled a civilian-led transitional government.

Thursday’s protests were the largest to be held in the country since the coup.

They coincided with the third anniversary of huge demonstrations that overthrew long-time autocratic ruler Omar al-Bashir and led to a power-sharing arrangement between civilian groups and the military.

Military leaders have said they will hand power to an elected civilian government, but peace talks to end the political crisis have stalled with no clear route for the transition to civilian rule.

More on this topic:

• How Sudan's generals betrayed my generation
• Sudan alarm at return of Bashir loyalists and the NCP
• Sudan's feared secret police make a comeback
• Coups in Africa: Why they don't spell the end of democracy

Our proverb of the day:

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Zika and dengue fever viruses alter the scent of humans and mice they infect, researchers say.

Kenya's flower exporters are switching to sea freight as new tech helps keep flowers fresh at sea.

Kennedy Mugovera, from Swindon, says he has been in agony after plastic tubing was left inside him.

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

In the meantime there will be an automated news feed and you can also check the BBC News website or listen to our Africa Today podcast.

A reminder of our wise words of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this photo taken earlier on Thursday of a village in Algeria near the Aures Mountains:

Image source, Getty Images

Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

The cyclones that hit northern Mozambique this year destroyed dozens of clinics in the north of the country - an area already hard hit by an Islamist insurgency, the health minister says.

"The cyclones Ana, Dumako and Gombe, which took place only this year, profoundly affected the health sector, causing the destruction of 95 health units - a real setback to the gains we had already achieved," Health Minister Armindo Tiago said.

Since the insurgency began in 2017, the health sector has been badly affected in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

“We also have the painful record of the destruction of more than 31 health units, as a result of jihadist actions, in the province of Cabo Delgado alone," Mr Tiago said.

The damage to infrastructure has left hundreds of families without access to public health services.

Some areas have long been abandoned by residents, meaning repairs to the clinics have not been possible.

Nichola Mandil
BBC News, Juba

South Sudan has never conducted an election since becoming independent in 2011 – and polls expected next year are looking in doubt.

The 2018 peace deal that ended a five-year civil war says a vote should be held at the end of the transitional period - which would be next February.

But the UN peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan (Unmiss) says many political parties have expressed concerns that conditions are not currently favourable for conducting free and credible elections then. Nevertheless, the could change, Unmiss head Nicholas Haysom said.

“I am aware that a number of parties believe that those conditions do not yet exist and that may be true as of June 2022. Is it possible to create those conditions? I believe it would be if there is good will and serious intent to do so,” he told journalists.

Concerning the possibility of postponing the vote, he said the onus was on South Sudanese parties, not the UN.

Kalkidan Yibeltal
BBC News, Addis Ababa

The Ethiopian government says 338 people were killed earlier this month in what was one of the deadliest ethnic attacks in years.

It had previously been reported that at least 250 mostly Amhara people died in the attack on 18 June in the Oromia region.

An official from the prime minister's office said police were still carrying out investigations.

The government has rejected calls - including by the UN - for there to be an independent investigation.

The armed group the Oromo Liberation Army was blamed for the attacks but it denied any involvement.

Marco Oriunto
BBC Focus on Africa radio

Image source, Getty Images

A man who has been deported to Nigeria from the UK has told the BBC he fears for his life because he is gay.

“My life is at risk for being gay,” Adeniyi Raji, who landed in Lagos with other deportees on Thursday morning, told the BBC’s Focus on Africa radio programme.

Nigeria criminalises same-sex relationships - and he says that is why he left the country in 2017.

People can be deported from the UK if they are not a British citizen and have been convicted of a criminal offence.

But Mr Raji says he has never been in trouble with the police in the UK - and that he was deported because the British authorities did not believe that he was gay.

“I have not been to prison before, I have not been convicted before.

“The only offence I’ve committed is that I’m a gay man,” he said.

“They deported me because they said I don’t need humanitarian protection in their country because they don’t believe I am gay.”

The 46-year-old said he decided to seek asylum in the UK after losing his job in Nigeria because of his sexuality.

“I was working as a health officer. They sacked me" after witnessing I was a practising gay man, he explained.

He was then threatened by the police and left Facebook because he faced so much abuse about his sexuality, he added.

A man who had been in a relationship with him for two years had offered a statement to the UK authorities, but it was ignored, Mr Raji said.

“More than 45 MPs were fighting for my case, but the Home Office wouldn’t listen - why is it that they don’t want to listen, is it because I’m a black man?

“When the flight took off from the runway I wept because the UK has already let me down - and they let the LGBTQ [community] down completely.”

However, Mr Raji says he will continue efforts to return to the UK as he does not feel safe anywhere on the African continent as a gay man.

Ishaq Khalid
BBC News, Abuja

Gunmen in Nigeria launched a deadly attack on a mine in the state of Niger on Wednesday, kidnapping at least four Chinese miners.

Niger state police commissioner Bala Kuryas told the BBC that at least four police officers, two members of a local vigilante group and some soldiers were killed in the raid in the district of Shiroro.

A search-and-rescue operation for the abducted Chinese nationals has begun.

It is not immediately clear who carried out the attack, but Niger is one of Nigeria’s states worst affected by kidnappings for ransom.

Islamist militants who usually operate in the north-east of the country sometimes also team up with the kidnapping gangs.

Foreigners have been targeted by the kidnappers in the past.

In recent years, the number of Chinese nationals working in the mining, construction and agricultural sectors has increased in Nigeria.

More on this topic:

• Nigeria's kidnapping crisis: Should ransom payments be banned?

Collins Injera wants Kenya to replicate their sevens success in the 15-man game as the Simbas target a first ever Rugby World Cup.

Mike Thomson
BBC World Service Newsroom

UN-brokered talks in Geneva aimed at paving the way for elections in Libya have ended with little progress.

The country’s two rivals for power - the eastern-based House of Representatives and Tripoli’s High State Council - failed to agree on the eligibility of candidates for the polls.

Disputes on this issue led to the postponement of presidential and parliamentary elections at the end of last year.

Many Libyans fear that without an agreement their divided country, which has seen little real peace since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi a decade ago, could be plunged back into conflict.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

Doctors in Sudan say six people have been shot dead and a large number injured by the security forces during pro-democracy protests in the capital, Khartoum.

Large crowds have gathered in several cities calling on the military to leave politics.

Bridges in the capital have been blocked and internet services have been cut, in an effort to stop people marching.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Since last October, when military leaders toppled the transitional government in a coup, frequent mass rallies have been held.

Sudanese security forces have responded violently leaving more than 100 protesters dead.

People are angry at what they see as the reversal of hard won reforms and the return of those loyal to former President Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted in 2019.

On local TV, coup leader Lt-Gen Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan has said power will be handed over to an elected government.

But there is huge mistrust of the military and the dangerous stand-off between protesters and the security forces goes on with yet more loss of life.

More on this topic:

• Sudan protesters: Ready to die for freedom

Update 17:20 GMT: This post has been updated to reflect the new number of deaths being reported by the doctors.

The tooth is all that remains of the murdered independence leader whose body was dissolved in acid.

Mohammed Allie
BBC News, Cape Town

Image source, Getty Images

The ongoing power cuts, euphemistically labelled “load-shedding” by the state-owned company Eskom, who hold the monopoly on power supply in South Africa, is really starting to take its toll on my mental wellbeing.

I say this without exaggeration because one has become so demoralised about the power cuts dictating one’s professional and social lives that you sometimes feel helpless.

Here are a few examples of how the power cuts, which thankfully are scheduled, have affected me this week as they increased to up to six hours each day.

On Tuesday I had to submit a weekly column to a newspaper by lunchtime. After rushing to get it done by midday when our power would be cut for two hours, I managed to finish in time but then couldn’t email it because my wi-fi was off and my phone’s data had been chewed up after using it as a personal hotspot.

This meant I had to wait for the power to come back on before I could send off the column. Fortunately the editor, who was equally livid about the impact of the power cuts, fully understood my predicament.

On Wednesday morning, after returning from gym my garage door opened only slightly before the power was cut. Having left my house keys inside, I had to crawl and roll under the door - which was about 30cm off the ground - to get in!

When power was restored, the door malfunctioned but fortunately I was able to do a video call with my long-serving technician who kindly helped me sort out the problem. Now I can fix garage doors...

And this kind of situation you could multiply probably millions of times around the country - some people have appliances like fridges and stoves damaged by the power surges, it’s extremely frustrating and annoying.

Image source, Getty Images

Some media outlets are now even providing advice on how to preserve food and perishable items that are stored in fridges while coffee shops, especially those in malls where generators are their saving grace, report increased patronage from people keen to continue working on their laptops while using the free wi-fi.

Former Liverpool team-mates Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah make the list of 30 nominees for the Confederation of African Football's Player of the Year award.

Chris Ewokor
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, ge

Nigeria had been expecting 38 deportees from the UK on a specially chartered flight - but less than half that number arrived in Lagos on Thursday morning.

One of those who has arrived has told the BBC that he is gay and fears for his life.

Before the flight left on Wednesday night, human rights campaigners in the UK had expressed concerns that members of the LGBTQ+ community, who had sought asylum in the UK, were among them.

They said they could be persecuted either because of their religion or on the basis of their sexual orientation.

Many of those on the plane had lived for decades in the UK, and according to Nigeria’s foreign ministry were being deported for alleged immigration-related offences.

The flight landed first in the Nigerian city of Lagos, where between 10 and 13 men disembarked, and then continued on to Ghana’s capital, Accra, with seven men and one woman.

Those who arrived in Lagos were seen through security before being taken away to a facility and were not allowed contact with the public or journalists at the airport.

Update 15:30 GMT: This post has been revised after one of the deportees spoke to the BBC.

An undercover BBC Africa Eye investigation published this week exposed a human-trafficking network smuggling disabled children from Tanzania to Kenya.

Join BBC News Africa on Twitter Spaces at 16:00 GMT to discuss how disabled children should be protected from traffickers.