BBC World Service
Lipika Pelham, Newsroom

Image source, AFP

A new report on global gender parity says it will take 132 years at the current pace to reach full equality.

The Global Gender Gap report, released by the World Economic Forum, ranks 146 countries, of which the top five are Iceland, Finland, Norway, New Zealand and Sweden.

Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran and Chad are among the worst.

The report says the cost of living crisis is impacting women disproportionately with a widening gender gap in the labour force.

It says Covid-19 has set gender parity back by a generation. South Asia has the widest gap and it'll take about two centuries to attain parity.

Cameroonian basketball star Joel Embiid is granted citizenship by France, clearing the path for him to play internationally for Les Bleus.

Didier Bikorimana
BBC Great Lakes Service

Image source, Getty Images

Rwanda’s main genocide survivors’ organisation has welcomed the 20-year prison sentence handed down by a French court to a former governor from southern Rwanda.

The court in Paris found Laurent Bucyibaruta, 78, guilty of complicity in the 1994 genocide. He can appeal against the sentence.

During the trial which began in May, testimony was heard about how as governor of what was once Gikongoro province, Bucyibaruta encouraged tens of thousands of ethnic Tutsis to take refuge in the Murambi Technical School, where they were killed days later.

Egide Nkuranga, head of Ibuka - which means “Remember” in Kinyarwanda - told BBC Great Lakes the group welcomed the guilty verdict and was just happy “the trial even happened”.

French prosecutors and a number of organisations, including the French branch of Ibuka, brought the charges against Bucyibaruta.

The length of his sentence was secondary to the fact that he had been convicted, Mr Nkuranga said.

“We thought because of the charges against him that he might receive a life sentence, but there is no problem even with 20 years,” he said.

A memorial has been built where Murambi Technical School once stood. An estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in 100 days during the Rwandan genocide.

Bucyibaruta - the highest-ranking former Rwandan official to be tried by a French court - has lived in France since 1997. He is the fifth Rwandan to be convicted there.

Mr Nkuranga hopes other genocide suspects living in France will be tried one day “so we can receive justice”.

Dorcas Wangira
Africa health correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Tanzania is investigating an unknown illness in the south of the country that has killed three people.

In total 13 cases have been reported in Lindi region, with patients having symptoms similar to Ebola or Marburg.

They have been experiencing fever, severe headaches, fatigue and bleeding, especially from the nose.

But the health ministry says preliminary lab tests results rule out the Ebola and Marburg viruses in these cases.

Contact tracing was ongoing and five people were currently in isolation, it said.

Chief medical officer Dr Aifelo Sichalwe has urged Tanzanians to remain calm as investigations continue.

He further urged anyone exhibiting similar symptoms to immediately seek medical attention.

How Benin's Odile Ahouanwanou went from an international footballer to a contender for the heptathlon title at the World Athletics Championships.

Bernard Bankukira
BBC Great Lakes

Image source, @MaloMobutu

The grandson of Mobutu Sese Seko, the former president of Zaire - now the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been elected governor of Northern Ubangi province.

Malo Ndimba Mobutu won 11 out of the 18 votes cast by regional MPs in Gbadolite, the provincial capital and ancestral home to the Mobutu family.

The 40-year-old replaces Izato Nzege Koloke, who resigned last December following a disagreement with provincial lawmakers.

Gbadolite, a small town deep in the vast forests of northern DR Congo, flourished under Mobutu's rule - he built several palaces there and an international airport - but has since floundered.

Malo Ndimba Mobutu’s grandfather ruled with an iron fist from 1965 until 1997, when he fled the country as rebels - led by Laurent Kabila - advanced on the capital, Kinshasa.

The former president died at the age of 66, just months after he was exiled - with critics accusing him of being a ruthless and corrupt ruler who crushed internal dissent and plundered the country's mineral resources.

Filip Reyntjens, an expert on the Great Lakes region of Africa, told BBC Great Lakes that the current turmoil in the mineral-rich nation was the outcome of his autocratic rule.

“Since early 1970s, he had been destroying the country to the point it is no longer able to deliver its basic responsibilities,” he said.

Mobutu's grandson is quoted by local media as saying he embodies a new vision for his home province.

More on this topic:

WATCH: Inside Mobutu's ruined jungle palace in DR Congo

Nomsa Maseko
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, Getty Images

South African police have launched a manhunt for suspects who stole a boxing belt donated to Nelson Mandela by US champion Sugar Ray Leonard.

The world champion belt, worth about $3,000 (£2,500), had been on display at the Mandela House museum in Soweto.

Police spokesperson Col Dimakatso Sello told the BBC that a case of theft was opened with the police on 2 July.

It is alleged that staff who reported for duty at the famous museum on Vilakazi Street, where the anti-apartheid icon lived between 1946 and 1962, noticed that the locks had been tampered with the day before.

On investigation, it was established that the belt had been taken. It is unclear at this stage if anything else was stolen.

Image source, Getty Images

Mandela, who became South Africa’s first democratically elected president in 1994 after spending 27 years in jail for fighting against apartheid, was a boxing fan.

"I did not enjoy the violence of boxing so much as the science of it. I was intrigued by how one moved one's body to protect oneself, how one used a strategy both to attack and retreat, how one paced oneself over a match," he wrote in his autobiography.

According to Mandela House, the belt was given to Mandela shortly after his release from prison by South Africa's white-minority government in February 1990.

In June of that year in New York he met US boxers who had helped in the anti-apartheid struggle, including Sugar Ray Leonard seen below to Mandela's right:

Image source, UN Photo/Milton Grant

You may also be interested in:

• Nelson Mandela: Six things you didn’t know

Police detain three suspects, including the owner of the tavern where the victims were having a party.

Nomsa Maseko
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, AFP

South African police have arrested three people in connection with the deaths on 21 teenagers at a bar in the city of East London last month.

The teenagers died mysteriously while attending a party at Enyobeni Tavern.

The arrest of the three suspects, including the owner of the bar, is in connection with selling alcohol to under-age children.

The liquor licence board filed a complaint with the police following the death of the teenagers who collapsed while attending a party to celebrate the end of mid-year exams last month.

Twenty-six others who were admitted to hospital have since been discharged.

The owner of the establishment is due to appear in court next week, while two of his employees have been given the option of paying a fine of about $120 (£100) for selling alcohol to people under the age of 18.

Police are still trying to unravel exactly how the teenagers died.

The toxicology report is yet to be released, but pathologists have suggested that the deaths may have been caused by something they inhaled or ingested.

Timinepre fled Nigeria in 2021 because of her sexuality. She’s been celebrating with other African LGBTQ+ people at Pride in London.

South Africa withdraw from their one-day international series in Australia because it conflicts with a new domestic T20 competition.

Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

Image source, AFP

People are once again fleeing Mozambique's Mocímboa da Praia district in the violence-hit northern Cabo Delgado region after jihadists attacked a village on Monday.

Those leaving had returned to the area when it was cleared of insurgents by a joint force of Mozambican and Rwandan troops, according to local media reports.

The militants reportedly clashed with Mozambique's security forces in Chitolo village, but there have been no details about casualties and the extent of destruction after the attack.

There also no details of the actual number of the people who have fled for their safety.

It comes as attacks by jihadists continue in several areas of Cabo Delgado.

On Sunday, several houses were torched and one person was found dead the next day in a village in Meluco district following an attack.

There have also been reports of confrontations between the jihadists and the army in Nhalidi area of Macomia district.

More on this topic:

• The deadly flight from Mozambique's jihadist attack

• What's driving the conflict in Mozambique?

A plan by the World Health Organization (WHO) to build an emergency hub in Kenya have been thrown into jeopardy over a land ownership dispute.

The vice-chancellor of one of Kenya’s top universities has been sacked over the dispute.

The WHO and the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) were allocated land at Kenyatta University by the Kenyan government.

The facility is to include a training centre, house professionals who can respond to a medical emergency within its first 24 hours and stockpiles of medical equipment, according to Reuters news agency.

The Kenyan government and WHO inaugurated the construction of the $5m (£4.2m) facility on Saturday.

But Kenyatta University opposed the allocation, saying it was done without its approval.

President Uhuru Kenyatta publicly criticised the vice-chancellor, saying he would take swift action against those opposing the project.

It comes after Sir Mo Farah revealed he was trafficked to the UK as a child.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Image source, AFP

The government of Angola has hired a law firm to represent its interests and those of the widow of the former President José Eduardo dos Santos, Ana Paula dos Santos, amid a row within the family on the late leader's burial.

The older children of the former president want to have custody of the body and hold a burial in Spain, while the widow and younger children want his body returned to Angola.

Jose dos Santos died on 8 July at a hospital in Barcelona, Spain, after running Angola for 38 years until his retirement in 2017.

Local media said efforts by the government and the family of the late leader to reach an agreement on funeral arrangements have failed.

A Spanish court is set to rule on the custody of the body by the end of this week.

Read more:

• Angola’s José Eduardo dos Santos: The flawed 'architect of peace'

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC News, Nairobi

Image source, AFP

The authorities in South Sudan say more than 230 people have been killed over the last two weeks in ethnic clashes in the south of the country.

The fighting over cattle and grazing fields occurred in Eastern Equatorial state from early this month.

The killings happened in Kapoeta North county, where rival communities clashed following cattle raids in one of the villages.

Those killed included a local chief who was shot as mourners gathered to bury those who died in the violence.

The governor of the state has condemned the killings and asked the government to urgently send security forces to the area to help restore calm.

His plea came as South Sudan marked 11 years of independence.

The UN has warned that the country risks a return to civil war because of continuing inter-communal fighting that has displaced millions of people.

Patricia Oyella
BBC News, Kampala

Police in Uganda have arrested 25 people following Monday's protests about the high prices of food and fuel

Many of those who took part in the demonstrations in the eastern district of Jinja - about 80km (50 miles) from the capital, Kampala - were motorcycle taxi riders commonly referred to as "bodabodas".

They demanded that the government intervene to subsidise the price of essential commodities.

Kiira region police spokesperson James Mubi said they had information that the protests were organised by politicians who would be summoned for questioning.

The protesters blocked a major highway with logs and tyres, but the police moved to quickly disperse them.

The price of fuel has almost doubled in recent months from 3,900 Ugandan shillings ($1.02) to 7,500 Ugandan shillings in some parts of the country.

President Yoweri Museveni in June ruled out cutting taxes and subsidies during a state-of-the-nation address, warning that it would deplete the country’s foreign reserves.

Uganda, like other countries on the continent, is experiencing a sharp rise in the cost of fuel and essential commodities largely being blamed on the Russia-Ukraine war.

Years after the notorious leader's election defeat, his alleged victims are still searching for justice.

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC News

Image source, AFP

The UN says 20 people have been killed and dozens more abducted in multiple attacks in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The dead include children and at least four patients who were burnt alive at a church clinic in North Kivu province.

The attack is blamed on fighters from the Islamic State-affiliated group Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

It is known as the deadliest armed group operating in the country and has been designated as a terrorist outfit by the US.

Witnesses say intense fighting is still ongoing in the volatile North Kivu province where the Congolese army and UN peacekeepers are engaging fighters from the group.

The rebel attacks began last Thursday when the armed group attacked a local clinic in Lume town - where they killed several people including the four patients who were burnt alive in the health facility.

The UN mission in DR Congo says hundreds of houses in nearby villages have also been razed down.

Dozens of people including at least 30 children are reported missing and are believed to have been abducted by the group.

Peacekeepers have also exchanged fire with the fighters in Ituri province.

Mineral-rich DR Congo has witnessed a recent resurgence in conflict involving several armed groups including the M23 movement and the ADF.

Last month, the East African Community leaders agreed to send a regional force to help the Congolese government counter the violence in the east.

Read more:

• Inside view of the IS-linked ADF rebels

Lalla Sy
BBC News, Abidjan

Image source, AFP

Ivory Coast has accused Mali of "unjustly" detaining 49 of its soldiers and has called for them to be released.

Mali's military government seized the men at Bamako airport on Sunday, calling them mercenaries.

But the Ivorian authorities say none were carrying weapons and that they went to Mali to join UN peacekeeping operations there.

Ivory Coast's National Security Council said it had held an extraordinary meeting under the chairmanship of President Alassane Ouattara over the detained soldiers.

In a statement, it called for calm and restraint among the population and assured that "all measures are being taken to obtain the rapid release of our brave and valiant soldiers".

The UN itself says the soldiers are one of several national units deployed to back up troop contingents.

The junta in Mali, which is trying to put down an Islamist insurgency, says its foreign ministry was not informed via official channels.