Image source, Getty Images

The third of three people to have tested positive in Ghana for the Marburg disease has recovered, the country's health authority says, external.

The other two people - the husband and 14-month-old child of the now-negative case - died earlier.

In July, the country confirmed the outbreak of Marburg, a highly infectious disease in the same family as the virus that causes Ebola.

One of the initial two cases was later shown not to have the virus.

Almost 200 contacts of the three infected people have been followed up but none has any symptoms, the Ghana Health Service said.

"This outbreak will be declared over 42 days after the last negative test if there are no new cases," it added in a statement. But the authorities will remain vigilant.

This is the second time that Marburg has been identified in West Africa. There was one confirmed case in Guinea last year, but that outbreak was declared over in September, five weeks after the case was discovered.

Read more:

• What is the Marburg virus?

Lebo Diseko
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, AFP

A South African court has granted bail to 22 people accused of instigating deadly riots in the country last year.

The charges relate to looting and public violence that took place in parts of KwaZulu-Natal in July 2021.

More than 300 people were killed in the unrest that erupted after South Africa's former president, Jacob Zuma, was jailed for contempt of court.

Bail was set at just over $180 (£150) for the suspects, who have been charged with conspiracy to commit public violence, incitement to commit public violence and incitement to commit arson.

Among the bail conditions was a warning not to post any information about the case on social media.

The suspects were arrested after investigators carried out an extensive trawl of their online posts.

While more than 5,000 people have been arrested in connection with last year's violence, authorities have been under pressure because of low number of prosecutions.

Last month the government said that around 50 cases had resulted in guilty verdicts, with thousands resolved through non-prosecution.

South Africa is still trying to recover from the economic damage - estimated at close to $4bn.

At the time South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa condemned the violence as an “attempted insurrection”.

The case has been remanded until 26 August.

Richard Kagoe
BBC News, Nairobi

Image source, Reuters

There was a scare at the Kenya's national tallying centre in the capital, Nairobi, that briefly disrupted the ongoing vote verification exercise on Friday afternoon.

Agents of presidential candidates and political parties were engaged in what appeared to be a confrontation in the area where verification is taking place prompting the intervention of electoral commission officials.

Sources say the commotion was triggered when agents from one political coalition raised alarm over a suspicious laptop device that was being used to key in data by one of the presidential agents.

Party agents are currently holed up in a meeting with electoral commissioners.

The device has been confiscated by security officers as they await the verdict of the ongoing meeting.

Tension was high at the centre as party delegates and observers tried to make sense of what was going on. The verification exercise has since resumed and situation is calm.

Emery Makumeno
BBC News, Kinshasa

Image source, AFP

More than 250 inmates of 822 who escaped from a prison in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have been captured by the security forces, the authorities say.

Security officials on Thursday presented 166 of the inmates in addition to the 86 other fugitives who were said to have been captured earlier with the help of the public.

The armed forces are still hunting for remaining inmates who had been detained at the Kakwanguru central prison in Butembo, before it was stormed by armed men.

An estimated 80 attackers overpowered the 15 police officers guarding the prison at 02:30 on Wednesday, army spokesman Capt Anthony Mwalushayi told the BBC.

The army blames the ADF, an armed group with links to the Islamist State (IS) jihadist group for carrying out the attack. The IS group has admitted it was behind the attack.

Two policemen were killed at the prison and later on local people burnt alive three fugitives believed to be ADF fighters, the authorities said.

Meanwhile there is still a tense atmosphere over the many other escapees still at large - though many residents have continued with their daily activities with shops reopening.

This is not the first time DR Congo has experienced a mass jailbreak.

In 2017, more than 3,000 inmates escaped from the high-security prison of Makala, in the capital Kinshasa.

Prison structures are old and overcrowding is common throughout the country.

More on the ADF:

• Uganda suicide attacks: Inside view of the IS-linked ADF rebels

Mercy Juma
BBC News, Nairobi

The Kenyan committee that is supposed to ensure a smooth transition from one president to another has held its first meeting.

Its members are getting ready for the electoral commission to announce the result from Tuesday's presidential election.

Chairperson Joseph Kinyua says the committee will take care of the handing-over process from the outgoing to the new president, organise security, facilities and personnel.

It will also co-ordinate the briefing of the president-elect, and prepare the programme and swearing in.

Reigning world marathon champion Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia withdraws from the London Marathon in October, citing muscle fatigue.

Shingai Nyoka
BBC News, Harare

Image source, AFP

Zimbabwe's central bank is to introduce lower denominations of gold coins to allow ordinary people to purchase them, according to the state-owned newspaper The Herald.

Last month, the country introduced gold coins priced at the international market rate for an ounce of gold plus 5% for production costs. An ounce of gold is currently worth about $1,795 (£1,500).

Some 4,475 coins have been sold so far, according to the Herald.

The coins were meant to ease the demand for the US dollar and maintain the value of the local currency after annual inflation topped 256% in July.

The local Zimbabwean dollar exchanged at 108.66 to the US dollar at the beginning of the year, but has tumbled to 481.85 to the dollar in August.

Zimbabwe uses two main currencies, the US and the Zimbabwe dollar, but most people prefer to exchange their local dollars for foreign currency to maintain value.

It has caused a shortage of the US currency and driven exchange rates up.

The central bank says that the smaller denominations of coins worth about $180 each will be released in November.

The coins are available to buy at approved banks and are tradeable locally.

Nigeria beat France 1-0 in their opening group match at the Fifa Under-20 Women's World Cup in Costa Rica, but Ghana lost 3-0 to the USA.

The reservoir sitting behind Ethiopia's controversial hydroelectric dam on the River Nile has finished filling for the third year in a row, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has said.

As the height of the dam wall is built up over the years, the volume of water held behind it increases.

Ethiopia has said in the past that it could take up to another five years to fill up the reservoir of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd), to its maximum flood season capacity of 74 billion cubic metres.

The Gerd has caused controversy with downstream countries Sudan and Egypt.

Egypt, which relies almost entirely on the Nile for its water supply, sees this as an existential issue.

In previous years, both countries have complained that Ethiopia acted unilaterally.

But in a series of tweets Prime Minister Abiy argued that the dam would benefit neighbours - not only in providing electricity, but also reducing flood risks.

Ethiopia sees the dam as a way to bring electricity to millions of its citizens and speed up economic development.

On Thursday, Mr Abiy announced that a second turbine had started producing power.

From last year:

• River Nile dam: Why Ethiopia can't stop it being filled

Los Angeles Lakers player Wenyen Gabriel wants to use basketball to unite people in his native South Sudan after its bitter experience of conflict.

Lebo Diseko
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, AFP

Twenty people suspected of instigating the deadly riots that swept through parts of South Africa in July last year, will appear in court in the eastern city of Durban later on Friday.

They will face a number of charges, including incitement to commit public violence and incitement to commit arson.

More than 300 people were killed in the unrest that erupted after South Africa's former president, Jacob Zuma, was jailed for contempt of court.

This is an initial appearance, dealing with matters such as whether the suspects will be granted bail and to set a date for the next time they will be in court.

They were arrested during co-ordinated police raids in six provinces on Thursday, in an investigation which used extensive trawls of social media posts to pinpoint suspected agitators.

While more than 5,000 people have already been arrested in connection with last year’s violence, authorities have been under pressure due to the low number of prosecutions.

Last month the government said that around 50 cases had resulted in a guilty verdict, while thousands had been resolved through non-prosecution

South Africa is still trying to recover from the economic damage - estimated at close to $4bn (£3.3bn). At the time South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa condemned the it as an “attempted insurrection” .

Read more:

• Durban riots: South Africa still bears the scars one year on
• South Africa riots: The inside story of Durban's week of anarchy

Image source, Getty Images

Nigeria's justice minister has said the government will not interfere in the trial of a prominent senator and his wife who are facing charges linked to an alleged organ harvesting plot.

Ike Ekweremadu, 60, a district senator and lawyer, and his wife, Beatrice Nwanneka Ekweremadu, 55, are accused of bringing a 21-year-old man from Nigeria to the UK.

Prosecutors claim they planned to have his kidney removed so it could be given to their daughter.

They have not entered pleas in court.

The case will be heard by a High Court judge in London in May 2023.

"It has never been the tradition of Nigerian government to interfere on anything judicial, local or international. And that stands the position of the government," Justice Minister Abubakar Malami is quoted by local outlets as saying on Thursday at a media briefing.

He added: "We have mutual legal assistance understanding with the UK, and whichever of the agencies, either the Senator as an accused or suspect or indeed the agencies in the UK, make any request for international support we will respond accordingly."

Kenya's newly re-elected lawmaker, Didmas Barasa, has surrendered to police after being on the run for three days over the shooting and killing of an opponent's aide.

Police are treating Mr Barasa as a suspect in the incident that happened at a polling station on voting day.

He is currently helping with investigations, police have said, external.

Mr Barasa's Kimilili constituency is in western Kenya near the border with Uganda.

His lawyer had on Thursday applied for bail pending his arrest.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Image source, AFP

Rights group Human Rights Watch has accused Cameroonian soldiers, external of "killings", "arbitrary detentions" as well as "looting" of villages and health centres in the North-West region.

The report by HRW accused government soldiers of summarily killing at least 10 people and carrying out other abuses between 24 April and 12 June, during armed operations against separatists in the anglophone region.

The troops also reportedly torched 12 homes, destroyed and looted health facilities, arbitrarily detained at least 26 people, and are presumed to have forcibly disappeared up to 17 others.

Since 2016, Cameroonian troops have been engaging various factions of separatists waging a guerrilla war in the predominantly Anglophone North-West and South-West regions in a bid to establish a breakaway "Ambazonian" state.

The separatists accuse the largely francophone administration of President Paul Biya of marginalising and discriminating against Cameroon's English-speaking minority.

Kalkidan Yibeltal
BBC News

At least three people have been killed after violent clashes between police and protesters in Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia.

Hundreds took to the the streets on Thursday in major cities after two opposition parties called for demonstrations to pressure the government not to delay elections scheduled for November.

President Muse Bihi Abdi and his Kulmiye Party want the registration of new parties to be done first.

Officials had earlier given permits to contain the demonstrations in specific areas.

The head of Somaliland's police operations, Ibrahim Abdi Haji, said several people including police officers were injured in the protests and arrests had been made.

“Leaders of the opposition parties will be accountable for what happened,” Mr Haji told journalists.

One of the parties that called for the demonstrations has denied it engaged in violence.

"We are only exercising our democratic rights and no-one can silence us,” Faisal Ali Warabe, the leader of UCID party, is reported to have told his supporters.

The US Embassy in Mogadishu said Somaliland’s achievements in democratic governance could be threatened unless an agreement is reached on election.

Somalia’s northern region proclaimed independence three decades ago and has been seeking international recognition.

Richard Kagoe
BBC News, Nairobi

Image source, Reuters

Kenyans are still waiting for results of the presidential election following voting on Tuesday that was characterised by low turnout.

The electoral commission is verifying results forms at the country’s national tallying centre in the capital, Nairobi

The centre is a hive of activity as agents from across the country hand-deliver the actual results sheet for verification

Provisional results show a tight race between the frontrunners, William Ruto and Raila Odinga.

Observers have lauded the electoral commission for a smooth voting exercise.

The electoral body has seven days after election day to declare the result.

Read more:

• Kenya Election 2022: Why the count is taking so long

Image source, Getty Images

More than 100 vultures and a hyena have died at South Africa’s Kruger National Park after feeding on a buffalo carcass suspected to have been poisoned, the authorities are quoted as saying.

“Rangers on patrol discovered the carcass of a buffalo, which appeared to have been laced with poison. They also found over 100 dead vultures and a dead hyena likely to have fed off the carcass,” local media cite South African National Parks Authority (SanParks) as saying.

Twenty more vultures were discovered at the poisoning scene in a bad condition and were taken to a rehabilitation centre for treatment.

The matter has been referred to the police for investigations, SanParks said.

Yolan Friedman, the chief executive of Endangered Wildlife Trust, told local media that poisonings at this scale put the species at increasing risk of extinction.

Vultures often die from eating poisoned carcasses used to bait predators but are sometimes deliberately poisoned for their body parts used in traditional medicine.

BBC Focus on Africa radio

Image source, Reuters

Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio has described anti-government protests in the country as acts of terrorism instigated by agitators living abroad.

About 130 people have been arrested in the demonstrations in the capital, Freetown, and in the opposition's northern stronghold over the high cost of living, corruption and police brutality.

President Bio, who had travelled out of the country, has returned and told BBC Focus on Africa that the protests had a political motive.

"Of course what happened [on Wednesday] was definitely not a protest, it was terrorism at the highest. We have a few Sierra Leoneans who live in the diaspora who have threatened to unleash terror in Sierra Leone," he said.

"There is politics underneath all that is happening and you can't take that away," he added.

Calm has returned to Freetown, the president said, and security forces have been deployed to make sure that there is no further deterioration in the situation.

He acknowledged that there were underlying concerns affecting citizens.

"Definitely there is hardship, most of the youth are unemployed. We do sympathise with their situation and as a government we have done quite a lot to address that situation," he said.

Chris Ewokor
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, Presidency Nigeria

President Muhammadu Buhari has met families of passengers kidnapped during a train attack in late March in northern Nigeria.

It was the first time such a meeting between government officials and families of the hostages has been held.

Mr Buhari said rescue efforts were being complicated by the risk of collateral damage.

"My primary concern is to get everyone released safe and unhurt," the president said.

“We have received several suggestions about the deployment of lethal military force in extracting those still being held in captivity... However the condition to guarantee a successful outcome and minimise potential collateral damage could not be assured and therefore that course of action had to be reluctantly discarded.”

Recently relatives of the hostages held protests in the capital, Abuja, to call on the government to rescue their loved ones.

At least 31 passengers are still being held by their abductors, who have threatened to kill them if the government failed to meet their demands.

The abductors have been releasing hostages in batches. On Wednesday, seven hostages were freed - including six members of the same family and an elderly woman.

Those released spoke of horrific experiences and trauma under captivity.

Mark Pivac
BBC World Service Newsroom

Image source, AFP

South African police have arrested 20 people suspected of instigating the riots that swept parts of the country in July last year.

About 350 people were killed in the unrest that erupted after former president Jacob Zuma was jailed for contempt of court.

Special co-ordinated police raids took place in six provinces, in an operation which relied on extensive trawls through social media posts to pinpoint suspected agitators.

Those arrested are due to appear in a court in Durban on Friday.

An inquiry earlier this year blamed the violence on faceless masterminds, but also heavily criticised the police response.

Read more:

• Durban riots: South Africa still bears the scars one year on