Richard Kagoe
BBC News, Nairobi

A seven-judge bench has begun hearing petitions seeking to overturn the election of William Ruto as Kenya's president elect.

Led by Chief Justice Martha Koome, the judges struck out two petitions and consolidated seven others because they raised similar issues and sought the same orders.

The court also rejected three applications including a request by Mr Ruto, who sought to bar the Law Society of Kenya from the case.

The court has set out nine issues of determination that will shape the final ruling set to be delivered on 5 September.

Veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga rejected the election result saying the announcement was unlawful.

He cited divisions among the seven electoral commissioners and the commission chairman Wafula Chebukati's failure to explain how he arrived at the final tally.

Mr Chebukati declared Mr Ruto as Kenya’s president-elect saying he garnered 7.1m votes against Mr Odinga 6.9m votes.

The court, which held a preliminary hearing on Tuesday morning, has adjourned and will resume later in the afternoon to consider several issues raised by lawyers.

The case will proceed to full hearing from Wednesday.

Anne Wafula Strike was effectively cast out of her village in Kenya after contracting polio, but became an elite wheelchair racer.

Raila Odinga says the court’s judgement will have wider implications on democracy across Africa.

Egypt's Mayar Sherif says she needs to rediscover her best form to beat Marta Kostyuk in the first round of the US Open.

Kalkidan Yibeltal
BBC News, Addis Ababa

Image source, AFP

The UN says efforts to deliver humanitarian aid in the embattled northern Ethiopian region of Tigray have been suspended after fresh fighting broke out last week.

The renewed violence - currently concentrated in neighbouring Amhara region - is worsening the crisis amid calls for de-escalation.

The UN says that aid delivery by road transport into Tigray has not been done since mid last week.

Flights transporting aid workers have also been suspended and operational cash is not being delivered.

However, aid that had already been delivered is being distributed.

Meanwhile, a team of international human rights experts set up by the UN to probe allegations of abuses in Ethiopia has said it’s "outraged" about the renewed hostilities.

The team has added its voice to other international groups calling for the violence to stop.

The shipment on board has been arranged by the UN to get wheat to a country with millions in need.

Image source, Sango website

A plan by the government of the Central African Republic to allow foreigners to acquire citizenship and land using a new cryptocurrency has been ruled as "unconstitutional" by the country's top court.

Last month the government launched Sango Coin amid a sharp fall in Bitcoin prices and doubts over the project's viability in a country with poor internet connection and destabilised by conflict.

Sales of the initial $21m (£17m) on offer have been slow, with just over 5% of the target bought in the hours after its launch on 21 July.

According to the Sango website, external, foreign investors could obtain citizenship for $60,000 worth of crypto - with the equivalent Sango Coins held as collateral for five years - and "e-residency" for $6,000, held for three years.

Investors would also be able to by a 250 sq m plot of land for $10,000, with the Sango Coins locked away for a decade.

The constitutional court ruled that nationality did not have a market value and that residency required a physical stay in the country.

A government spokesman had no response on Monday and the impact of the ruling on ambitious crypto project is not clear, Reuters news agency reports.

• Why the Central African Republic adopted Bitcoin

Image source, Reuters

President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed nine people to form an anti-corruption advisory council to help in the fight against corruption.

The National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council has been tasked with preventing a recurrence of state capture in South Africa.

The team will help with the effective implementation of the anti-corruption strategy by the government, civil society and the private sector.

The panel will also guide the president on the government's response to implementing the recommendations of the Zondo Commission report.

President Ramaphosa has until 22 October to report to parliament on how his administration will implement the report's findings.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Image source, Defence Ministry

Somali Defence Minister Abdikadir Mohamed Nur and the visiting commander of the US Africa Command (Africom), General Michael Langley discussed the war on terrorism during a meeting on Monday.

The meeting, which was held at the US embassy in Mogadishu, was also attended by US envoy Larry Andre and the Somali prime minister's security adviser.

Mr Nur said he and the Africom commander, external "shared our mutual commitment in enhancing the capacity and capabilities of the SNAF [Somali national armed forces] and fighting al-Shabab".

"The FGS [federal government of Somali] is appreciative of the role of Africom in enhancing peace and security in the region," he tweeted.

The US embassy tweeted photos, external of Gen Langley's visit to Mogadishu, saying Washington provides "security assistance that strengthens Somali and AU [African Union] partners as Somalia assumes full responsibility for protecting the Somali people from extremist violence and extortion".

The new Somali government has vowed to step up the fight against al-Shabab, which has intensified its attacks across the country this year.

Nichola Mandil
BBC News, Juba

Image source, AFP

South Sudan is set for the graduation of its first batch of unified forces in the country – the national army and the police services.

The graduation scheduled for Tuesday morning in the capital, Juba, is expected to be witnessed by five leaders from the region – who are guarantors of the peace agreement.

A public holiday has been declared to enable the citizens to witness the ceremony.

The unity government in South Sudan was formed in February 2020, but it is yet to create a unified national army.

Defence and Veterans’ Affairs Minister Angelina Teny told reporters on Monday that at least 10,000 soldiers will be graduating during the official ceremony.

She said the next batch of the unified forces is expected to graduate in the next six months.

A unified force was a key pillar of the revitalised peace deal signed in September 2018 to end five years of the conflict.

Up to 83,000 troops were originally to join the national army, but a new deal reached in April this year agreed on 53,000 soldiers.

Since independence, South Sudan has been scarred by a devastating civil war which saw many thousands of people killed, as warring factions split along ethnic lines.

Richard Kagoe
BBC News, Nairobi

Image source, Getty Images

Kenya’s Supreme Court is set to hold a pre-trial conference on petitions seeking to invalidate the presidential election results.

Nine petitions were lodged last week seeking to overturn William Ruto’s win.

The conference will make a list of the issues that the court will determine and make a decision by Monday.

They include whether the electoral commission chairman Wafula Chebukati violated the law by declaring Mr Ruto the winner of the election.

It will also consider the divisions in the commission, with one faction seeking to have the election nullified and another maintaining that it should be upheld.

The conference will be attended by seven judges who will preside over the petition arising from the 9 August elections.

The judges will deliver preliminary rulings over various issues before presiding over the pre-trial conference.

They include a plea by Mr Ruto seeking to remove individual electoral commission officials as parties in the petition filed by his opponent Raila Odinga.

The judges will determine whether to grant orders for scrutiny and counting of votes as sought by Mr Odinga’s coalition.

They will also rule on applications by several individuals and entities seeking to be enjoined as friends of the court - not parties to the case but permitted to assist the court by offering information.

The proceedings will be televised live to allow the public follow arguments and minimise the number of people physically present in the courtroom.

Mr Odinga rejected the election result saying the announcement was unlawful. He cited divisions among electoral commissioners and failure by the chairman to explain how he arrived at the final tally.

Mr Chebukati declared Mr Ruto as Kenya’s president-elect with 7.1m votes against Mr Odinga's 6.9m votes.

Catherine Byaruhanga
BBC Africa Correspondent

The first shipment of grain from Ukraine to Africa since the war began has docked at the Red Sea port of Djibouti.

The Lebanese-flagged MV Brave Commander is carrying 23,000 tonnes of wheat bound for neighbouring Ethiopia. It took two weeks to travel here from the Black Sea.

It is rare for journalists gain access to this port in Djibouti. But we are here because of how significant this delivery is.

This is a tiny country with a population of 900,000 people but it has one of the busiest ports on the continent.

Right now, workers have started boarding the vessel to offload its precious cargo. Two gigantic cranes have been positioned for the operation.

The shipment has been arranged by the UN to get the wheat to countries at risk of starvation.

It will take about a week for the wheat to bagged and taken by road to neighbouring Ethiopia, according to the UN’s World Food Programme.

Ethiopia is experiencing the worst drought in 40 years, as well as a number of conflicts.

The shipment is a drop in the ocean compared to what is needed in the countries of East Africa - where drought is widespread.

Read more:

East Africa drought: 'The suffering here has no equal'

Ishaq Khalid
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, Borno State Government

Nigeria's north-eastern Borno state government has launched an ambitious school enrolment programme for thousands of children displaced by the Boko Haram jihadist insurgency.

The state governor, Babagana Zulum, launched the initiative in Monguno town where victims of the conflict have been staying in camps after being displaced from their communities.

Some 7,000 children were registered to primary and junior secondary schools in the first phase of the programme on Sunday and Monday, his spokesman told the BBC.

The authorities say many of the beneficiaries are children orphaned by the violence. They say the project is targeting more than 20,000 children across the state.

The insurgency, which began in 2009, has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions of others in north-eastern Nigeria and several neighbouring countries.

It forced many children to abandon schools and others could not be enrolled at all. Learning institutions have also been destroyed.

The authorities however say they are making efforts to ensure children are back to class by building new schools and sponsoring their education.

You many be interested in:

• Nigeria’s Chibok girls: Two victims found eight years on
• 'Why I returned to Boko Haram and how I escaped'
• Nigeria's Boko Haram militants: Six reasons they have not been defeated

Our proverb of the day:

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Upcycled fashion and high-end tailoring are thriving in the fashion scene of Kenya's capital.

That's all for now from the BBC Africa Live team, but we'll be back on Tuesday morning.

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

A reminder of our Africa proverb of the day:

And we leave you with this picture of a man driving a taxi in Lagos, taken by photographer Bernard Kalu.

Image source, AFP

Sierra Leone's President Julius Maado Bio has offered his condolences to the loved ones of those who lost their lives to flooding in Freetown on Sunday. He said "poor urban planning and mismanagement of the city's resources" as "an enormous contributor" to the problem.

He also cited climate change as another factor: "The heavy downpour experienced this August points to the impact and consequence of global warming and climate change."

Sierra Leone has recently seen a spate of heavy rains in the capital city, with one local media outlet, Sierra Leone Telegraph, reporting on Monday that six people died following a landslide caused by floods.

The victims reportedly included a family of three who lived in an informal settlement in an area called Looking Town, as we reported earlier.

Authorities have been warning those living in low-lying areas to move to safer ground.

Sierra Leone has a traumatic history with flooding and mudslides. In 2017 more than 1,000 people were left dead after a devastating mudslide.

BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

More than 700 imams in Burkina Faso have condemned religious and ethnic intolerance in the country following a spate of violent social media posts urging "native" Burkinabè people to attack members of the Fulani community.

At a meeting of clerics in the capital, Ouagadougou, the head of the Federation of Islamic Associations of Burkina, Moussa Kouanda, warned that messages inciting religious and ethnic intolerance could spiral into civil war.

Jihadist attacks in the West African country have led to accusations against the 1.5 million-strong Fulani community.

The government has condemned the social media messages, saying the posts were direct calls for mass murder.

The MPLA, in power for nearly 50 years, faced a strong challenge from civil war rivals Unita.

He may have planned to steal two rare white lion cubs which have become a big draw for the zoo.