BBC World Service

New banknotes are being launched in Nigeria today in an effort to fight counterfeiting and the financing of Islamist groups and hostage takers.

It's hoped the introduction of the new 200, 500 and 1,000 naira notes will help mop up the excess currency in circulation and reduce inflation.

One kidnapping gang has already responded to the launch of the new currency.

They have halved their ransom demand for two adults and two children seized in Zamfara state, insisting it's paid in the brand new notes.

Salim Kikeke
BBC World Service in Qatar

Image source, Reuters

Morocco hopes to draw inspiration from Saudi Arabia in their group F game against Croatia.

Travelling fans in Doha say the Saudi win against Argentina gives them hope.

"Who knew?" says Zubair Ilal.

When I ask him how far Morocco will go in the World Cup, he clasps his hands and says: “Please God, let it be the quarter-finals."

Another fan, Ben Salem, who lives in France and works as a manager for an e-scooters company in Paris, said it would be crucial for Morocco to win the first game.

“Hopefully we’ll be like Saudi Arabia and have an attacking and aggressive mindset," he says.

Ahead of the tournament Morocco had won its last five games scoring 25 goals to qualify.

“It’s a very difficult group with Canada and Belgium in it, we need to have a winning start,” he says.

Salem, who has taken two weeks off work, is hoping to be requesting another leave, if Morocco gets to the final. “We’ll see,” he says.

In the 1986, Morocco surprised everyone by topping their group ahead of England, Poland and Portugal.

It will be Africa’s third team to play in the World Cup group stage. Senegal lost its first game against the Netherlands while Tunisia earned a point against Denmark.

Follow live updates here: Morocco vs Croatia

The statue of a controversial German colonial officer in Namibia's capital Windhoek has been taken down after a successful petition.

It was erected in 1965 in front of what is now the city's municipal building to honour Curt von François who was celebrated as the city's founder.

Von François was a senior officer in the then German colony of South West Africa (modern day Namibia) between 1889 to 1894.

He was the commanding officer in 1892 during the massacre of Hoornkrans - an operation against a rising rebellion by the Nama people where at least 80 people mostly women and children were killed.

On Wednesday, local artists performed rituals to reclaim the land where the statue stood before workers took it down from its pedestal.

Activist Hildegard Titus, who led the petition to take down the statue, told news site Namibian that she was "very excited".

She said Von François had "wrongly been called the founder of Windhoek" and that he was a symbol of "colonial oppression".

A crowd that had gathered to witness the event applauded as the statue was removed.

The city of Windhoek spokesperson Harold Akwenye said the statue will be kept in the museum but will be "re-erected" once a new spot has been agreed on.

Samba Cyuzuzo
BBC Great Lakes

The Democratic Republic of Congo has denied claims that a French military plane that landed on Friday at the Kisangani airport was loaded with weapons.

Government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya said the plane landed “in distress” and that it was “searched”.

He said the plane had departed from Reunion Island and was headed to the Chadian capital, Ndjamena, through Bujumbura in Burundi but had requested to land at the nearest airport as “one of its engines could catch fire”.

Photos of the plane at Kisangani airport were widely shared on social media, with many claiming it was delivering arms and ammunitions to a rebel group operating in eastern DR Congo.

Mr Muyaya said the plane had nine staff on board and there was “nothing to worry about”. It is waiting for an “intervention from Paris” to be able to continue its journey, he added.

Recent clashes between the army and M23 rebels have resulted in a rise of misinformation on social media .

Kinshasa accuses neighbouring Rwanda of supporting the M23 group, but Kigali has continuously denied the claim.

Presidents Felix Tshisekedi and Paul Kagame are on Wednesday expected to hold talks in Angolan capital, Luanda, to find a solution to the crisis.

Image source, Gauteng Health Department

A South African mob attacked and killed a patient in an ambulance on suspicion of committing a crime, according to the Gauteng province health department.

The mob also attacked paramedics who were attending to the patient in Atteridgeville area and damaged the ambulance.

Paramedics had responded to calls for medical assistance after the man was injured in a mob attack. At the scene, they initiated treatment and prepared to transport the patient to the nearest hospital.

"As the ambulance was getting ready to leave the scene, community members started throwing stones and barricaded the road to prevent the ambulance leaving... they demanded justice on the spot," the health department said in a statement, external.

It added: "Unfortunately the patient was further fatally assaulted while on an ambulance stretcher. The ambulance was extensively damaged and medical equipment was stolen."

Former Ghanian footballer, John Paintsil relives the famous match against Uruguay at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Patience Atuhaire
BBC News, Kampala

Image source, Getty Images

Hundreds of cargo trucks are stuck on the Ugandan side of Ishasha border crossing, as fighting intensifies in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Sostine Buregyeya, a local leader and businessman in Ishasha, told the BBC that some of the trucks had been stuck at the border for three weeks for fear of insecurity in DR Congo.

Ugandan exports to the DR Congo are valued at over $300m (£252m) and Ishasha is one of the main crossings between the two countries.

“We used to go to the [DR Congo] twice a month, but now there is no business,” Geoffrey Opiyo, a Ugandan fish exporter told the BBC.

Mr Opiyo said that he was forced to sell some of his dried fish cargo locally at throw away prices and is still stuck with some 40 tonnes in a store at the border.

He brought the cargo to the border in late October after sourcing it from Uganda’s Lake Kyoga in the east, .

“Some of the trucks which had already crossed have returned to Uganda,” Mr Opiyo added.

Fighting between the Congolese government and the M23 rebels has intensified in recent weeks, with the rebels capturing more territory.

The M23 are said to be advancing on several fronts and have been sighted about 35km (22 miles) from Ishasha border.

The rebels have also been advancing towards the strategic city of Goma.

The fighting has displaced thousands of people in the region.

Efforts to bring peace to eastern DR Congo are being championed by East African Community leaders, as well as Angolan President João Lourenço, who is hosting a summit in the capital, Luanda, on Wednesday.

Image source, AFP

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken to Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed about the implementation of the ceasefire deal between government troops and Tigray forces in the north.

“[The] Ethiopian Prime Minister and I discussed the urgent need to implement the cessation of hostilities agreement and to secure lasting peace in northern Ethiopia,” Mr Blinken said in a tweet., external

In a readout of his phone call, external to the Ethiopian leader, Mr Blinken stressed the need to immediately implement the deal “including withdrawal of all foreign forces and concurrent disarmament of the Tigrayan forces”.

Mr Abiy has already reiterated his government's commitment to the peace deal.

The secretary of state said the US was committed to support the African Union-led process including its monitoring and verification mechanism of the peace agreement

Mr Blinken recognised ongoing efforts by the Ethiopian government "to work towards unhindered humanitarian assistance and restoration of basic services" in Tigray and neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions.

Amhara and Afar regional forces, as well as Eritrean troops, have been fighting alongside the federal forces war against the Tigrayan fighters.

On 2 November the Ethiopia's government and Tigrayan fighters agreed, in a surprise move, to halt their two-year conflict.

The conflict has led to thousands of deaths and warnings of a famine.

Image source, Getty Images

Rwandan referee Salima Mukansanga made history on Tuesday after becoming the first African female referee to officiate in a men's World Cup match.

The 34-year-old was the fourth official in the match between reigning world champions France and Australia.

South African Victor Gomes was the centre referee and was assisted by countryman Zakhele Siwela and Lesotho’s Souru Phatšoane.

Earlier this year, Mukansanga became the first woman to take charge of a match at the men's Africa Cup of Nations, which was first played in 1958, while last year she officiated at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Read more:

• Salima Mukansanga to 'open doors' for female officials

Beverly Ochieng
BBC Monitoring

Image source, AFP

Mali’s UN peacekeeping mission (Minusma) risks disintegrating as powerful troop-contributing countries withdraw their respective forces.

Germany is the latest country to say its 1,000 peacekeepers will leave the Sahel nation by May 2024 as a fallout over the deployment of Russian mercenaries continues.

Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht assured it would be an orderly departure as Mali plans to hold transitional elections in February 2024.

The UK, Cote d’Ivoire and Benin also intend to pull out their respective forces next year, while Egypt suspended operations indefinitely.

Relations between Mali and Western partners have deteriorated since the military junta led by Col Assimi Goita seized power in August 2020.

Bamako has steadily pivoted to Moscow, which triggered the hasty withdrawal of thousands of troops by Mali’s long-standing security partner France in August, ending nearly a decade of military co-operation.

Minusma – which has had 12,000 troops in Mali since 2013 – is the UN’s largest and deadliest operations. Peacekeepers are frequently killed or wounded in attacks by al-Qaeda and Islamic State fighters.

Operations by the UN forces are further jeopardised by public protests demanding the expulsion of international troops, while hostility by Malian officials undermines efforts to stabilise the country.

Islamist militants are becoming emboldened by the growing security vacuum leading to an increase in deadly attacks against Mali’s beleaguered army and the spread of violence to neighbouring countries.

Ishaq Khalid
BBC News, Abuja

Officials in Nigeria say at least 54 people died and scores of others were wounded in two separate road accidents on Tuesday.

The victims included women and children.

In one of the crashes, at least 37 people died after two buses collided head-on and burst into flames on a highway between the north-eastern cities of Maiduguri and Damaturu.

Some travellers were burnt beyond recognition inside the buses, according to an official of Nigeria’s Federal Road Safety Commission in the region.

The other accident on the outskirts of the capital, Abuja, killed 17 people when a passenger bus had a head-on-collision with a truck.

The authorities say both accidents were caused by speeding.

Road accidents are common in Nigeria and are often blamed on bad roads, poor maintenance of vehicles and disregard for traffic rules.

Ameyu Etana
BBC Afaan Oromoo

Image source, Getty Images

Residents in remote areas of western Ethiopia say children have been dying from a measles outbreak for the past few months as there is little access to hospital.

Those who talked to the BBC say road blocks erected as a result of the ongoing conflict in the region had hampered movement.

The federal government has been fighting a deadly insurgency in western Oromia – a stronghold of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) rebels.

Health official Dereje Abdena confirmed to the BBC about the outbreaks of measles and malaria in the region - including in areas hit by drought.

The authorities said they were trying to reach out to those affected.

"Just a few days ago we buried two children who died from measles. Medics have left the area," a resident of Kondala district in West Wollega zone said.

Measles is highly contagious and can cause serious illness. It can sometimes be fatal.

In a recent report, the UN said the humanitarian situation in western Oromia region "remains complex" with hundreds of thousands displaced due to conflicts.

‘’Access, security and resources remain challenging to reach the affected population," the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

More on this topic:

• Ethiopia violence in Oromia: 'Villages full of dead bodies'

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The state visit of South Africa's President Ramaphosa hears of future partnerships and historic wrongs.

The BBC goes on manoeuvres with the unit leading a growing offensive against al-Shabab militants.

South African software developers discuss what it means to them to do business in the country.

South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa is welcomed to London as Charles III hosts his first state visit as King.

Officials said rescue efforts were delayed as divers had little oxygen in their cylinders.

Tunisia coach Jalel Kadri pays tribute to supporters after his side earn a precious point against Denmark in their World Cup opener.

That's all for now from the BBC Africa Live team and we'll pick things up again on Wednesday morning Nairobi time.

In the meantime there will be an automated service here and you can also check the African news on our website or listen to our BBC Africa Daily podcast.

A reminder of our Africa proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this picture of a young Senegal fan at the World Cup in Qatar:

Image source, AFP