Samba Cyuzuzo
BBC Great Lakes

Image source, AFP

The Democratic Republic of Congo's army has denied the presence of fighters from Russia's mercenary Wagner Group in the country, in response to claims by a rebel group.

The army has been struggling to contain the M23 rebel group that has in recent months captured swathes of territory in the eastern part of the country.

Reports have suggested the presence of Russian mercenaries in North Kivu province on government’s invitation to help deal with the rebel group.

“It is true, Wagner Group is here. We have evidence that we will show in due time,” M23 spokesperson Willy Ngoma told the BBC on Wednesday.

He added that they had fought a joint team of the Congolese army and the mercenaries last week in Tongo and Nyamilima fronts in Rutshuru area.

But the army spokesperson Major General Sylvain Ekenge has denied the claims.

“The Wagner group is not operating in DR Congo,” he told the BBC.

Russian mercenaries have a presence in DR Congo’s northern neighbour, Central African Republic, where in 2021 they played a role in fighting rebels.

Last year in October, Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi told a meeting in London that he would not bring in Russian mercenaries to deal with the rebel activity in his country.

“I know it’s fashionable now . . .[but] no, we don’t need to use mercenaries," he was quoted as saying by the Financial Times.

The unrest in eastern DR Congo has displaced hundreds of thousands from their homes.

More on this topic:

• Hiding on top of a hill to escape the rebels

BBC World Service

The army in Mali says 14 of its soldiers have been killed in two separate attacks in the centre of the country where Islamist militants are known to operate.

In both incidents vehicles in which the troops were travelling were hit by roadside bombs.

The army said it had deployed reinforcements following the attacks and had killed more than 30 militants.

That claim has not been verified.

BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

The Democratic Republic of Congo has condemned Rwanda for saying it will no longer take in people fleeing conflict in the eastern part of DR Congo..

A spokesman for the Congolese government said the remarks by Rwanda's President Paul Kagame proved that human rights were of no value to him.

He accused Kigali of blackmailing the international community by using refugees for political purposes.

Patrick Muyaya said even though President Kagame had attempted to walk back on his remarks on the subject, he had "revealed his true intentions".

More than 70,000 Congolese have crossed to Rwanda, fleeing a conflict between the government and the M23 rebels, which the international community says is supported by Rwanda. Kigali denies the claim.

Eastern Congo is scarred by dozens of conflicts, mostly over mineral resources.

Our proverb of the day:

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Why Africa's most-populous country is introducing new bank notes weeks before an election.

Women's assistant coach Sinikiwe Mpofu found dead just weeks after her husband, men's fielding coach Shepherd Makunura, passed away.

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team until Thursday morning.

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

A reminder of our African proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this birds-eye view of a market in Ghana's capital, Accra.

BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

Provisional results from Sunday's parliamentary poll in Benin show the opposition has returned to parliament after a four year absence.

The electoral commission said the opposition had won 28 seats with allies of President Patrice Talon securing 81.

Final results are expected later this week.

Benin's opposition was effectively barred from running in the 2019 legislative elections with most of Mr Talon's opponents jailed or exiled.

Peter Jegwa
Lilongwe, Malawi

The High Court in Malawi has released the stepson of former President Peter Mutharika on bail two months after he was arrested and charged with aggravated human trafficking and murder.

Tadikila Mafubza has been linked to the deaths of 30 men, believed to be Ethiopian migrants, whose bodies were found in a mass grave in October last year.

He denies the charges.

The court on Wednesday ordered Mr Mafubza to pay two million kwacha ($2,000; £1,600), provide two blood related sureties each bonded at $5,000 in assets, and to surrender his passport and all travel documents to the police.

Mr Mafubza was not present in court when the ruling was made.

He was also ordered not to contact any witnesses related to the case and report to national police headquarters every Tuesday fortnightly.

The discovered bodies were found in an unmarked grave in a government forest in the northern district of Mzimba. A post-mortem found that they had died of suffocation.

Police arrested Mr Mafubza because they allege his car was used to transport the 30 men. A man said to have been the driver was also detained.

Malawi is grappling with the problem of organised syndicates trafficking men, women and children to South Africa, the US and Europe.

Nichola Mandil
BBC News, Juba

The UN has condemned the killing of three aid workers in two separate attacks in South Sudan.

The killings are "completely unacceptable and must stop,” the acting UN Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan, Peter van der Auweraert said in a statement.

Two aid workers were shot and killed while on duty at a humanitarian facility, when armed men attacked Rumameer village in Abyei, a border oil-rich area being contested by South Sudan and Sudan.

Several civilians were also killed, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said in a press release on Wednesday.

In a similar incident, an aid worker was killed by unknown individuals while he guarded humanitarian commodities in Duk County in Jonglei state in the east of the country over the weekend.

Humanitarian supplies were looted during the incident, Ocha added.

South Sudan continues to be one of the most dangerous places for aid workers. Nine aid workers were killed while on duty in 2022 alone, compared to five in 2021.

Since the conflict began in 2013, 141 humanitarians, predominantly South Sudanese, have lost their lives while providing humanitarian assistance to the people, according to Ocha.

Sinikiwe Mpofu dies weeks after her husband and fellow national team coach Shepherd Makunura.

Image source, Getty Images

A former militia leader who was acquitted of crimes against humanity in Ivory Coast says he will be president of the country one day.

In his first press conference since returning from exile in November, Charles Blé Goudé said he would run in the 2025 election.

Known for his charisma and fiery rhetoric he was nicknamed the "street general".

Mr Goudé was transferred to the International Criminal Court nine years ago and acquitted in 2019 along with the former president Laurent Gbagbo.

Both men were charged with crimes against humanity committed during violence which erupted in Ivory Coast after disputed elections in 2010.

Kalkidan Yibeltal
BBC News, Addis Ababa

Image source, EBC

The China-funded and headquarters for the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has been inaugurated in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa.

The newly appointed Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who’s visiting Ethiopia as part of a week-long tour of the continent, was joined by the chairperson of African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, at the opening of the $80m (£65m) headquarters, which also built and equipped by China.

The project - which Mr Qin said was a testament to the growing relations between his country and Africa - is seen as the latest example of China’s increasing investment on the continent.

Beijing accelerated its involvement to tackle health crises after the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014.

Four years later, it announced its plan to build the Africa CDC headquarters.

The agency led the continent's response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Edwin Chiloba's mouth was stuffed with socks and tied with a piece of denim, a pathologist says.

A Liberian former rebel commander is appealing a 23-year jail sentence for war crimes, including rape, murder and cannibalism.

The prosecution has added the charge of crimes against humanity in the case of Alieu Kosiah, whose trial has opened in Switzerland.

Seven plaintiffs have travelled to the country to testify, including a man who alleges he saw Mr Kosiah eating a man's heart.

He was found guilty of war crimes in 2021, the first case of its kind in Switzerland.

Hundreds of people were killed and mutilated during Liberia's multiple civil wars which lasted from 1998 - 2003.

Reaction from Cape Town as 19-year-old South Africa batsman Dewald Brevis stars in first match of new SA20 league.

A video of a Zimbabwean head teacher cutting students' hair because they had styles that were against the school rules has divided opinion.

Headteacher Masimba Mupavaenda said George Stark High School did not tolerate "stylish haircuts."

"Learners have a tendency of coming to school unprepared... there are some who have stylish hair, some have tints and all sorts of hairstyles which do not promote good learning," Mr Mupavaenda said.

The just over two-minute long video shows him running a pair of scissors across the students' hair.

Critics commenting on Twitter said his actions were an "abuse", "colonial", "ignorant", "humiliating" and offensive".

But one supporter, external applauded Mr Mupavaenda saying it was necessary to instil discipline.

"Thank you sir, as a former staff at the GSHS, it has been our mandate to bring discipline and sanity at the institute, keep up the good work sir. I am so delighted to see you pushing towards the disciplinary pole! keep it up."

"Rules are there to be followed. The parents know the rules and so do the students. You either tow the line or face the music. Well done for implementing what we already know," another said., external

Image source, AFP

Kenyan gay rights activist Edwin Kiprotich Kiptoo, who was known as Chiloba, died due to suffocation caused by stuffing of pieces of cloth in his mouth and nose, the government's chief pathologist has told a media briefing.

"He died from asphyxia which is caused by smothering," Johansen Oduor said.

The body of the young fashion designer and LGBTQ activist was found last week dumped in a metal box by the roadside near the town of Eldoret.

Mr Oduor said, contrary to reports, Edwin's eyes had not been gouged out.

Five suspects linked to the murder, including his long-time friend, are being held for questioning.

Gay sex in Kenya is punishable by up to 14 years in prison though it is rarely enforced.

Health workers in Zimbabwe have been banned from striking for more than 72 hours, with organisers risking up to six months in jail, according to a new law.

Those who defy the striking ban risk disciplinary action.

The Zimbabwe Association for Doctors for Human Rights said the new law was "draconian" and would push more health workers to seek employment abroad.

Zimbabwean doctors and nurses have often gone on strike over pay, shortage of equipment and medicine.

Some 4,000 health workers are estimated to have quit and likely emigrated in the last year alone.

The bill banning strikes was approved by parliament last November and published in the government gazette on Tuesday.

The African Union says efforts to end conflict in northern Ethiopia have moved in the right direction.