A group of about 20 Ugandan Arsenal fans celebrating the London club's 3-2 victory over Manchester United on Sunday have been detained by police in the city of Jinja, the Monitor newspaper reports, external.

It says they were driving in a convoy when they were pulled over but the police have not commented on what the offence was.

"I don’t know what we have done but we were simply celebrating our victory over rivals Manchester United,” fan Baker Kasule is quoted as saying.

BBC World Service

Image source, Reuters

South Africa and Russia say they want to work together more closely after a visit to Pretoria by Moscow's foreign minister.

Sergei Lavrov held talks with his counterpart, Naledi Pandor.

Her government has refused to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine, saying it wants to remain neutral.

Speaking after the meeting, Ms Pandor described Mr Lavrov as her friend and said the discussions were "wonderful".

Both ministers also defended plans to hold joint military exercises with China next month.

They said any country had the right to conduct such drills.

A small group of protesters gathered outside the venue waving Ukrainian flags.

The UN's human rights chief Volker Turk has condemned the killing of Eswatini activist Thulani Maseko and called on the kingdom's authorities to investigate what happened.

Maseko was sitting in his living room at home with his family on Sunday in the town of Luyengo when gunmen shot him through a window.

“Thulani Maseko was a stalwart of human rights who, at great risk to himself, spoke up for many who couldn’t speak up for themselves," Mr Turk said in a statement.

“The Eswatini authorities must also ensure the safety and security of all Eswatini people, including human rights defenders, journalists and political activists, and to protect civic space.”

Image source, Getty Images

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says he has asked the state electricity firm Eskom to shelve a tariff increase that was approved earlier this month.

The 18.65% tariff hike was due to be implemented from 1 April.

Speaking to delegates at a meeting of the governing ANC party, the president said this was not the right time to do it with households and businesses struggling because of regular scheduled power cuts.

He said the government was making every attempt to resolve the crisis – including a consideration to import power from neighbouring countries.

The country has been going through a power crisis for years, with daily scheduled blackouts in recent times.

Kennedy Gondwe
BBC News, Lusaka

Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema has urged his countrymen to stop checking on the phones of their spouses. His comments were part of a plea to try and curb divorce rates in the country.

Records indicate the country recorded over 22,000 divorce cases last year alone, statistics that the president described as unfortunate.

Lack of conjugal rights, adultery, gender-based violence, insults and cruelty were among the major reasons people cited in courts for seeking divorce.

“We marry for love, we don’t marry to go and check each other out, or to go and point a finger," Mr Hichilema is quoted by local outlets as saying when he hosted a local monarch.

He reportedly added: "Freedom means responsibility to limit our freedom, not to tamper with the freedom of others. Be tolerant, be understanding.”

Statistics from the last 12 months showed the shortest marriage in the country lasted for 30 days while the longest was 65 years.

Image source, SA government

South Africa's government has shared some pictures and video of the visit of Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, where he has met his South African counterpart Naeldi Pandor in Pretoria.

Image source, SA government

Despite many Western countries cutting back on ties with Russia over the invasion of Ukraine, in South Africa things are not that clear cut, reports the BBC Pumza Fihlani.

Despite some pressure to condemn the Russian invasion, South Africa has remained neutral – to the disappointment of Ukraine.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

A spokesperson for the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) has denied rumours that there had been a shake-up in its leadership structure in the wake of November’s peace deal with Ethiopia’s government.

Getachew Reda tweeted on Sunday, external that "there is understanding for change based on the necessities for the security and existence of the Tigray people, but no cabinet has been established or realignment made”.

It came after rumours spread online that the TPLF had purged some of its senior members following the signing of the 2 November agreement to end nearly two years of war in the north of the country.

Meanwhile, suspected Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) rebels killed at least 25 security forces on Saturday in an attack in the north-western Amhara state, according to private station Esat TV.

OLA, whose fighters are mostly based in neighbouring Oromia region, was designated as a "terrorist organisation" by the government in 2021.

Image source, AFP

A Russian warship armed with hypersonic cruise weapons will take part in joint exercises with the Chinese and South African navies in February, Russia’s state-owned Tass news agency reports quoting a military source.

"The Admiral Gorshkov will call at the logistics base in the Syrian port of Tartus, following which it will participate in the joint drills with the Chinese and South African navies," the agency reports, external.

It was the first official mention of the participation by the frigate, "Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov," which is armed with Zircon missiles, the Reuters news agency adds.

On Thursday South Africa's military announced it would next month hold joint military drills with Russia and China off its coast.

The drills will run for 10 days from 17 February to 27 February in the port city of Durban and Richards Bay.

The aim is to share operational skills and knowledge, the South African National Defence Force said.

Image source, AFP

Many human rights campaigners, including opposition groups in Eswatini, have expressed their outrage on social media platforms following the brutal murder of a prominent pro-democracy activist in the southern African kingdom.

Thulani Maseko founded a coalition of parties and had been calling for reforms.

He was sitting in his living room at home with his family on Sunday in the town of Luyengo when gunmen shot him through a window.

The secretary general of Amnesty International, Agnès Callamard, said she was deeply saddened and angry, while Clement Voule, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Association, called on the government to ensure a thorough investigation into the murder.

Eswatini government spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo has rejected insinuations of the government's involvement in the killing.

"That is a far-fetched reality and statement. The government takes every life very seriously including the life of Thulani Maseko... This insinuation is rejected as it is being projected by those who are actually jumping all investigative mechanism that we have put in place," he told South African public broadcaster SABC.

Over the last two years there have been waves of pro-democracy protests in Eswatini - the continent's last absolute monarchy.

Security forces in the country have frequently used excessive force to break up protests.

Just last week the opposition accused King Mswati III of hiring South African mercenaries to attack activists - which officials denied.

Samba Cyuzuzo
BBC Great Lakes

Hundreds of people on Sunday attended the funeral of John Ntwali Williams, a critic of the Rwandan government who died last week in, what police say, was the result of a road accident in the capital, Kigali.

Rights groups have called for an independent investigation into the circumstance of his death.

The funeral was attended by friends and family alongside local journalists and opposition figures like Frank Habineza, Victoire Ingabire and Bernard Ntaganda.

“We will never forget your valuable contribution in promoting freedom of media and speech in a challenging environment,” Ms Ingabire said in her eulogy.

Police said Mr Ntwali died on the spot in a road accident on Tuesday night when a motorcycle taxi he had boarded was hit by a car.

The driver of the car was arrested, police added.

But Human Rights Watch said that “there are many reasons to question” the police narrative and called for an “international expertise to determine whether or not he was murdered”.

Who was the late journalist?

Mr Ntwali, 43, had worked at local radio stations, newspapers and online news sites.

At time of his death he was editor at The Chronicles, but also owned a YouTube channel - Pax TV-Ireme News.

He was critical of the government and the ruling party in his reports that focused on justice and human rights, which drew harassment and death threats against him, he said.

He openly questioned state policies like taxes on land, arrests of opposition politicians and YouTubers, and questioned the death of singer Kizito Mihigo - a government critic.

His critics called him “an extremist journalist”.

Mr Ntwali had previously claimed that he survived “staged road accidents” and “death threats from state agents”.

The authorities did not comment on his claims.

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, EPA

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is visiting South Africa for the first time since the invasion of Ukraine 11 months ago, which Pretoria has refused to condemn.

While Russia is being shunned by the West, it has historic ties with Pretoria as well as close business links through the Brics bloc of emerging economies.

Mr Lavrov is due to hold talks with his South African counterpart, Naledi Pandor, in Pretoria.

A protest by anti-Russia demonstrators is planned outside the venue of the talks.

South Africa plans to hold joint naval exercises Operation Mosi with Russia and China next month.

BBC World Service

Image source, Reuters

An outspoken Cameroonian radio journalist has been found dead, after he disappeared on Tuesday in a suspected abduction.

Martinez Zogo was director of the privately owned Amplitude FM and hosted a popular radio show called Embouteillage or "Traffic Jam".

He had recently talked in a broadcast about an alleged embezzlement case involving a wealthy businessmen and top officials.

A spokesperson from Amplitude FM said that, along with Mr Zogo's wife, they had identified the body of the radio presenter, which was found dumped on bare ground outside the capital, Yaoundé.

A media rights group said that police heard a loud noise outside their station on Tuesday night and discovered Mr Zogo's badly damaged car.

A black vehicle was seen driving away from the scene.

Our proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

Writer and broadcaster Lindsay Johns completes his exploration of South African food, as he discusses the national dish, and what it says about the Rainbow Nation.

South African cuisine is as varied as South Africa itself, and in this set of Essays, Lindsay has delved into its different cuisines for five personal and lyrical ruminations on what these foods evoke for him. Each Essay - covering one of South Africa's racial groups - offers distinct memories of different aspects of his many experiences in South Africa. We'll sample the different cuisines, and experience these nuanced and complex communities through Lindsay's eyes, ears, and taste buds.

In today's final Essay, Lindsay strolls through the picture postcard community of Bo-Kaap in Cape Town, on his way to eat a personal favourite - tomato bredie. His lunch companion, meanwhile, orders bobotie - a meal which originated in the country's Cape Malay community but has now become the national dish. And as he reflects on the series, Lindsay wonders what this development says about finding a balance between acknowledging South Africa's troubling past and making a future together.

Producer: Giles Edwards

Writer and broadcaster Lindsay Johns explores the food of South Africa.

South African cuisine is as varied as South Africa itself, and in this set of Essays, Lindsay will delve into the foods of the Rainbow Nation for five personal and lyrical ruminations on what these foods evoke for him. Each Essay - covering one of South Africa's racial groups - offers distinct memories of different aspects of his many experiences in South Africa. We'll sample the different cuisines, and experience these nuanced and complex communities through Lindsay's eyes, ears, and taste buds.

In today's Essay, Lindsay introduces Bunny chow, a dish made from a hollowed-out loaf of bread filled with curry, which was created in Durban, and is today the most famous dish of Durban’s Indian community – one of the largest in the world outside India itself. Born at a time when Indian restaurateurs were prevented by law from serving food to black workers - the dish was served surreptitiously so that passing police forces would see only a loaf of bread - today it is a national staple.

Producer: Giles Edwards.

Writer and broadcaster Lindsay Johns explores the food of South Africa.

South African cuisine is as varied as South Africa itself, and in this set of Essays, Lindsay will delve into the foods of the Rainbow Nation for five personal and lyrical ruminations on what these foods evoke for him. Each Essay - covering one of South Africa's racial groups - offers distinct memories of different aspects of his many experiences in South Africa. We'll sample the different cuisines, and experience these nuanced and complex communities through Lindsay's eyes, ears, and taste buds.

For his third Essay, Lindsay will describe the cuisine he knows, and loves, the best: Cape Coloured cuisine. We'll learn about snoek (barracuda), pickled fish, mince and cabbage stew and the Gatsby steak sandwich. It is, he says, the quintessential poor man’s fusion cuisine - and the most under-rated and overlooked food in the whole country.

Producer: Giles Edwards

Writer and broadcaster Lindsay Johns explores the food of South Africa.

South African cuisine is as varied as South Africa itself, and in this set of Essays, Lindsay will delve into the foods of the Rainbow Nation for five personal and lyrical ruminations on what these foods evoke for him. Each Essay - covering one of South Africa's racial groups - offers distinct memories of different aspects of his many experiences in South Africa. We'll sample the different cuisines, and experience these nuanced and complex communities through Lindsay's eyes, ears, and taste buds.

For this second Essay, we find Lindsay walking up Table Mountain in Cape Town, and munching on biltong, what he calls "the most regal and masculine of all amuse-bouches". We'll hear, too, about the importance of the braai, and about the central place of meat in white South African cuisine. But as Lindsay chews this all over, he mulls an important question: for many years this cuisine was seen as the ‘Oppressors’ food’ – so should he still be reluctant to eat it?

Producer: Giles Edwards

The High Court has said 11 migrants can take their challenge to the Court of Appeal.

Writer and broadcaster Lindsay Johns explores the food of South Africa.

South African cuisine is as varied as South Africa itself, and in this set of Essays, Lindsay will delve into the foods of the Rainbow Nation for five personal and lyrical ruminations on what these foods evoke for him. Each Essay - covering one of South Africa's racial groups - offers distinct memories of different aspects of his many experiences in South Africa. We'll sample the different cuisines, and experience these nuanced and complex communities through Lindsay's eyes, ears, and taste buds.

For his first Essay, Lindsay invites listeners to join him as he samples the cuisine of South Africa’s Xhosa and Zulu township communities – smiley (a boiled sheep’s head in a drum), amangina (chicken, cow, pig, lamb and sheep’s feet served with hot sauce), and pap – a cornmeal porridge so popular it appears on the menu at South African branches of KFC. Lindsay says it does what it ought to do - "placate the belly and nourish the soul."

Producer: Giles Edwards

Pilot Firoz Khimji witnessed his country's wars from above. Then conflict came for him.

For most of his life, Uganda had been unstable, but he'd been able to train as a commercial pilot despite the violence. When qualified, Firoz took a job with Ugandan Airlines. This was the 1980s, and he had to routinely fly between territories controlled by different armed groups. War was ever-present, but Firoz would always emerge unscathed, until a routine flight went badly wrong.

Presenter: Asya Fouks Producer: Eric Mugaju and Harry Graham Editor: Munazza Khan