Image source, AFP

Tanzania's president has said her country's East African neighbours are facing a foreign currency reserve crisis.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan said Tanzania had received requests to offer guarantees for their fuel imports.

She made the remarks on Wednesday while discussing Tanzania's economic footing.

Mrs Samia said Tanzania's economy was the most economically stable in the region at the moment.

Image source, AFP

The UN Security Council has extended sanctions and an arms embargo against Sudan by a year.

The 15-member council voted to renew the mandate of the panel of experts charged with monitoring and implementing the sanctions and embargo until 12 March next year.

Thirteen countries voted in favour of the motion with Russia and China abstaining.

China’s representative Dai Bing said the sanctions were "outdated and should be lifted because things have improved on the ground".

Russia’s Dmitry Polyanskiy said the “sanctions regime did not reflect the situation in Darfur” and was “preventing the Sudan government from state-building and achieving socioeconomic development”.

US representative John Kelley said he endorsed a continuation of monitoring and reporting.

He added that progress on benchmarks anchored in the Juba peace deal signed in 2020 would "move Sudan and its people towards the peace and prosperity they deserve".

Sudan has been in economic and political turmoil since 2021 when the Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan-led junta overthrew and took power from the civilian-led transitional government.

The coup derailed the transition to civilian rule following the ousting in 2019 of long-time leader Omar al-Bashir.

The Newsroom
BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

A German company says it has signed a memorandum of understanding for a $34bn (£29bn) green energy project in Mauritania.

Egyptian and Emirati firms are also part of the deal.

The facility will produce up to eight million tonnes of green hydrogen and other hydrogen-based products annually in Mauritania.

The first phase is due to be completed in five years time.

Germany is involved with a number of clean energy projects in Africa as it moves away from dependency on fuel imports from Russia and tries to meet climate targets.

Green hydrogen is produced using renewable energy sources like wind and solar power.

Image source, AFP

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir has sacked his foreign minister, less than a week after dismissing the defence and interior ministers.

No explanation was given for the dismissal of Mayiik Ayii Deng, which was announced in a decree on the state television.

The sacked minister is an ally of Mr Kiir, and previously served as the minister in the president's office.

Last week’s sackings have threatened to derail a peace deal with opposition leader First Vice-President Riek Machar.

The opposition called for the reinstatement of Angelina Teny, who Mr Kiir dismissed as defence minister and handed the position to his party. Mrs Teny is also Mr Machar’s wife.

The UN called for the parties to "exercise restraint and engage in a collegial spirit in order to resolve such sensitive national issues”.

Image source, Getty Images

Nigeria's electoral commission has postponed elections for state governors and local assemblies by one week.

The polls had been scheduled to take place on Saturday. They will now be held on 18 March.

Nigeria's opposition had asked to check electronic voting machines. A court rejected their complaint. But the electoral commission said the legal challenge had held up preparations and the machines would not be ready in time.

It is not uncommon for elections to be delayed in the country.

In 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections were postponed for a week. The electoral body cited logistical issues.

The opposition has disputed last month's election victory by President- elect Bolu Tinubu.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) introduced the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) for the first time as part of new technologies used in this year's elections in a bid to improve transparency.

But observer groups and opposition parties said huge delays in voting and failures in the system when uploading tallies allowed for ballot disparities during the presidential election.

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BBC News, Dar es Salaam

Image source, Getty Images

For the first time in Tanzania's history, the president has attended an International Women's Day event organized by the main opposition party, Chadema.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan's presence was welcomed by Chadema chairman Freeman Mbowe, who said it was the fruit of meetings aimed at achieving reconciliation.

Ms Samia, who addressed thousands in the meeting, said that reconciliation was ongoing in Tanzanian politics, and that some steps had already been taken meanwhile others were in progress, including the finding of a new constitution.

In her address, President Samia added it had been difficult to start the reconciliation process as some in her ruling party "were not ready".

"There was a lot of debates here and there, and the same appeared to the country’s opposition. So both parties have some of its people who are not happy with the step of political reconciliation,” Ms Samia added.

She is Tanzania's first female president, having taken office following the death of John Magufuli in 2021.

Mr Magufuli was accused by the opposition of being authoritarian, and cracking down on its leaders and members.

Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

Mozambique's transport operators have announced that they will no longer cross into South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province because of growing insecurity on the road.

Bus and taxi operators would stop at the Ponta do Ouro border, and passengers would have to catch other means of transport to continue with their journey, often to Durban, the biggest city in KwaZulu-Natal.

Gangs in KwaZulu-Natal have continuously stopped Mozambican-registered private and commercial vehicles, robbing passengers and torching vehicles.

The most recent attack was on Saturday, with Mozambicans retaliating on Monday by torching a South African-registered vehicle on their side of the border.

The commercial vehicles carry both Mozambicans and South Africans.

The road is busy, with Mozambicans often travelling from Maputo, to Durban to buy goods to sell in shops and markets in Mozambique's capital.

For their part, South Africans mostly come to Mozambique for a holiday - and the beach in Ponta do Ouro is popular with them.

So, the decision will not only negatively affect the business of transport companies, but also other sectors.

The head of the Mozambican Federation of Road Transport Operators (Fematro) said they had no choice because it had become too dangerous to drive in KwaZulu-Natal.

"We have suspended our activities," he said at a press conference.

However, transport companies would continue operating on the road between Maputo and South Africa's biggest city, Johannesburg, though some attacks have also been reported on that route.

The latest development is bound to increase pressure on the Mozambican and South African governments to improve security, and ease tensions between communities on both sides of the border.

Some Mozambican gangs have been accused of stealing vehicles in South Africa, and some reports suggest that the targeting of Mozambican-registered vehicles is a retaliatory measure - though the attacks are random.

Laura Wolvaardt, the leading run-scorer at the Women's T20 World Cup, urges administrators to make the most of the Proteas' run to the final.

Freddy, which has caused the deaths of 21 people, may become the longest-lasting storm on record.

BBC World Service

Activists in Zimbabwe are warning of possible mayhem in this year's general election after discovering that redrawn electoral boundaries have located dozens of wards in Antarctica.

The pressure group, Team Pachedu, found that other co-ordinates provided by the electoral commission pointed to spots in the middle of the Indian Ocean as well as Zambia, Eswatini and South Africa.

The activists said the erroneous demarcation of wards would result in candidates campaigning to the wrong audiences and voters not knowing in which constituency their home was located.

There has been no word so far from the electoral commission.

After forming a month ago, Cyclone Freddy may now be the longest lived tropical storm in history, repeatedly bringing heavy rain and damaging winds to Mozambique and Madagascar.

Hurricane/Typhoon John, which lasted 31 days in 1994, holds the current record.

BBC Weather's Chris Fawkes has the details:

The prosecution in the trial of six men charged with the murder of Italy's ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2021 has asked for the death penalty to be imposed on them, AFP news agency has reported.

Luca Attanasio was killed in conflict-hit eastern DR Congo when gunmen ambushed a UN convoy in which he was travelling. A local driver and an Italian police officer were also killed.

Prosecutor Bamusamba Kabamba said the victims had been kidnapped and "dragged deep into the forest before being killed", AFP reports, adding that the accused had been portrayed at a previous hearing as kidnappers who wanted a ransom of $1m (£845,000).

The accused are being tried by a military court. Five of them are in detention and have denied the charges. The sixth is on the run, and is being tried in absentia, AFP reports.

DR Congo has not executed anyone since 2023, though courts still hand down death sentences.

After forming a month ago, Freddy may now be the longest lived tropical cyclone in history, repeatedly bringing heavy rain and damaging winds to Mozambique and Madagascar.

BBC World Service

Fighting is continuing between the army of the Democratic Republic of Congo and M23 rebels in violation of Tuesday's ceasefire.

Local media said there were clashes on several fronts in the eastern province of North Kivu.

The rebels are reported to have seized a number of villages, including Karuba which is around 30km (19 miles) from the regional capital Goma.

The army has accused M23 of shelling UN peacekeepers and Burundian soldiers from an East African force recently deployed in an effort to stop the violence.

The rebels say they want a peaceful solution but have the right to defend themselves if attacked.

Image source, Getty Images

Award-winning Sudanese writer Leila Aboulela has retold the story of a British army general killed by the troops of the Mahdi - a religious leader in Sudan in the late 19th Century - in her new novel, River Spirit.

The book gives a Sudanese view of Gordon of Khartoum, whose story has travelled around the world in history books and Hollywood films - but almost always with a British outlook, glorifying him as a colonial-era hero.

General Charles Gordon died defending Khartoum in 1885 following a siege by Sudanese forces.

Aboulela says the 1966 film Khartoum, starring Charlton Heston as Gen Gordon and Laurence Olivier as the Mahdi, was full of inaccuracies.

“The only accurate thing was the weapons apparently... It wasn’t even filmed in Khartoum,” she told the BBC's Newsday programme.

“So I wanted to retell the story and make it from a Sudanese point of view and how they saw events unfolding.”

The story of Gen Gordon is also one of the foundational stories for Sudan as a nation, the novelist says.

For much of the 19th Century it was ruled by the Ottoman Empire and then in the early to mid 20th Century it was under joint British-Egyptian rule, before becoming independent in 1956.

“What the Mahdi did - it brought the Sudanese together almost for the first time. They felt united against the foreigner, whether they were Egyptians, Ottomans or British,” she said.

Her novel also puts women at the heart of the story, looking at their roles from nurses and vendors to cooks and spies.

“They are mentioned as footnotes in history or not mentioned at all - but they were part of the army... they were very much playing an active part and it was interesting to explore that.”

BBC World Service

Thirteen men have been executed in Somalia's semi-autonomous region of Puntland.

Nine of them were accused of belonging to the militant Islamist groups al-Shabab and Islamic State.

Six were former soldiers convicted of murder.

They were executed by firing squad in the northern cities of Garowe, Bosasso and Galkayo.

Human rights groups say executions are on the rise in Somalia.

Most of those put to death are suspected Islamist militants, rapists and members of the security forces.

Jibat Tamirat
BBC Horn of Africa

Image source, www.comedianeshetu.com

A crowdfunding campaign backed by Ethiopian comedian Eshetu Melese has led to more than $1.6m (£1.35m) raised within 48 hours for a charity that plans to build what it describes as the first nursing home facility for homeless people in the country.

The money has come from 15,200 donations, with the highest amount being $10,000.

The GoFundMe campaign is aimed at helping the charity Mekedonia to raise $2m.

"Make a difference in the lives of countless elderly and mentally challenged people who live under dire circumstances on the streets - help us build home for the homeless," it says.

The comedian also helped the charity raise donations from local banks, though that amount is unclear.

Eshetu is a young stand-comedian and TV host in Ethiopia. He has become popular in recent years for a show that features talented children.

Such campaigns rely heavily on donations from the huge number of Ethiopians in the diaspora - especially in North America and Europe - and they appear to have poured their hearts out.

"It is not the size of the gift that matters but the size of the heart," the fundraising page says.

Kenyan gynaecologist, Dr Jemimah Kariuki, says her path to becoming a doctor hasn’t been easy.