Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, .

Dozens of people in the Somali capital crowded into an open-air screening on Thursday night, to watch the first episode of a bold new 10-part television series.

Arday, which means "student", was shot entirely in Mogadishu and addresses difficult subjects like rape, drugs and girl gangsters.

None of the 60-member cast had acted before.

"The youth are unseen in Somalia. Seventy-five per cent of the population is under 30 but they are invisible," says the series' director Ahmed Farah.

"This is their reality and I wanted to give them a voice."

You can watch the trailer here:

People at a community centre in Bristol say they're worried about family members who are still there.

Peter Mwai
BBC Reality Check

The BBC has found that hundreds of videos of a Christian cult leader in Kenya, whose former followers claim they were forced to fast, are still available online.

There is no direct evidence in the dozens we've watched of Pastor Paul Mackenzie directly ordering people to fast, although there are references to followers sacrificing what they hold dear, including their lives.

The sermons on YouTube, together with posts on a Facebook page associated with a television station he used to run, reveal a man who was strongly opposed to formal education, claiming it was evil.

Mr Mackenzie also encouraged mothers to avoid seeking medical attention during childbirth and not to vaccinate their children.

Pastor Mackenzie said he closed down his church four years ago, but some of the videos appear to have been recorded after that.

In an interview a few weeks ago, Pastor Makenzie denied he forced his followers to fast. Read more about his sermons here.

South Sudan, the UN and now Ethiopia are playing a mediating role in Sudan's unfolding crisis.

Confirming Addis Ababa's involvement, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed tweeted that he has "held phone discussions" with the two warring generals to encourage them to end the conflict.

Image source, Getty Images

South African authorities have launched a manhunt for two convicted rapists who've escaped prison in the Eastern Cape province.

Siyabulela Khohliso and Athini Mzingelwa are said to have absconded from the sports grounds of Ngqeleni Correctional Centre on Thursday afternoon.

"An investigation into this incident has been launched by the department. But critical at this stage is the re-arrest of the two offenders," the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) said in a statement.

The department is urging the public to contact their nearest police station without delay if they come into contact with either of the escapees.

This prison break comes amid intense media scrutiny of the audacious escape of another man, Thabo Bester, who faked his own death last year before being arrested in Tanzania this month.

Image source, Getty Images

US officials have postponed a meeting in Uganda on an HIV/Aids programme in order to assess the impact of an anti-gay bill soon expected to become law in the East African country.

The US President’s Emergency Plan For Aids Relief (Pepfar), which spends $400 million in Uganda annually, told Ugandan partners last week that a meeting was being postponed in light of the "potentially imminent signing of the law", the Reuters news agency reported.

The Uganda Country Operational Plan 2023 (COP23) meeting was set for Friday, according to the Daily Monitor website, external.

However, the US State Department spokesperson said the decision did not amount to freezing or cutting Pepfar services in Uganda.

The bill, which was passed by the Ugandan parliament last month, sets out tough penalties, including life imprisonment for anyone identifying as gay.

President Yoweri Museveni has, however, returned the bill to parliament for amendments.

Western countries have condemned the bill, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warning that the proposed law would reverse the gains in the fight against HIV/Aids.

Paramilitary fighters deny involvement, saying they are committed to the extended truce.

Image source, Getty Images

With thousands in Sudan on the move but many millions more trapped by the fighting, shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel, have become critical.

The World Health Organization also notes that some 60% of health facilities in Khartoum are currently not operating and they expects disease to spread and more deaths to occur due to the lack of basic services.

The head of the Norwegian Refugee Council in Sudan has told the BBC the situation in the capital, Khartoum is devastating.

"This conflict, this heavy urban warfare and airstrikes, to be honest relentlessly through the last couple of weeks, has not just damaged critical infrastructure and of course people's houses, but it is beginning to cause the collapse of the markets and social systems there," Will Carter told the BBC's Newsday programme.

“No healthcare, no power, no fuel, no water, no banking, very little phone or data coverage. It's beginning to crumble there and it's a very desperate situation for the millions of people still trapped," he added

Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands others wounded in the clashes between rival military forces.

Dr Abdulrahman Babiker cannot get back to work at his hospital as the UK refused to fly him back.

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have denied allegations that they targeted a Turkish evacuation plane as it was landing at Wadi Seyidna airport outside Khartoum on Friday.

The Sudan army had earlier claimed that the RSF attacked the plane, injuring a crew member and damaging the fuel supply.

Turkish Défense Ministry confirmed in a tweet, external that "light weapons" were fired on the plane. It said there were no injuries but necessary controls were carried out on the aircraft.

"It is not true that we targeted any aircraft in the sky of Wadi Seidna in Omdurman, which is an area not under the control of our forces and we do not have any forces in its vicinity," RSF said in a statement.

The group accused the army of continuing to bomb its bases in defiance of the ceasefire which the two factions agreed to extend for three days.

Image source, Nambian presidency/Facebook

Finland has returned two fragments of sacred historical stones that were carried away by Finnish missionaries during the colonial period.

The stones were taken from Ondonga, a traditional kingdom of the Ovambo people, in what is today northern Namibia.

The fragments were handed over on Thursday by Finnish Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Jukka Salovaara to Namibia's Education, Arts, and Culture Minister Anna Nghipondoka.

They will be kept at the National Museum of Namibia and will eventually be returned to the Ondonga traditional community, local media reported.

Visiting Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said the so-called "Ondonga Power Stone" is not only valuable to the Ondonga community but is also part of the community’s identity and heritage.

President Hage Geingob said that the return of the stone should serve as an example to all those who “stole things from Africa”.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

The Sudanese foreign ministry says it had filed a complaint with the World Health Organization regarding "the occupation of hospitals” by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the state-run Sudan News Agency (Suna) reports.

The ministry said RSF had “occupied 12 hospitals in the capital, Khartoum... a gross violation of international humanitarian law, rules of engagement and international human rights law that protect the sanctity of these facilities”.

Several hospitals have reportedly destroyed by the bombing

The army accuses RSF fighters of using residential areas and health care facilities and hiding places, and using civilians as human shields.

The RSF has not responded to the allegations but has earlier accused the air force of indiscriminately bombing hospitals and residential areas.

At least 512 people have been killed so far, and 4,193 injured in the continuing fighting between RSF and the army since 15 April.

The Newsroom
BBC World Service

Suspected Islamist militants have killed 33 soldiers in north-east Burkina Faso during an attack on a military post, the army said in a statement.

It's the second such attack in just over a week in which dozens of soldiers have been reported killed.

The military-led government in the capital Ouagadougou spoke for the first time on Thursday about last week's killing of over 100 civilians by what local officials described as men in military uniform.

The government has not said whether the attack on the north-western village of Karma was carried out by the army, but it called for a full investigation.

Non-governmental organisations say over 10,000 civilians and soldiers have been killed in the long-running insurgency, and attacks have sharply increased since the start of this year.

Nkechi Ogbonna
West Africa Business Journalist, BBC News

Image source, AFP

Nigeria has suspended the planned removal of subsidies on petroleum products by June this year, saying it was not a “favourable time for the action”.

Nigeria’s Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said the country's National Economic Council would continue talks with the incoming administration.

President-elect Bola Tinubu plans to stop subsidy payments once he assumes office in May this year.

Earlier this month, the federal government secured $800m (£640m) in grants from the World Bank to scale up its national social programme ahead of removing its petroleum subsidies in mid-2023, aimed at reducing the impact of fuel subsidy removal.

Africa’s biggest economy set aside 3.36 trillion naira ($7.3bn) this year to spend on petroleum subsidies until mid-year 2023 when it will cease payments.

Nigeria is one of Africa’s largest crude oil producers but imports petroleum products due to malfunctioning refineries.

Image source, Getty Images

The UK says Giles Lever, its ambassador to Sudan, has been relocated to neighbouring Ethiopia after it temporarily closed its embassy in the conflict-riven east African country.

"From Addis Ababa, he will lead the UK's diplomatic efforts in the region to bring fighting to an end in Sudan," the British Foreign Office said in a statement.

So far, six flights had evacuated 536 British nationals from Sudan, the UK authorities said. But there has been criticism of the slowness of the UK government's evacuations compared with other Western countries.

Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group have agreed to extend the truce that was coming to an end for another 72 hours.

The ceasefire and its extension had been brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia.

The existing truce, which was to expire at midnight Thursday, has not stopped the fighting between the two sides but created some lull for tens of thousands of Sudanese to flee to safer areas and for foreign nations to evacuate hundreds of their citizens.

Hanna Temuari
BBC News, Addis Ababa

Image source, Getty Images

The head of the ruling Prosperity Party in Ethiopia's Amhara region has been shot dead, along with his security detail, the authorities have said.

Girma Yeshitla was returning from an official trip when he was ambushed some 250km (155 miles) north of the capital Addis Ababa, according to a statement released by the region’s communications office.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed called the killing "shameful and horrible" and blamed it on unnamed "violent extremists" who he said chose to settle differences through guns rather than dialogue .

The killing came weeks after the federal government announced the dissolution of a paramilitary force which had triggered widespread protests and violence in Amhara.

Mr Girma faced strong criticism from opponents of the force’s dissolution, who saw him as one of the faces behind the move.

The killing of senior politicians is not new in Amhara. In 2019, the regional leader and other top officials were killed in what was described as a failed regional coup attempt.

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The government warns it cannot be sure what will happen next even though a ceasefire has been extended.

Honida Ahmed is back in Wales after fleeing Sudan with five of her children.

Wafaa Salim says it was "horrible" having to leave her nieces and nephews behind in Sudan.