The Newsroom
BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

The World Food Programme and USAid have suspended food deliveries in Tigray in northern Ethiopia following the discovery that relief aid had been stolen.

The USAid Administrator Samantha Power said food shipments had been diverted and sold on the local market.

She said deliveries would resume once there was confidence that they would reach the intended population, who are facing famine.

The interim leader of Tigray, Getachew Reda, says he's setting up a task force to tackle aid theft.

He called on humanitarian agencies to continue delivering aid to the most vulnerable.

Millions of people in Tigray suffer from food shortages after a two-year war between Ethiopian government forces and the Tigray People's Liberation Front.

A woman living in Walsall after fleeing civil war in Ethiopia describes the horror of the conflict.

Image source, South African Reserve Bank

South Africa has unveiled new banknotes and coins, the country's first major upgrade to its currency in more than a decade.

The South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) announced the changes on Wednesday, saying the move was meant to keep up with technology and prevent counterfeiting.

The new notes, which will enter into circulation from Thursday, will retain the image of Nelson Mandela, the country’s first democratically elected president who died in 2013.

Africa’s so-called "Big Five" wild animals — rhino, elephant, lion, buffalo and leopard — will now be depicted with their young on the banknotes.

The coins will have an ecological theme, through pictures of plants and animals.

South Africa's 11 official languages will also be represented on the various banknotes and coins.

There will also be specific physical characteristics to help visually impaired people differentiate the banknotes.

There are no changes, however, to any of the denominations or size of the banknotes.

Existing banknotes and coins will continue to remain legal tender and can be used alongside the upgraded banknotes, according to Sarb.

The notes will also be rolled out in Namibia, Eswatini and Lesotho that are in a common monetary area with South Africa and where the rand is considered legal tender alongside their own currencies, said Fundi Tshazibana, a deputy governor of the Sarb.

The Newsroom
BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

The United Nations aid chief has said it will be difficult to secure an end to the fighting in Sudan, as the warring parties are keen to "keep it going".

Martin Griffiths was speaking to the BBC after visiting Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast.

He said it was "really, really, deeply concerning" the speed with which the crisis was "going viral".

"And the way in which all these efforts to get national ceasefires have all stumbled, presumably, over the sort of rigid existential fact that those at war are keen to keep going," he said.

He said he had asked the rival generals who are fighting for control to meet him face-to-face to discuss urgent delivery of humanitarian aid.

He said the two rival parties spoke of their attachment to humanitarian principles - but there didn't seem to be a will to end the war.

A new seven-day truce is due to start - but previous ceasefires have broken down.

Mr Griffiths said he'd heard stories of traumatic atrocities that were likely to lead to what he called a generational problem with reconciliation.

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The final flight concludes an operation that has seen more than 2,300 people airlifted to safety.

Thousands of Kenyan villagers are being given free cash as part of a huge trial being run by an American non-profit, GiveDirectly. Why? Some aid organisations believe that simply giving people money is one of the most effective ways to tackle extreme poverty and boost development. After all, they argue, local people themselves know best how to use the funds to improve their lives. But does it work? Is it really a long term solution? In 2018, the BBC visited a Kenyan village whose residents received money at the start of the trial. Five years on, the BBC’s Mary Harper returns to see what has changed.

Reporter: Mary Harper Producer: Alex Last Studio manager: Graham Puddifoot Series editor: Penny Murphy Production co-ordinator: Helena Warwick-Cross With special thanks to Fred Ooko

(Photo: Woman frying fish in village in western Kenya)

Morocco plans to send renewable energy to Europe, but some want it to save it for its home market.

Ghana is very familiar with lavish royal ceremonies filled with ritual.

Two young people say they've fled the East African country because of the tough new anti-gay laws.

Her estranged husband says she has assets including 25 residential properties worth $80m and 21 farms.

That's all from the BBC Africa live team until Wednesday morning. There will be an automated news feed until then.

You can also get the latest news from the continent at BBCAfrica.com and the BBC's Africa Today podcast.

Here's a reminder of Wednesday's wise words:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

We leave you with a photo of coloured trees reflected in the waters of Emmarentia Dam in South Africa's main city, Johannesburg:

Image source, Getty Images

Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

Mozambique's military has regained control of a lake from militant Islamists in the northern Cabo Delgado region, President Filipe Nyusi has said.

He praised the young soldiers who have been fighting the insurgents

"Over the past week, they have had successes and casualties, recovering Lake Inguri, which the jihadists used for fishing. The young people are there, even though some have fallen in battle," Mr Nyusi said, at a meeting in the industrial town of Matola.

More than 4,000 people have been killed and 800,000 forced from their homes since militant Islamists launched an insurgency in Cabo Delgado in 2017.

An envoy of Sudan's army commander Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has ruled out face-to-face talks with the paramilitary force trying to overthrow him, Reuters news agency reports.

Dafallah Alhaj said the army accepted an initiative being spearheaded by the US and Saudi Arabia to broker a ceasefire, but communication with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) would have to be through mediators, the agency quotes him as saying at a press conference in Egypt's capital Cairo.

On Monday, the UN special envoy to Sudan, Volker Perthes, told the AP news agency that the two sides had agreed to negotiate a "stable and reliable" ceasefire, with Saudi Arabia being a potential venue for the talks.

The military has continued with air strikes in the capital Khartoum in an attempt to weaken the RSF.

The paramilitaries are said to control most of Khartoum, with hardly any army soldiers - or police officers - on the streets.

Previous attempts by international mediators to broker a truce have failed, with both sides violating it.

South Sudan's foreign minister said on Tuesday that the military and RSF had agreed "in principle" to a new seven-due truce from Thursday.

Since the conflict erupted on 15 April, more than 100,000 people have fled Sudan, and more than 300,00 have been displaced inside the country.

Image source, Getty Images

British national Sarra Eljak stranded in Sudan says she fears losing a family member "at any point".

The floodwaters led many homes to collapse, killing those inside, authorities say.

The death toll from the floods and landslides in Rwanda has risen to at least 127, officials say.

"Our main priority now is to reach every house that has been damaged to ensure we can rescue any person who may be trapped," said François Habitegeko, governor of Rwanda's Western Province.

Flooding and landslides have also been reported in neighbouring Uganda, where six people have died, according to the Red Cross Society, external

Image source, Getty Images

UN chief Antonio Guterres has called on the warring factions in Sudan to stop the fighting immediately, before the conflict escalates into an all out war.

Speaking in Kenya, Mr Guterres said the people in Sudan were facing a humanitarian catastrophe, with hospitals destroyed, food and aid warehouses looted and millions facing food insecurity.

Earlier, the UN's humanitarian chief, Martin Griffiths, who's in Sudan, said he's trying to get commitments from all sides to allow humanitarian supplies into the worst affected areas.

The Sudanese factions have agreed a new seven-day truce starting on Thursday, but previous ceasefires have broken down.

Mr Griffiths said six trucks belonging to the UN World Food Programme were looted on their way to the troubled region of Darfur, despite assurances that they would be safe.

Alfred Lasteck
BBC News, Dar es Salaam

East African music legend and Tanzanian opposition politician Joseph Haule, popularly known by his stage name Professor Jay, has for the first time posted on social media after more than a year of public concerns about his whereabouts and health.

The Tanzanian rapper, songwriter and former MP revealed that he had been admitted to a hospital's intensive care unit for more than four months.

Neither he nor his family have said what he was suffering from.

Professor Jay says that he received treatment at Muhimbili National Hospital in Tanzania's main city, Dar es Salaam, and was later supported by the government to get further treatment abroad.

On Tuesday, he posted on Instagram, external for the first time since January last year.

He expressed appreciation for the support he received from the government, his Chadema party, and the public while he was fighting for his life.

Professor Jay is widely known as one of the pioneers of Tanzania’s modern Swahili music genre Bongo Flava.

Olympic and Commonwealth medallist Nijel Amos has been banned for three years for breaching anti-doping rules.