South Africa is still considering its legal options if Russia's President Vladimir Putin decides to attend a Brics summit in August, Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor has said, Reuters news agency reports.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Mr Putin over the war in Ukraine, putting South Africa in a dilemma as it prepares to host a summit of the leaders who make up the Brics group of nations.

"Our government is currently looking at what the legal options are with respect to this matter and I've indicated... that it is something the president will be [the] best person to speak about once it has reached a conclusion," Reuters quotes Ms Pandor as saying on the side-lines of a meeting of Brics foreign ministers in Cape Town.

The news agency also quotes an unnamed official as saying that one option gaining traction among South African officials would be to ask China to host the summit.

Bloomberg news agency has a similar report, quoting unnamed sources as saying that South Africa is considering asking another country - China or neighbouring Mozambique - to host the summit.

However, a spokesman for Ms Pandor, Lunga Ngqengelele said that "as far as we are aware, we have announced the summit venue as Gauteng, South Africa", Bloomberg reports.

"That is what we know as of today," Mr Ngqengelele said.

Brics is made up of Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa.

BBC Monitoring

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Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki has called on Russia to perform its "historical responsibility" of promoting global peace and justice, the Eritrean Ministry of Information's website, Shabait, has reported.

Mr Isaias made the comments during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday.

Eritrea and Russia enjoy cordial relations.

Eritrea is one of a few countries to oppose UN resolutions to condemn Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Isaias added that "the unipolar world order", dominated by the US, had contributed to the "spiral of crises and destruction" around the world.

His four-day visit to Russia came barely a week after a similar visit to China, during which he held talks with President Xi Jinping and other senior government officials.

Eritrea is a one-party state where Mr Isaias has been in power since independence from Ethiopia in 1993.

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Senegal's opposition leader Ousmane Sonko has been sentenced by a court to two years in prison for "corrupting the youth", but has been cleared of rape charges.

The politician's supporters say the trial was aimed at stopping Mr Sonko from standing in presidential elections next year.

He has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has urged people to "rise up".

When Mr Sonko was arrested in 2021, clashes left at least a dozen people dead.

He has accused President Macky Sall of planning to stay in office for an unconstitutional third term.

The Mauritanian government on Wednesday cut off the internet on mobile phones, a day after demonstrations linked to the death of a young man in police custody.

All internet connections on mobile phones were down, but landlines continued to work and economic activity continued, the AFP news agency reported

Demonstrations took place in the capital Nouakchott, and in Boghé in the south of the country, to demand "justice for Omar Diop".

Mr Diop was arrested on Monday evening in Nouakchott after taking part in a fight, according to the police.

He died a few hours later in hospital with respiratory problems.

An autopsy and inquest are under way to determine the circumstances of the death, the interior ministry said.

Shingai Nyoka
BBC News, Harare

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Zimbabwe’s parliament has voted in favour of a controversial bill to punish citizens for "unpatriotic acts" , including imposing heavy fines or even the death penalty on them.

Critics have called it a dark day for democracy.

The so-called patriot clause of the Criminal Law Act targets those who harm the "national interest of Zimbabwe”.

It includes any citizen who meets a representative of a foreign country with the aim of encouraging sanctions against Zimbabwe or overthrowing the government.

Many senior government officials and state-owned companies are under Western sanctions over alleged human rights abuses,

They’ve long blamed the opposition for this and want to stop meetings between the opposition and foreign officials.

Parliament voted 99 to 17 in favour of the law - one of the most controversial of Emmerson Mnangagwa’s presidency.

It will now go to the senate before it is signed into law.

Critics say the legislation is unconstitutional as it would violate freedom of association and the right to free speech.

An opposition official told the BBC that the way to end sanctions is to uphold human rights, not to criminalise criticism.

The controversial changes were passed as part of a series of amendments to the Criminal Law Act.

Lawmakers also voted in favour of minimum sentences for rape.

BBC Monitoring

At least 17 people were killed and 106 others wounded on Wednesday after rockets hit a market south of the capital Khartoum, a Sudanese doctors' union said.

This is the largest number of people killed by shelling in an attack around the capital since fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) started on 15 April.

The attack came as talks, brokered by the US and Saudi Arabia to end the conflict, collapsed.

"The Mayo area [Market 6] witnessed violent and bloody shelling this afternoon, which left 17 people dead and more than 106 wounded," the Sudanese Doctors' Syndicate said in a post, external on its Facebook page.

It brings the civilian death toll in the conflict to 883.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Police in South Africa are investigating a bomb hoax that temporarily disrupted flights at OR Tambo airport in Johannesburg on Wednesday afternoon.

The South African airports authority (ACSA) said, external it evacuated passengers and staff after receiving an alert from an anonymous caller, alleging there was a bomb threat at the domestic arrivals section.

"As a result of this temporary disruption to normal operations, eight domestic flights were affected. ACSA's primary concern will always be the security of our passengers and staff, and it was imperative that action be taken immediately to ensure their safety," it said.

The body said services resumed in the evening after investigations by the police revealed that there was no cause for concern.

Police are continuing with investigations "to establish the origin and motive of the individuals behind this incident", it added.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

Nigeria's parliament has called for a forensic audit after its report found that over the last decade $25bn (£20bn) had been spent on trying to fix the country's dilapidated oil refineries.

Despite the enormous cost it found they were working at less than 30% capacity.

This news comes as the price of fuel has more than doubled in Nigeria after the new president, Bola Tinubu, announced the scrapping of a fuel subsidy.

Due to the lack of refinery capacity, Africa's biggest oil producer has for many years exported its crude oil and re-imported petroleum products.

Next month, a vast refinery built by the prominent businessman, Aliko Dangote, is meant to start production.

Image source, Getty Images

Rights group Amnesty International is calling on Angola to release an activist, saying he has been detained "arbitrarily" for more than 500 days despite suffering severe health issues.

Tanaice Neutro was arrested in January last year after he allegedly shared a video online in which he called Angolan President João Lourenço a "clown" and said the authorities were "ignorant".

The campaign group calls it a "travesty of justice" that he is still detention despite a judge ordering his release.

"Tanaice Neutro’s ongoing detention and denial of medical care may amount to torture and other ill-treatment," said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s East and Southern Africa director.

Mr Neutro is a musician and activist whose songs explore social issues in Angola, including poverty, corruption and the repression of human rights.

He was last October handed a suspended sentence of 15 months after being convicted on charges of expressing "outrage against the State and its symbols".

Image source, Getty Images

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has told off Western powers and human rights groups over their opposition to a tough new anti-gay bill that he has signed into law.

Mr Museveni insisted that the law was a done deal, defying calls to have it repealed.

"The signing of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill is finished, nobody will move us. We should be ready for a war," he said in a statement after a meeting with members of his ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.

"The NRM has never had two languages, what we tell you in the day is what we shall say to you at night," he added.

US President Joe Biden criticised the law as a "tragic violation of universal human rights" and called for its repeal, adding that the US was considering sanctions.

The European Union and UN chief Antonio Guterres have also condemned the law.

Mr Museveni signed the bill into law after parliament watered it down at his request – but It is still among the harshest anti-LGBTQ laws in the world.

Anyone convicted for gay sexual acts faces life imprisonment. The law also imposes the death penalty for "aggravated cases", which include statutory rape of a person younger than 18, or where one is infected with a life-long illness including HIV.

The Newsroom
BBC World Service

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A court in Senegal is due to announce a verdict shortly in a rape trial against the opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko.

The capital, Dakar, is braced for potential violence.

The politician's supporters say the case is aimed at stopping Mr Sonko from standing in presidential elections next year.

He has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and has urged people to "rise up".

When Mr Sonko was arrested in 2021 clashes left at least a dozen people dead.

He has accused Senegal's president, Macky Sall, of planning to stay in office for an unconstitutional third term.

Image source, Getty Images

Nigerian police have rescued six pregnant women after busting a suspected “baby factory” in Rivers state, local media report.

Police said they had arrested a 39-year-old woman, the alleged owner of the child trafficking home.

They said she had confessed to the crime and that she had been in the trafficking business for a long time.

“The prime suspect and her accomplice are currently in custody and further investigation is in top gear for the possible arrest of other suspects in connection with the crime,” the state commissioner of police, Polycarp Emeka, was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

Stories of the so-called "baby factories" are not uncommon in Nigeria – where women are abducted for the purpose of getting them pregnant and selling the babies.

In 2019, Nigerian police freed 19 pregnant women from properties in Lagos, described as "baby factories".

A year earlier more than 160 children rescued from two unregistered orphanages in the city.

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Bola Tinubu has picked his first big fight with trade unions by deciding to scrap fuel subsidies.

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team for now, we will be back on Thursday morning.

You can also follow the latest news at BBCAfrica.com and listen to the Africa Today podcast for more.

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And we leave with this photo of elephant Bambi, pictured earlier this month at the Belvedere Park in Tunisia's capita, Tunis:

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Mike Thomson
BBC World Service newsroom

The son of a notorious former Libyan intelligence chief is reported to have been found dead in the southern city of Sabha.

There are conflicting reports on the cause of Amhammed al-Senussi’s death.

His father Abdullah al-Senussi - now in a Libyan jail - was one of the late Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's most-trusted officials and also his brother-in-law.

He was charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC), following the brutal suppression of anti-Gaddafi demonstrations in 2011.

The former head of intelligence is also wanted for questioning by Scottish and US investigators over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.

270 people died aboard a Pan Am passenger plane when a bomb in the aircraft exploded as it flew over Scotland.

• Profile: Abdullah al-Senussi

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Kenyan authorities to urgently investigate police abuse, after criticising them for failing to take any action for the recent deaths of protesters.

In March and April riot police were deployed to suppress protests called by the opposition's Raila Odinga in Nairobi, Kisumu, Migori and Homa Bay.

He has not accepted William Ruto's election victory last year.

HRW and Amnesty International say excessive force was used, leading to the deaths of at least 12 people.

The police said some protesters were violent or were looting.

The rights groups said most victims were bystanders. They accused the police of firing live bullets in residential areas and inside classrooms.

Mike Thomson
BBC World Service newsroom

A Tunisian judge has opened a new investigation into 20 leading opponents of President Kais Saied.

Lawyers say those accused include the main opposition leader Rached Ghannouchi, the former prime minister Youssef Chahed and the president’s ex-chief of staff Nadia Akacha.

All are charged with conspiring against state security.

Mr Ghannouchi - who was also the former Speaker of parliament - was sentenced to a year in jail earlier this month for incitement.

Mr Saied has been accused of staging a coup - after shutting down parliament, passing a new constitution and moving to rule by decree.

Image source, Getty Images

A Zimbabwean nurse has told the BBC's Africa Daily podcast that they are the "poorest of the poorest" not just in the southern African region but globally.

Douglas Chikobvu said he and his colleagues were paid a "pittance" given Zimbabwe's high inflation and that he had attempted to leave the country in search of greener pastures.

His comments come as Zimbabwe’s Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga wants to make it a criminal offence for recruitment agencies to poach health workers from Zimbabwe.

He says his country should not be subjected to training doctors and nurses for the benefit of other nations.

However, his proposed legislation has been met with anger and frustration.

Mr Chikobvu said the workload at Zimbabwean hospitals was immense and warned that basic "tools" to do a job like medicine and personal protective equipment were lacking.

He said his ideal country to relocate to would be the US, where he believes nurses are valued, or the UK, where he says medical professionals can work "nicely".

Zimbabwe's government says it doesn’t have enough funds for salary hikes or better equipment.

You can listen to the full Africa Daily podcast here.

The country’s football federation says delays in paying several of its national team coaches are “nothing to be proud of”.