On 14 August 2013, Egypt's army killed hundreds of protestors in Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya Square.

They were protesting against a military coup that had taken place a month earlier, in which the democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, was ousted.

Sameh Elbarky was in the square that day. He speaks to Ben Henderson.

(Photo: A poster of Egypt's ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, among debris in Rabaa Square. Credit: NurPhoto/Corbis via Getty Images)

BBC team spends 24 hours with Tunisia's coast guard, as it finds people desperate to cross continents.

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team for now. We're back on Wednesday morning.

There will be an automated news feed until then, plus you can get the latest updates on the BBC News website or listen to the Focus on Africa podcast.

A reminder of Tuesday's wise words:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this shot of a street vendor selling balloons at a traffic signal along a street in Cape Town, South Africa.

Image source, Reuters

Navin Singh Khadka
Environment reporter, BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

Air pollution in several African countries have now become as much of a health threat as well-known killer diseases like HIV/Aids and malaria in the region, according to a new report.

“This is cutting life expectancy by as much as 5.4 years in the most polluted regions of the continent,” the report Air Quality Life Index, published by University of Chicago, has said, external.

It has listed the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Congo as among the 10 most polluted countries in the world.

As central and West Africa continue to grow their energy use, particulate pollution is becoming a rising threat, according to the report.

It says Nigeria also faces high pollution burden with levels 4.6 times the WHO guidelines in 2021.

“In Lagos, home to Nigeria’s largest city with 21.1 million people, vehicle emissions due to long commutes and high sulphur-content fuel, industrial emissions, and the use of diesel generators in the face of unreliable electricity supply contribute to high levels of urban air pollution.”

Fine particulate matters, known as PM10 and PM2.5, are the pollutants linked with respiratory diseases, diabetes and even cancer as the miniscule particles can enter the lungs and bloodstream respectively.

With manufacturing industries, vehicle emissions, energy generation and burning of agricultural residues identified as the sources of air pollution, the report says government policies are also to blame.

Researchers found that a tiny proportion of governments on the continent provide their citizens with air quality data or have air quality standards.

The report has also said that the issue of air pollution has received very nominal global funding.

It says that while around $4bn (£3.2bn) of funding goes to combat HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis the whole of Africa gets only $300,000 to deal with air pollution.

Read more about tackling air pollutions:

• Kenya pollution: How air sensors are helping people fight pollution

Image source, Reuters

The Kenyan armed forces (KDF) have excluded women recruits in an ongoing recruitment process in one part of the country, according to local reports, external.

The process, happening in Lamu county, is reported to have been limited as KDF officials say the area already has a sufficient number of female personnel based on national statistics.

Many of those affected travelled long distances for the recruitment and are calling for better communication to prevent unnecessary costs in the future.

This isn't the first time women have been excluded from this process with similar incidents happening in 2017 and 2018.

Image source, Reuters

The UN and a host of humanitarian agencies are calling on the West African regional bloc, Ecowas, to grant exemptions to the sanctions imposed on Niger in the wake of the coup as they are threatening the health of some of the people.

"There is no way to bring humanitarian aid into the country," Emmanuel Gignac, the UN refugee agency representative for Niger, is quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying.

"The immediate goods (affected) is going to be food and then it's going to be access to medicine, to drugs."

He painted a picture of a possible worsening situation where, with electricity supplies cut by Nigeria, people are relying increasingly on generators, but the supply of fuel could be under threat.

In the wake of the 26 July coup, some of Niger's neighbours shut their common borders as a means to put pressure on the junta to allow a return to civilian rule.

Mr Gignac said that Martin Griffiths, the head of the UN’s office for humanitarian affairs, has written to Ecowas asking for exemptions, Reuters reports.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is among the dozens of agencies which has echoed that call, saying that “exemptions are vital to ensure uninterrupted access to humanitarian assistance services for vulnerable populations, particularly children, in Niger”.

"The clock is ticking, and the lives of Nigerien children are hanging in the balance,” Paolo Cernuschi, IRC Niger country director, said.

“Currently, stocks of vital supplies, such as nutritional aid and medical provisions, are held up at the borders due to sanctions. In a nation where acute malnutrition rates are alarmingly high, these delays could prove catastrophic.”

Read more on the impact of the sanctions:

• Niger coup: Ecowas deadline sparks anxiety in northern Nigeria

Image source, AFP

Ugandan police have detained 20 Eritreans for entering Uganda illegally, according to Ugandan media reports.

Ugandan police announced on Monday that they had arrested the Eritrean nationals on 25 August in the eastern Uganda town of Jinja, about 140km (86 miles) from the border with Kenya.

The individuals include 12 males, two females and six children.

Uganda’s New Vision newspaper reports that the Eritreans were smuggled through Ethiopia and Kenya before entering Uganda via the Kenya-Uganda border.

Local media also say that authorities believe that the Eritreans were travelling to the suburb of Kabalagala in Uganda's capital of Kampala, which has a large Eritrean and Ethiopian population.

Shingai Nyoka
BBC News, Harare

Image source, Reuters

Zimbabwe's opposition party the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) has called for fresh elections after declaring that last week's general election was fraudulent.

Deputy CCC spokesperson, Ostallos Siziba, told journalists that his party would lobby the African Union and the regional body Sadc to pressure the governing Zanu-PF to hold new elections and disband the electoral commission.

He would not be drawn to revealing whether his party would take the legal route to challenge the results.

He said CCC would "employ all the measures at the right time".

Party leader Nelson Chamisa won 44% of the vote, but he insists those results were false.

However, some regional leaders ,including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, have congratulated President Emmerson Mnangagwa on his win, despite Sadc election observers' preliminary assessment saying that the elections fell short of the accepted democratic standards.

In a move to end the crisis created by the coup in Niger, neighbouring Algeria has proposed a six-month period of transition to civilian rule to be overseen by a non-military person, the Reuters news agency quotes Algeria's foreign minister as saying.

Ahmed Attaf said most countries that he had spoken to were against the use of force as a means to end the coup, Reuters reports.

The regional bloc Ecowas has condemned the coup, imposed sanctions on Niger and said that military action to restore democratic rule was an option.

There are no good wars and there is no bad peace, Mr Attaf is quoted as saying.

It is not clear if Algeria's plan was developed in conjunction with Niger's junta, but the military leadership had previously talked about a three-year transition - something that Ecowas rejected.

Ameyu Etana
BBC Afaan Oromoo

Image source, Getty Images

Ethiopia's opposition politician Bekele Gerba has told the BBC that he has requested the US government to give him political asylum citing ‘’worsening situations’’ back at home.

He said he has also resigned from his position as vice-chair of the Oromo Federalist Congress - the main opposition party in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, the home state of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

“I have told [the US] that the country [Ethiopia] is not safe for my life,’’ he said, speaking to the BBC.

"Almost all offices of political parties have been closed down,’’ he added.

The former detainee accused government forces of the extrajudicial killing of inmates, mass killings and arrests.

The authorities have previously denied these allegations.

Ethiopian opposition politicians have long complained of a deteriorating political landscape, which the government disputes.

Mr Bekele spent 18 months in prison after being charged with crimes including terrorism and incitement to violence following the killing of singer Hachalu Hundessa.

The politician, whose party boycotted Ethiopia’s general election, has been in US since June last year.

Last month, Human Rights Watch called for immediate release of seven senior leaders of the opposition Oromo Liberation Front which it says have been arbitrarily detained by authorities for nearly three years.

Nduka Orjinmo
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, Delta state police

Police in Nigeria say they have arrested about 200 gay men at an event in southern Delta state.

Sixty-seven of them will now be charged after investigations.

However, most of the men who were paraded in front of journalists on Tuesday said they were not homosexual but fashion designers, photographers and models who had been invited to an event.

One of the men said they had been locked up for days without water and access to their phones.

Police spokesman DSP Bright Edafe said homosexuality would “not be allowed in Nigeria, it will never be tolerated”.

“This act is evil and we cannot copy the Western world,” he said.

The men were arrested around 02:00 local time on Monday after officers stopped a man dressed as a woman late on Sunday evening.

Police say the man initially told them he was an actor, but later said he belonged to a gay society and he was having an event at a hotel.

Two men were allegedly found dressed as bride and groom at the venue and the police said they had found a video recording of a wedding.

But both men denied the accusations, saying they were neither crossdressers nor gay.

One said he was a fashion designer and that the clothes the police claimed was a “groom’s outfit” was a design he was modelling at the event.

The other man, who was dressed in a bride’s outfit, said he had been invited to model at the event and denied the police accusations.

Paul Njie
BBC News

Image source, AFP

The opposition in Gabon has claimed victory following Saturday's presidential election, but official results have not yet been released.

President Ali Bongo was running for a third term, which would also be an extension of rule by the Bongo dynasty which stretches back more than half a century.

At a press conference on Monday, the campaign manager of the main opposition candidate, Albert Ondo Ossa, announced without offering proof that the partial vote count was in their favour and he had a clear lead.

In Gabon, only the Gabonese Election Centre is authorised by law to publish results.

"What is now expected of [President Bongo] is that he accepts the sovereign choice of the Gabonese people, that he respects it and that he organises, without bloodshed, the transfer of power to [Mr] Ossa," said Mike Jocktane, Mr Ossa's campaign manager.

Despite the opposition claims, the electoral body has remained silent over progress of the vote count and when the final results will be released.

The opposition has also denounced "fraud" in the elections.

Meanwhile, the internet outage and a curfew imposed by government are still in place.

On Monday evening, residents in the capital, Libreville, raced against time to respect curfew hours. Some who could not make it in time were reportedly stranded in far-away areas.

State media on Monday reported the arrest of gang members "whose objective is to sow chaos as soon as the results are announced".

Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana is recalled by Cameroon, despite announcing his international retirement last year.

He is charged with "aggravated homosexuality" under tough new anti-LGBTQ legislation enacted in May.

Image source, AFP

The preservation of the revered tombs of the Buganda kingdom in Uganda is no longer considered to be in danger, according to the UN's cultural organisation.

Unesco has now recommended that it be taken off its list of endangered heritage sites.

It says the removal would be a powerful symbol as 50% of sites considered in danger are in Africa.

The Tombs of Buganda Kings, which are housed in grass-thatched circular buildings on a hillside in the capital Kampala, were partly destroyed by fire in 2010.

The burning of the tombs sparked protests in which at least two people were killed.

They have since been reconstructed with the help of international funding.

The Unesco recommendations follow a site visit by a UN team in June.

The tombs are seen as an important historical and spiritual site for the Baganda people and were declared a world heritage site in 2001.

They were built in 1882 as a palace for the Kabakas or kings of Buganda and were converted into a royal burial ground two years later.

BBC World Service

A video showing a woman lying dead in a migrant centre in Libya has raised new concerns about the conditions faced by thousands of detainees across the country.

The brief mobile phone clip shows a naked, malnourished woman on the floor of the Abu Salim facility in the Libyan capital Tripoli.

The footage is believed to have been filmed earlier this month.

A source at the UN says the woman - believed to be from Somalia - may have died from tuberculosis.

Libya has long been one of the main departure points for refugees and migrants trying to reach Europe.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

The head of the Sudanese armed forces, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, is in Egypt meeting President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

It is the first time Sudan's military ruler has left Sudan since internal conflict broke out in April, between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.

The Egyptian president has backed Gen Burhan during the war but has also being pushing for dialogue.

The UN says the fighting has forced more than four million Sudanese to flee their homes.

The Egyptian president is an ally of the Sudanese army leader. But as far as we know he's not given significant military support during this war.

Egypt is worried about an even greater influx of refugees should the fighting in Sudan continue and so may keep pushing for dialogue.

General Burhan says he wants to fight on but could come under pressure to try negotiations.

The war is having a terrible impact on civilians.

Reports have just come out of an attack last week in Nyala town in Darfur.

Eyewitnesses say dozens of people were seeking shelter from the fighting under a bridge. The Sudanese army then shelled it killing 39 of them - including many women and children.

12:20 GMT: This entry was amended to remove a quote that Gen Burhan said on Monday in Port Sudan rather than in Egypt as we had stated.

Kalkidan Yibeltal
BBC News, Addis Ababa

Image source, AFP

Fighting has flared up again in some areas in Ethiopia’s restive Amhara region after a week of relative calm, with at least 10 civilian deaths reported.

Residents in the Amhara city of Debre Tabor have told the BBC that fighting between local militias and government troops began over the weekend and continued until Monday morning.

According to witnesses, the city’s main hospital sustained damage after it was hit by heavy artillery. A doctor at the hospital told the BBC that at least five people who were visiting patients and more than 20 civilians, who were moving near the facility, were wounded.

The BBC’s attempts to get responses from regional authorities and a command post established to oversee a six-month state of emergency have not been successful.

Fighting has also been reported in or around Debre Markos and Fenote Selam towns as well as other small towns and villages in the region.

Tensions in Amhara began in April, following a controversial decision to dissolve a paramilitary regional force.

Since early August, a large portion of Ethiopia’s second most populous region has seen violence.

UN human rights investigators have found that more than 180 people have died in the recent violence, the AFP news agency reports quoting a spokesperson from the UN Human Rights Office.

Last week Amhara’s regional council appointed a new president after Yilkal Kefale, who led the region for nearly two years, resigned.

Read more on the conflict in Amhara:

• Why Ethiopia's Amhara militiamen are battling the army

Image source, Gett

In a move aimed at reducing government spending, Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu has ordered the trimming of the Nigerian delegation to the upcoming UN General Assembly.

President Tinubu on Monday directed US mission in Nigeria to issue visas exclusively to Nigerian government officials who will directly participate in the UN event, which is scheduled to take place in New York next month.

Mr Tinubu also said Nigeria’s mission in New York should only accredit government officials with clear roles at the General Assembly.

The president also ordered officials travelling to the US to limit the number of aides and support staff that they take to the UN event, warning that individuals who disregard the guidelines will be removed from the delegation.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, Reuters

Officials in Sudan say armed forces chief Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has left the country on a flight to Egypt to meet President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

It is the first time Sudan's military ruler has left the country since the conflict broke out there in April, between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The Egyptian president has backed Gen Burhan during the war which the UN says has now forced more than four million Sudanese to flee their homes.

Up until just a few days ago the Sudanese military leader was holed up inside the army headquarters in Khartoum.

The fact that Gen Burhan has now been able to leave the country for talks with his ally in Egypt is for some a sign that the army is under less pressure.

The rival RSF may have been weakened in the capital.

But in Darfur the RSF is still strong and has been behind ethnically motivated attacks.

On Monday, Gen Burhan dismissed the idea of peace talks and spoke about defeating the rebellion.

Many Sudanese, who are seeing their country being steadily destroyed, will be hoping that behind the scenes regional leaders are pushing for another attempt at negotiating an end to the war.