Wedaeli Chibelushi
BBC News

Image source, AFP

The United States has targeted a top Sudanese paramilitary official in the highest-profile use of sanctions since the current conflict began in Sudan.

Washington has sanctioned Abdelrahim Dagalo, Rapid Support Forces (RSF) deputy leader, over human rights abuses during the group's clash with Sudan's army.

The move, announced on Wednesday, is an apparent response to the deadly violence seen recently in West Darfur, which the RSF is accused of perpetrating along with allied militias.

Mr Dagalo has been accused by the US of being connected to abuses such as "conflict-related sexual violence and killings based on ethnicity".

The RSF has allegations by conflict monitors, rights groups and witnesses that it is behind the violence in Darfur.

Abdelrahim Dagalo - brother of RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti - is the first official on either side to be sanctioned since the start of the war.

Previous sanctions, levied on companies, targeted the army as well as the RSF.

Kennedy Gondwe
BBC News, Lusaka

Image source, Getty Images

Police in Zambia have arrested the wife of former President Edgar Lungu on three charges, including theft of a motor vehicle, which she denies.

Esther Lungu who is currently in detention in the capital, Lusaka, has been arrested along with three others.

Police spokesperson Danny Mwale confirmed in a statement that the quartet had also been charged with one count of theft of a certificate of title for a property in Lusaka.

They are also accused of being in possession of property believed to be proceeds of crime.

Several former ministers, government officials and Mr Lungu's family members are currently under investigation for suspected criminal activities.

They all deny wrongdoing.

Kalkidan Yibeltal
BBC News

An Ethiopian opposition group has accused government forces of killing dozens of civilians in the restive Amhara region where fighting between local militias and the army continues to be reported.

In a statement, the Enat party said 29 civilians, including children and the elderly, were killed near their homes by government troops in a small town called Majete.

At least 20 civilians were killed in drone strikes in two other areas in the region, the party added.

The BBC has not been able to independently confirm the claims and there hasn’t been any response to the accusations from the government.

Violence broke out in Amhara after months of simmering tensions over controversial decisions to disband a paramilitary regional force - a move opponents say would leave the region vulnerable to attacks.

In early August local militias entered most of the region’s major cities and briefly controlled an airport.

Urban combat claimed several lives and a large number of prisoners were freed.

Relative normalcy appears to have returned to the cities after government troops pushed the militias out.

Last week, the army’s head Field Martial Berhanu Jula declared armed groups operating in the region were no longer a threat. However, fighting continues to be reported this week in or around several small towns and villages.

An ongoing internet shutdown has made it difficult to get information about the exact magnitude of the fighting.

Read more on the conflict in Amhara:

• Why Ethiopia's Amhara militiamen are battling the army.

Andre Onana's recall for Cameroon does not mean he is 'friends' with manager Rigobert Song, says ex-international Patrick Suffo.

More than 40 people were killed after troops opened fire on protesters in Goma last week.

Image source, Getty Images

Climate activists have opposed Africa’s plan to sell carbon credits to foreign countries.

Several foreign companies and countries have committed hundreds of millions in carbon credit purchases from the Africa Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI), including the United Arab Emirates, which pledged to buy $450m (£358m) in carbon credits.

However, climate groups like Greenpeace Africa and Friends of the Earth Africa say that buying carbon credits from Africa is a false solution to climate change and will only accelerate pollution by helping polluters to offset their emissions.

“Investing in carbon markets is a false solution. The real green investment lies in renewable energy,” GreenPeace Africa said on X, external.

Africa’s carbon markets have received prominence at the Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, Kenya this week.

On Monday, Kenya’s President William Ruto said that carbon credits trade presents a win-win solution as it will offset greenhouse gas emissions while generating revenue for Africa.

“The restoration and expansion of Africa’s natural carbon sinks are not just an environmental imperative, in fact, they are an unapparelled economic goldmine. They have the potential to absorb millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, which should translate into billions of dollars if we are living in a fair world,” Mr Ruto said.

ACMI aims to support Africa’s carbon markets to produce 300 million carbon credits annually by 2030.

Nkechi Ogbonna
West Africa Business Journalist, BBC News

There has been a "smoke incident" in a section of the international airport in Lagos, Nigeria, forcing the evacuation of staff and passengers from the building, the airport authority said in a statement.

Firefighters battled to deal with the thick black smoke and prevent it from spreading to other parts of the terminal.

According to the airport authority, the smoke was caused by lithium inverter batteries located in the baggage hall of Terminal 1.

“We are pleased to report that the situation is presently under control and flight operations will not be affected by this incident,” the authority's Yakubu Funtua told the BBC.

Hospital worker Fred Leparan attempted to sell a baby boy to an undercover BBC reporter.

Image source, AFP

Sudan’s government has encouraged airlines to resume flights to Sudan, after EgyptAir became the first commercial flight to enter or leave Sudan since its descent into conflict in April.

The EgyptAir flight carried more than 100 passengers from Egypt’s capital, Cairo, to the eastern Sudan city of Port Sudan on Tuesday morning and returned to Egypt in the afternoon.

Red Sea State Governor Fathallah Haj Ahmed told media that the flight by EgyptAir signalled that Sudan was safe and stable for international flights.

“This is a message to the whole world that Sudan is safe and stable. It also sends a message to international airlines to resume their flights to Sudan as it is 100% safe,” Mr Ahmed said.

Sudan closed its airspace in April this year, after a power struggle between the Sudanese armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group escalated into conflict.

On 15 August, the Sudan Civil Aviation Authority announced that it had reopened airspace in the eastern part of the country.

Egypt’s consul general to Sudan, Sameh Farouq said that Egypt Air will operate a weekly return flight between Egypt and Sudan.

Richard Hamilton
BBC World Service newsroom

Image source, AFP

African leaders have issued a declaration proposing new taxes across the world to fund action against climate change.

The Nairobi Declaration was issued at the end of the three-day Africa Climate Summit in the Kenyan capital.

The heads of state say the declaration will form the basis of their negotiating position at November's COP28 summit in Dubai.

Researchers say that despite suffering from some of the worst impacts of climate change, the continent only receives about 12% of the financing it needs.

Fauziyya Tukur, Chiagozie Nwonwu & Olaronke Alo
BBC Global Disinformation Unit

Image source, EPA

The election ruling in Nigeria - which is still be read out - has come amid a flood of disinformation spread by social media influencers and micro blogs targeting the tribunal judges.

They have been considering challenges to the victory of Bola Tinubu in February's presidential election.

In July, a news website, Igbo Times, published a story claiming that one of the judges in the five-person election tribunal panel, Justice Boloukuoromo M Ugo had resigned due to “demands to kneecap democracy”. It also claimed that he admitted to being asked by the ruling party to rule in favour of its candidate.

Justice Ugo has not resigned, and there is no evidence on the claims made by Igbo Times.

In September, several social media influencers supporting the Labour Party began sharing claims that the tribunal had fixed 16 September as the day for the judgement to be announced. They argued this was to prevent the opposition from reacting against any judgement as it was the last day of the legal period that the tribunal could sit.

This false claim became the dominant narrative before the tribunal announced 6 September as the day for its ruling.

Some have also shared threatening messages and photos, which they allege are of the family members of some of the judges, accompanied by the hashtag #AllEyesOntheJudiciary, external, in what appeared to be an attempt at intimidation ahead of the ruling.

Favour Nunoo
BBC News, Accra

Image source, Getty Images

Ghanaian Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta says he is confident his country will receive the second tranche, worth $600m (£480m), of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout package come the end of the year.

In May, Ghana signed a new bailout programme worth $3bn over three years to help ease the country's economic problems.

It received an initial instalment of $600m but the government had to introduce certain measures to qualify for further rounds of funding.

There will be a review in November and Mr Ofori-Atta said the country had shown progress in bolstering the fiscal and balance of payments needs.

The government has expanded the tax net by introducing new measures such as a 10% levy on betting and lottery winnings to increase revenue in line with the IMF conditions.

The IMF has said the Ghanaian economy is showing signs of recovery, citing an increase in foreign reserves, a less volatile exchange rate and softening inflation.

Read more on this story:

• Ghana IMF loan: Will $3bn solve the economic crisis?

Ashley Lime
BBC News, Nairobi

Image source, AFP

Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has temporarily halted movements to health centres in northern Central African Republic (CAR).

It says humanitarian workers, patients and their caretakers “are suffering unbearable levels of violence perpetrated by local armed groups while moving around the town of Batangafo” in northern CAR.

“We are outraged by any violence committed against patients, their caretakers, our staff and referral motorbike riders while they move as being clearly identified as belonging to a humanitarian organisation,” says Gisa Kohler, MSF operations manager in the country.

The charity notes that it cannot continue to provide healthcare in the area that has seen two horrific attacks in less than a week, between 26 and 30 August.

There have been at least 16 attacks in Batangafo this year - mostly violent robberies carried out by groups of armed men.

Those assaulted include motorbike riders who transport patients, community health staff who give care in rural areas or convoys of vehicles with workers as they go to outreach activities.

Additionally, two attacks involved sexual violence against an MSF worker and caretakers of patients.

MSF has called on all armed groups to “respect and protect healthcare staff, humanitarian workers, patients and their caretakers.”

The agency has been in the area since 2006.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Image source, AFP

Eritrea’s government has denied Amnesty International’s allegations that its soldiers committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in northern Ethiopia’s Tigray region despite a peace deal signed last November.

Eritrean soldiers had backed federal forces in the two-year civil war.

Eritrea’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations on 5 September said that Amnesty International’s allegations against the Eritrean Defence Forces (EDF) “have no substance or merit”.

The ministry added that the report “suffered from its flawed methodology” and was “filled with disgusting lies and distortions that are a futile attempt to disparage the Eritrean people”.

“Amnesty conducted no research. Rather, it chose to use its platform to regurgitate unsubstantiated allegations against Eritrea’s military personnel, taken from third-party sources, faceless, nameless, in continuation of its libellous decade-long campaign against the State of Eritrea,” the statement said, external.

The ministry also accused the rights group of trying to promote hate and incite a wedge between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Eritrean troops backed Ethiopia's army in its fight against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) between November 2020 and last year.

Chris Ewokor
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, Channels TV

The ruling to determine the winner of the 25 February presidential election in Nigeria is under way in Abuja.

The court will decide on the petitions brought before it by opposition candidates of the People’s Democratic Party, the Labour Party and the Allied People’s Movement seeking to overturn the declaration of President Bola Tinubu as the winner of the election.

Expectations of the ruling have sparked tension across the country following the the deeply polarising election.

In the capital, large number of soldiers and police personnel have mounted road blocks at strategic locations within the city centre and the surrounding communities. There appear to be fears the judgement could trigger protests, depending on who loses out today.

The proceedings are being televised live in order to be fully transparent, the court said - though it did decline to allow live broadcasts during the hearing stages when lawyers made their presentations.

The tribunal in Abuja that has been weighing up the legitimacy of February's presidential election is delivering its ruling.

It could result in the victory of Bola Tinubu being overturned.

We will be updating you with the key developments.

Nigerian TV stations are carrying proceedings live., external

Image source, AFP

Egypt’s President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has said that the country needs to slow its birth rate to avoid a catastrophe.

He said that Egypt had to lower its annual births to 400,000 from the current more than two million for the country to efficiently provide jobs and social services to its citizens.

Mr al-Sisi also faulted remarks by Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Egypt’s health and population minister, that “having children is a matter of complete freedom”.

"Leaving their freedom to people who potentially do not know the extent of the challenge? In the end, it is the whole of society and the Egyptian state which will pay the price," said Mr al-Sisi, who was speaking at the first Global Congress on Population, Health and Development

"We must organise this freedom otherwise it will create a catastrophe," he added.

He hinted that Egypt could emulate China’s one-child policy, since China “succeeded in their population control policy”.

Since 2000, the population of Egypt, one of Africa’s most-populous countries, has grown by 40 million to reach 105 million people, according to Mr Abdel Ghaffar.

Mr Sisi also said that other African countries should adopt population control measures as the continent lacks enough resources for its surging population.

Image source, AFP

East African heads of state on Tuesday unanimously agreed to extend the deployment of the regional military force in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The decision happens a week after Congolese soldiers opened fire in Goma on a protest demanding the withdrawal of international peacekeepers.

More than 40 protesters were killed and 168 protesters were arrested.

The mandate of the regional force was to end on 8 September, but the extension means that the troops will remain in the east for an additional three months, until 8 December.

The East African Community (EAC) bloc made the announcement, external following a summit by the region's heads of state in Kenya’s capital Nairobi.

The meeting was attended by DR Congo Prime Minister Sama Lukonde, Uganda’s EAC Minister Rebecca Kadaga and the presidents of Kenya Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.

The leaders said that they “took note of the operational milestones achieved by the EAC regional force towards restoration of security" in eastern DR Congo.

The force was deployed in November 2022 to aid the response of the Congolese military against the many armed rebel groups that operate there.

Chris Ewokor
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, AFP

An election tribunal in Nigeria is due to deliver its judgement on challenges to the outcome of February's presidential poll.

The victory of Bola Tinubu, of the All Progressives Congress, is disputed by his two main opponents.

Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar want the court to nullify the election because of alleged irregularities.

The tribunal has the power to annul the ballot and call for a re-run - but that decision could be appealed in a higher court.

Its decision could have far-reaching implications for future elections in Africa’s most populous democracy.

However, no presidential election result has been overturned since Nigeria returned to civilian rule nearly a quarter of a century ago.

Wazir Khamsin
BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

Tunisian police have arrested the top two officials in the main opposition party, the party says.

They include the interim head of Ennahda, Mondher Ounissi.

His detention is said to be linked to audio messages in which he purportedly accuses party colleagues of receiving illegal funds.

Mr Ounissi says the recordings are fabricated.

The Tunisian authorities have detained a series of opposition figures this year.

President Kais Saied has ruled by decree since 2021, when he sacked parliament and dissolved the government.

His critics accuse him of carrying out a coup.