Image source, AFP

People in Sudan are being failed by the international community, more than anywhere else in the world, the UN's aid chief has told the BBC.

Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, told the BBC's HARDTalk there was a "devastating difference", external between the amount of help people in the war-zone need and what they're actually getting:

You can get all the BBC's latest coverage from Sudan here

The viral video has spread to many countries in Africa, but does not show a church pastor taming lions.

Chris Ewokor & Noel Ebrin Brou
BBC News

A pro-military rally is underway in Burkina Faso to mark the first anniversary of the coup that brought Capt Ibrahim Traore to power.

It comes after the junta claimed that a coup attempt was thwarted on Tuesday.

Hundreds have gathered at the National Square in the capital, Ouagadougou, and in several other towns, heeding the call from organisers who claim foreign powers are behind efforts to topple the junta.

One of the key demands of the demonstrators is the adoption of a new constitution. Between speeches of support and performances by artists, the flags of Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali and Guinea could also be seen in a show of solidarity to other military-led nations in West Africa.

Demonstrators held a spontaneous rally on Tuesday night to show solidarity with the junta amid rumours of divisions within the armed forces and a possible countercoup.

Four officials have been detained in connection with the reported coup attempt.

The junta came to power after two military coups last year, triggered in part by the worsening Islamist insurgency linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.

But Burkina Faso's military leaders have so far struggled to contain the situation, despite promises to tackle insecurity. Militant attacks have increased in the country, threatening the stability of the wider West African Sahel region.

Paul Njie
BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

Sylvia Bongo, the wife of Gabon's ousted President Ali Bongo, has been charged with money laundering, receiving stolen property, forgery, and the use of forgery.

Public prosecutor Andre Patrick Roponat announced on Friday that Sylvia Bongo's case had been brought before an investigating judge the day before. He also said her house arrest order was being upheld.

The charges follow weeks of uncertainty about Mrs Bongo's whereabouts, after she was put under under house arrest on 30 August when the military deposed her husband.

The decision to charge the former first lady comes after her son Noureddin Bongo Valentin was also charged with corruption, embezzlement and placed in pre-trial detention.

However, deposed President Ali Bongo, whose tenure was replete with accusations of corruption, has been released by the military junta and cleared to travel abroad for medical attention if he wished.

Related stories:

• Can Gen Ngeuma usher in a new era?
• New PM tells BBC Gabon should hold elections within two years
• Who is Gabon's former President Ali Bongo?

Image source, Various/Twitter

A senator in Kenya has criticised sports bodies for failing to act after a dog chased Robert Kimutai Ng’eno during last week's Buenos Aires marathon in Argentina.

Reports say the Kenyan runner was in the lead with 4km (2.5 miles) to go when the canine appeared and followed him. Despite efforts by some spectators to shoo the dog away, the encounter is said to have distracted Ng’eno and he lost his focus, eventually finishing in third place.

Fellow Kenyans Cornelius Kiplagat and Paul Kipngetich Tanui came first and second respectively.

A photo of the dog chasing Ng’eno has been shared widely on social media and some have questioned why more wasn't done to protect the athlete.

"The athlete was robbed of his dignity and subjected to untold ridicule," said Kenyan Senator Samson Cherargei on X (formerly Twitter).

He argued that Kenya's Sports Minister Ababu Namwamba and Athletics Kenya had failed the runner, adding they "have not found it wise to protest and call for investigations by Argentina authorities".

Kalkidan Yibeltal
BBC News, Addis Ababa

Image source, US Department of State

The United States says it is concerned about conflicts in Ethiopia's Amhara and Oromia regions, and has appealed for political dialogue to end them.

In a call with Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for human rights to be protected.

According to an independent monitoring group called the Ethiopia Peace Observatory, there have been at least 26 separate clashes in the Amhara region between members of a paramilitary force and government troops in the last fortnight.

An operation to disband the regional force has been strongly opposed, leading to widespread violence.

In Oromia there have been further outbreaks of violence between the military and the rebel Oromo Liberation Army.

In his call with Ethiopia's prime minister, Mr Blinken also discussed the possibility of resuming food aid to Ethiopia. The US and the UN suspended it five months ago amid accusations of theft.

There have been reports of hundreds of people dying due to starvation in the northern Tigray region.

An ongoing internet shutdown in Ethiopia's conflict areas has made it difficult to get real-time information.

Mike Thomson
BBC World Service News

Image source, Getty Images

The jailed leader of Tunisia’s main opposition party has said he's going on hunger strike until restrictions on him and other prisoners are lifted.

Rached Ghannouchi, 82, who leads the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, was arrested in April and sentenced to a year in prison for incitement.

He is the most high-profile of more than 20 critics of Tunisia’s President Kais Saied to have been detained this year.

President Saied, who was elected in 2019, has been accused of mounting a power grab since dissolving the country’s parliament, curbing the judiciary and giving himself powers to rule by decree.

Jihadist attacks have intensified across Niger since the military seized power in July.

Image source, TF1

France's top diplomat to Niger says he's "tired", after two months of "extreme tension" and several weeks confined to his embassy in Niamey before being kicked out the country.

Now back in Paris, Ambassador Sylvain Itté told the TF1 TV channel on Thursday evening that the coup in Niger was an "enormous mess" in which "there are only losers".

"This putsch is first and foremost a Nigerien affair, between a president who had decided to fight corruption and a certain number of generals who didn't want this fight against corruption to go all the way," he added.

Nigerien companies delivering supplies to the embassy were "dissuaded, even threatened" by the new power, and eventually stopped coming, said Mr Itté.

"We had to take out the rubbish without our junta friends noticing," he said. "It was a question of getting food and water in, again using ingenuity."

The ambassador also commented on the demonstration that targeted the French embassy on 30 July, a few days after the coup:

"The attack lasted over two-and-a-half hours. That day, we were collectively in danger and we came very, very close to a tragedy, because there were more than 6,000 people who were there to fight, who were there to break into the embassy."

Voting is under way in Eswatini, but in Africa's last absolute monarchy, MPs have little power.

Emery Makumeno
BBC News, Kinshasa

One person was killed and 11 people were wounded, after a rocket-propelled grenade being held by a Congolese soldier went off inadvertently as the vehicle he was in hit something on the road.

It happened by the Unity stadium in Goma, injuring civilians and the soldier who had been holding the grenade, according to statement from the governor of North Kivu governor that was read out by his spokesman Lt Col Guillaume Ddjike Kaiko on Thursday.

He said they were being treated at the local provincial hospital.

The governor, Maj Gen Cirimwami Nkuba Peter, sent his sympathies to the families of those affected and urged the public to remain calm in what had already been a tense time.

Since early September, a military court has been hearing a case of six soldiers and officers from the elite presidential guard in connection with the killing of at least 50 civilians last month.

It followed a crackdown on a planned peaceful protest in Goma against UN peacekeepers in the region. Human Rights Watch then criticised the action as "an extremely callous" and "unlawful".

Since 2021, Ituri and North Kivu provinces have been placed under the supervision of the security forces, with civilian rulers have been replaced by the military and police.

Military rule was imposed with the aim of fighting armed groups operating in the region.

Image source, AFP

The US has imposed sanctions on former Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Karti and two companies - one based in Russia - it accused of undermining the peace in Sudan.

Mr Karti, who served in the government of ousted President Omar al-Bashir, is the leader of the pro-military Sudanese Islamic Movement.

“[Karti] and other former regime officials are now obstructing efforts to reach a ceasefire between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)," the Department of Treasury said in a statement, external.

The Sudanese Islamic Movement responded by describing the sanctions as a "badge of honour", reports the Reuters news agency.

Also hit with sanctions was GSK Advance Company, a Sudan-based company the Treasury said had been used "as a procurement channel for the RSF".

The US says GSK worked with Aviatrade LLC, a Russia-based military supply company, "to arrange the procurement of parts and supplies".

“We will continue to target actors perpetuating this conflict for personal gain,” the department added.

The move is the latest round of sanctions imposed by Washington after war between the army and the RSF broke out in mid-April.

Earlier this month, the US imposed financial sanctions on RSF deputy leader Abdel Rahim Dagalo and a travel ban on the group's commander in West Darfur state, Gen Abdul Rahman Juma, over alleged rights abuses. The two denied the US accusations.

In June, Washington also imposed sanctions on firms owned by the warring Sudanese military factions.

Global Boga says he’s "back and stronger" after launching a foundation in his late wife's name.

Image source, Getty Images

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a $1.3bn (£1bn) loan to help Morocco improve its preparedness against natural disasters, three weeks after an earthquake killed nearly 3,000 people in the country.

Some Moroccans criticised the government for its handling of the 8 September earthquake in the High Atlas mountains, calling the response slow and disorganised.

On Thursday the IMF said the 18-month loan arrangement would help Morocco's transition to a greener economy - by tackling "climate vulnerabilities", "resilience against climate change", and seizing "opportunities from decarbonisation", external.

Read more:

• What is the IMF and why does it matter?
• Before and after pictures show Morocco earthquake devastation
• The scars, the rubble and the spirit to rebuild

Image source, Giraffe Conservation Foundation

A dozen South African giraffes were safely delivered to Mozambique earlier this month, says the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, "after a year and half of logistical and administrative challenges".

They were taken to the Karingani Game Reserve in the south of the country, which is also home to lions and elephants among others.

Restocking the park's giraffe population is "just the beginning", says the conservation group, of its ambitious plans to grow a much larger population in Mozambique.

The Giraffe Conservation Foundation says it works with campaigners in Cameroon, Namibia, Uganda and beyond - to "stand tall and be a voice for giraffe [sic]".

Ameyu Etana
BBC Afaan Oromoo

Image source, Getty Images

Ethiopian marathon runner Tigst Assefa, who recently obliterated the women's world record in Berlin, has said that following an injury four years ago she was told that her athletics career was effectively over.

Assefa stunned the running world last Sunday by taking more than two minutes off the previous world record, clocking two hours 11 minutes and 53 seconds.

But in 2019 things were not looking up.

She got a bad Achilles tendon injury in that year's Valencia half-marathon and was rushed to hospital.

Medics in both in Spain and Italy - where she was later treated - concluded she "had minimal chance to get back to sport", she told the BBC.

She disagreed with that assessment and so did her coach at the time.

With the support of her family and friends she fought hard to come back.

"I did not give up. I told myself I will get back and make history," she said in an interview with BBC Afaan Oromoo.

"I will never forget my injury. But at the same time it had helped me to work hard. I could not have seen this day if it were not for the injury," she added.

"I am a fiercely competitive. I don’t like to lose."

She also revealed that she is now aiming to cross the line in under two hours and 10 minutes.

She said hard work has taught her to think big.

"It could be broken [again] with better training. This is because [in Berlin] I was not tired. I had energy," she said

Her coach Gemedu Dedefo says given the support they need, women can do better.

The Newsroom
BBC World Service

The government in Niger says at least 12 soldiers have died after an attack by suspected jihadists in the country's south-west.

The defence ministry said seven of the soldiers were killed in combat, when their unit was attacked by hundreds of insurgents on motorbikes in the town of Kandadji.

Five others died in a traffic accident while trying to come to the unit's aid.

Local affiliates of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group are active in the area - which is close to the borders with Mali and Burkina Faso.

Mike Thomson
BBC World Service News

Image source, AFP

President Vladimir Putin has held talks with the military leader of eastern Libya, Khalifa Haftar in Moscow.

Gen Haftar’s forces relied heavily on Russian Wagner mercenaries – many of whom are still in eastern Libya - during his failed assault on Tripoli four years ago.

A Kremlin spokesman said they discussed the situation in Libya and the region.

Gen Haftar’s forces dominate the east of the country, while a rival internationally recognised Tripoli-based government controls some of the west.

Russia has long sought to boost its influence in Africa.

Grant Ferrett
BBC World Service

Image source, Reuters

Voting is under way in parliamentary elections in Eswatini, where King Mswati III continues to rule as Africa's last absolute monarch.

Political parties are banned and candidates must contest the polls as individuals.

Human rights campaigners have dismissed the vote in Eswatini as a farce.

Two members of parliament were among those jailed in connection with pro-democracy protests two years ago during which dozens of people were killed.

Parliament plays an advisory role to the king, who appoints the prime minister and the cabinet.

Image source, Getty Images

Nigeria’s Sports Minister John Owan Enoh has said his country is pursuing diplomatic avenues with Italy over the mocking of Nigerian footballer Victor Osimhen by Italian football club Napoli.

Mr Enoh on Thursday said that he was “saddened”, external by the news of Napoli ridiculing the 24-year-old striker, who also plays for Nigeria’s national football team.

The club shared a video on their TikTok account of Osimhen missing a penalty, dubbed with a high-pitched voice saying "gimme penalty please".

The club deleted the post after a backlash, but the player's agent has threatened legal action against the club.

Mr Enoh also said that the Nigerian government placed a priority on protecting the welfare of its athletes.

“We are committed to ensuring our sportsmen and women are accorded the respect they deserve and are not exposed to any injustice,” Mr Enoh said.

On Thursday, Napoli released a statement, external saying that the video was created with "expressive language used in a light-hearted and playful manner".

It also said that it "never intended to offend or make fun of Victor Osimhen, who is an asset to the club".