Hailu Sahle
BBC News Tigrinya

Image source, AFP

Residents in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region are mourning the death of fighters killed during the two year-long brutal war that ended last year.

It comes as residents are now being told about their family members who were killed during the fighting against Ethiopian troops and their allies, sources from the regional capital, Mekelle, told the BBC.

The war began in November 2020 after the federal government accused militias allied to the regional party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), of attacking its northern command.

Soon after forces from neighbouring Eritrea and regional militias joined the Ethiopian government and fought against Tigrayan forces until a peace deal was signed in Pretoria last year.

‘’Many people in Mekelle have been told of the death of family members. I have participated in a traditional mourning ceremony and a spiritual service in one of the churches. It was heart-breaking,” said one resident.

The resident said they were worried about youths from the area who had joined the army and were not back yet, adding that they will know about their fate next week.

Another resident who travelled to the east and central parts of Tigray said he had seen villagers mourning the death of family members in many places.

The president of the interim Tigray administration, Getachew Reda, told reporters last week that families of deceased soldiers would soon be given information about their kin.

However, the authorities are being blamed for not formally telling families about the death of their loved ones.

Reports say families are being forced to search for the soldiers only to be finally told by army commanders that they are dead.

Both the federal government and TPLF did not disclose how many fighters they lost during the two-year war. All parties were accused committing atrocities in the period.

Though there is now peace in the region, officials there warn that some people are starving after aid agencies suspended food supplies following findings of theft.

Alfred Lasteck
BBC News, Dar es Salaam

Image source, Getty Images

Two Tanzanian are set to feature in the finals of the America's Got Talent (AGT) show in Las Vegas on Tuesday night.

The Ramadhani Brothers - Fadhili, 26, and Ibrahim, 36 - are performing artists who do acrobatic performances.

The duo specialise in balancing with Fadhili using only his head to balance on top of Ibrahim's head.

They will be challenged by 10 other finalists for the top prize in the Las Vegas show. The winner takes home a $1m (£821,000) prize.

Earlier on Tuesday, Fadhili told BBC that they had trained and rested well.

"We did our last training, we are now having rest as we await evening [18:00 Vegas time] to do our performance," he said.

"According to the list of performers, we will be the first to show case to the world what we came with from Tanzania."

The Ramadhani Brothers posted on their Instagram page, external on Monday calling for supporters to vote for them.

The Tanzania’s culture and arts ministry congratulated the duo in a social media post and wished them luck in their performance.

A festival celebrating South African culture is praised for its 'togetherness' by a business group.

She was well known for detailing her cancer treatment and being open about her past drug addiction.

Image source, AFP

Kenya will begin constructing a nuclear power plant in 2027, the authorities have said in the latest pledge about the plans.

The 1,000MW plant, which has been in the pipeline for several years, is part of the country’s ambition to move to clean energy and increase energy generation.

Similar statements about the imminence of the start of the project have been made in the past.

The acting CEO of the Nuclear Power and Energy Agency Justus Wabuyabo told Kenya’s Business Daily newspaper that the agency is currently conducting site assessments and finalising preparations to open bids for the plant’s construction.

Mr Wabuyabo said that the plant will be constructed in Kenya’s coastal region over six to 10 years, with the first plant beginning operations in 2034 at the earliest.

Some Kenyans have criticised the plan, claiming that a nuclear plant is unnecessary and the country lacks capacity to handle nuclear waste.

“We have enough resources for hydro, geothermal, solar, and wind power. Worse, I do not think we have the capacity to ensure the safety of a nuclear power plant or clean-up when a disaster strikes,” one X, formerly Twitter, user said.

Currently, South Africa is the only African country that produces nuclear power commercially.

Other African countries have started plans to adopt nuclear energy, including Rwanda and Egypt, which is currently building a $30bn (£24bn) nuclear power plant.

Image source, AFP

Ugandan leaders have disagreed over the hosting of the popular Nyege Nyege festival in the eastern city of Jinja, whose critics have described as promoting immorality.

Nyege Nyege, an annual music and art festival that has been held in Uganda since 2015, is one of the most popular but controversial festivals in East Africa.

Some of Jinja’s Muslim leaders, led by the Jinja District Kadhi Sheikh Ismail Basoga Adi have opposed the hosting of the event in the city.

“The activities taking place at Nyege Nyege are not commendable, especially in terms of their impact on the younger generation. While they do generate substantial revenue, they also promote immorality within society,” Mr Adi said recently, according to Uganda's privately owned Daily Monitor Newspaper.

However, Uganda’s Minister for East African Community Affairs Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga has criticised the push by Muslim leaders to ban the festival, terming them “self-seekers hiding behind religion”.

She said on Monday that the festival should not be cancelled on grounds of immorality as it is not attended by children and Jinja’s Muslim leaders have not opposed the hosting of similar events in the city before.

In previous years, some Ugandan leaders have championed for the ban of the festival, which they described as a "breeding ground for sexual immorality" and "homosexuality".

More on this topic:

• Nyege Nyege: Sell-out crowd at 'immoral' Ugandan music festival

The South African authorities are intensifying bio-security measures to control a severe avian influenza outbreak that has so far killed 2.6 million chickens across the country.

Five of the country’s nine provinces have been affected by the 50 HPAI H7 and 10 HPAI H5 subtypes of the virus, the department of agriculture said in a statement on Monday.

It added that the process of getting a vaccine had been fast-tracked because of the inherent risk of the disease spreading to humans.

"Due to the high probability of avian influenza virus mutating and becoming zoonotic, care needs to be taken on the quality and efficacy parameters of the vaccine chosen for use in this exercise," the department added.

Gauteng province is hardest hit by the virulent HPAI H7 strain while the Western Cape is grappling with the majority of HPAI H5 outbreak.

Astral Foods, South Africa's largest poultry producer, warned last week of a shortage of eggs and poultry meat in the coming months due to the bird flu outbreak and impact of power cuts on the poultry industry.

Image source, Getty Images

More than five million invasive quelea birds have been killed in a mass cull in Tanzania, the authorities have said in comments reported in the local media.

The birds had invaded more than 1,000 acres of rice farmland in the Manyara region in the north of the country, causing extensive losses.

Officials spent more than four days using drones to spray the the swarms of birds with avicides, the Tanzania Times reports, external.

The invasive birds were capable of destroying more than 50 tonnes of food crops every day, according to Gadman Mbuko from the Tanzania Plant Health and Pesticides Authority.

Quelea birds, thought to be the most numerous bird species in the world, often destroy grains such as rice and wheat.

In 2021, the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) estimated that $50m (£41m) worth of crops are lost to the birds each year, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.

Read more on the quelea birds:

• Kenyan rice farmers battle quelea birds in Kisumu

Image source, AFP

Several people are said to have died in the aftermath of a storm in South Africa’s Western Cape province over the weekend, local media reported.

The deaths include four boys said to have been electrocuted in a pool of water, local news network ENCA says.

The authorities in the province on Tuesday said they were still looking for missing people and assessing damage in the province following the storm.

The heavy floods caused widespread destruction including damaging homes, forcing some to move out.

Roads and bridges and other infrastructure were also damaged and some areas were inaccessible with many roads still considered unsafe.

“The integrity of our roads are affected due to the disaster that has occurred in our province. I ask that citizens remain cautious when travelling,” Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said on Tuesday., external

Cape Town city authorities said teams were making “steady progress” in restoring storm-related power outages in several areas.

It however added that it was not able to tell when restoration would be complete due to the conditions and the extent of the damage.

Image source, Ministry of Information and Media/Facebook

Zambia's President Hakainde Hichilema has sacked his Information Minister Chushi Kasanda in a mini-cabinet reshuffle announced on Monday.

Ms Kasanda was replaced with Cornelius Mweetwa, the ruling United Party for National Development spokesperson and Southern Province minister.

President Hichilema also named Ron Mwambwa as the country's auditor general.

A statement from the presidency said the changes reflected the president's "ongoing efforts to enhance governance, improve service delivery, and promote national development in Zambia".

Zoleka Mandela, granddaughter of South Africa's first democratically elected president Nelson Mandela, has died of cancer at the age of 43, her family has announced.

In a statement on Instagram, a spokesperson said that Zoleka passed away on Monday evening surrounded by friends and family, external.

In recent years she had become well known for detailing her cancer treatment and also being open about her history of drug addiction and depression, as well as the fact that she had been sexually abused as a child.

Zoleka also campaigned for better road safety after her 13-year-old daughter was killed in a car accident in 2010.

She documented her story in an autobiography When Hope Whispers.

Just over a decade ago Zoleka had been diagnosed with breast cancer, she received treatment and was in remission but it later returned.

Last year, she confirmed that she had cancer in her liver and lungs, it then spread to other organs. She was being treated as an outpatient but she was admitted to hospital just over a week ago.

"I had a CT scan administered a few weeks back, which have shown that I have blood clots as well as Fibrosis in my lung. This explains the chest pains I had been feeling. My medical oncologist has recommended blood thinners and oral chemo. On the upside, I’m incredibly grateful that I am still treatable," she wrote on Instagram on 17 September, external.

Read the BBC profile of Zoleka Mandela from 2016

Nicolas Négoce
BBC News

Image source, AFP

The military junta in Mali has said it will postpone the presidential election that had been scheduled for February

A government spokesman, Col Abdoulaye Maiga, said a new date would be announced and that parliamentary polls would be held separately.

He said the delay was due to "technical reasons" including issues linked to the adoption of a new constitution and a review of the electoral laws.

Civil society groups and the opposition have expressed their disappointment following this announcement.

The elections were intended to return Mali to constitutional rule after military coups in 2020 and 2021.

The junta had initially proposed the elections to be held in 2026, then revised it to 2025 and finally moving it to February 2024 after pressure from the West African bloc Ecowas.

Azeezat Olaoluwa
BBC News, Lagos

A university in north-western Nigeria says 14 of its students and two workers who had been kidnapped by gunmen have now been freed.

On Friday, 24 girls were abducted from hostels at the Federal University of Gusau in Zamfara state.

Nine welders working in another building were also taken.

The military had earlier rescued six of the kidnapped students a few hours after the early morning attack.

The university appealed to students to remain calm, while the security agencies tried to rescue those still being held.

North-western Nigeria has seen a rise in kidnappings for ransoms in recent years.

Read more on the background to the security situation:

• Nigeria's kidnapping crisis: Should ransom payments be banned?

The Newsroom
BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

Burkina Faso's military junta has suspended the French-language news magazine Jeune Afrique, accusing it of publishing untruthful articles.

A statement said the publication was seeking to discredit the armed forces and manipulating information to spread chaos.

The accusations relate to two recently published pieces reporting discontent in the military.

The magazine's suspension is the latest of a crackdown on French-language media since Burkina Faso's military took over rule last year.

Jeune Afrique has yet to respond.

Our proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

That's all for now from the BBC Africa Live team - we'll be back on Tuesday morning.

Until then you can find the latest updates at BBCAfrica.com and listen to the Focus on Africa podcast for stories behind the news.

A reminder of Monday's wise words:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this picture of a dog peering over a barrier as heavy floodwater flows past in Sir Lowry's Village, South Africa.

Image source, AFP

Egypt is to hold a presidential election this December - earlier than had been expected.

President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, a former army chief who has been in power for nearly a decade, has yet to formally announce his candidacy. However, state-aligned media has already published messages of support from pro-government bodies.

The election was initially expected to be held in the spring of 2024. Some experts suspect it was moved so voters would go to the polls before a possible switch to a flexible exchange rate - a change that could exacerbate social tensions.

The vote will be held between 10-12 December, said National Election Authority chairman Judge Walid Hassan Hamza.

Excluding Mr Sisi, only two candidates have so far declared their intention to run in the coming election. One of them - opposition politician Ahmed al-Tantawi - has for months accused security forces of harrasment.

Read more about Abdul Fattah al-Sisi: The ruler with an iron grip

Favour Nunoo
BBC News, Accra

Image source, William Haun

A historic mosque in Bole, a town in north-west Ghana, has partially collapsed following heavy rains.

The mud roof of the Bole Mosque crumbled after years of neglect and termite infestations.

Museum officials in Ghana said the infestation of termites weakened the wooden rafters holding the structure in place, causing it to give way after a heavy downpour.

Made mostly of mud, the religious site was built between the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.

Officials said the damaged mosque could be repaired with the assistance of local people who were familiar with its architecture and build.

Ghanaian museum authorities have advised residents not to raze the remnants of the mosque in order to build a new one.

Alongside neglect and termites, the collapse of the mosque has also been blamed on the use of modern materials like cement during repairs and maintenance.

The Bole Mosque boasts a distinctive architectural design, akin to the renowned Larabanga Mosque in Tamale.

It consists of mud on frameworks of wooden poles. Short lengths of protruding poles are buried into buttresses, giving the mosque its unique appearance.

The building is an example of neo-Sudanese influences, which led to the formation of predominately Islamic communities in northern Ghana, especially in the Wala and Gonja states.

There are similar mud mosques in neighbouring West African countries, notably Mali.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Image source, AFP

The armies of Burkina Faso and Niger have killed an unknown number of militants in joint operations, local media has reported.

The attack comes a week after Burkina Faso’s parliament approved the deployment of troops to Niger in order to fight the Islamist uprising along the countries' common border.

Burkina Faso’s state-owned RTB TV channel said on Sunday that raids where launched after troops spotted “a column of terrorists” leaving Niger for Burkina Faso.

Joint forces “neutralised these attackers in pairs on 100 motorbikes and destroyed most of their logistics” in eastern Burkina Faso's Kantchari area, the channel added.

Earier this month, Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali established a defence pact, named the Alliance of Sahel States, in a bid to support each other against any armed rebellion or external aggression.

Planned power cuts in parts of South Africa have been suspended amid heavy flooding.

Intense downpours caused extensive damage in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces over the weekend.

After flooding continued into Monday, state-owned power utility Eskom said the deluge had caused "widespread damage to electricity infrastructure".

In the two affected provinces, load-shedding "will be suspended with immediate effect", Eskom said.

Despite being Africa's most developed economy, South Africa has been experiencing load-shedding - or an organised series of rolling blackouts - for the past 15 years. The power cuts are needed because the system cannot cope with the demand for energy.

Eskom added that the aim of Monday's suspension is to aid the safe restoration of electricity supplies, while load-shedding will continue in areas unaffected by the floods.

Read more: South Africa load-shedding: The roots of Eskom's power problem