Image source, AFP

The European Union and the United States have voiced concern over the "disproportionate use of force" to disperse opposition protests in Madagascar, amid tensions ahead of presidential elections.

Last week, the country's top court ordered the vote to be postponed by a week to 16 November, after a presidential candidate was injured during one of the many rallies organised in the Indian Ocean island over the past fortnight.

In a joint statement, representatives of the EU, US and seven other countries and international organisations including France, Germany and Japan, said they were "worried" about the "tense political climate" in Madagascar.

The United Nations has also recently expressed concern over the "deteriorating human rights situation" in the country.

Eleven out of 13 opposition candidates have been protesting against what they call an "institutional coup" to keep President Andry Rajoelina in power.

Image source, Getty Images

Kenyan marathon runner Titus Ekiru has received a 10-year ban for doping and tampering.

One of his positive tests was taken at the Milan Marathon in 2021, which he won in a time of two hours, two minutes and 57 seconds. That time would currently rank him the seventh-fastest marathon athlete of all time.

Ekiru also tested positive after winning the Abu Dhabi Marathon on 26 November.

An investigation found the 31-year-old obstructed the probe by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) into two adverse analytical findings (AAFs) by using false information and documentation.

His ban begins from the date of his provisional suspension on 28 June 2022 and finishes on 27 June 2032.

Ekiru won at least 10 marathons or half-marathons between 2017 and 2021.

His results on and since 16 May 2021 have been erased and he has been ordered to forfeit all race prizes and money.

A British court sitting as the final court of appeal for Mauritius has upheld the results of the 2019 election, in which Pravind Jugnauth was declared prime minister.

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC), which acts as a final court of appeal for 27 countries and territories that were once part of the British Empire, rejected an appeal by an opposition candidate who alleged the election results were improperly obtained.

The Supreme Court of Mauritius upheld the election results in 2021.

The appeal was brought by Surendra Dayal, who unsuccessfully ran for a parliamentary seat in the same constituency where Mr Jugnauth was elected.

Mauritius, a prosperous archipelago in the Indian Ocean, won its independence from the UK in 1968.

Former Premier League defender Curtis Davies says joining Sierra Leone for the first time at the age of 38 is 'amazing'.

Girmay Gebru
BBC Tigrinya, Mekelle

Image source, Girmay Gebru/BBC

Memorials have been held in the Ethiopian region of Tigray as part of a mourning period for those killed in the recent civil war.

A two-year conflict, which began in November 2020, is thought to have claimed hundreds of thousands of lives.

The war was sparked by a power struggle between the government of Ethiopia and forces in its northern Tigray region.

This weekend, I attended three memorial ceremonies in Tigray.

As part of a three-day mourning period, people gathered in churches and mosques to honour loved ones who lost their lives.

Kidu Kiros, who had to flee her home and now lives in a camp for displaced people, told me she had lost her two sons in the war.

“If our sovereignty is respected and we returned back to our home, I consider the death of my children fruitful. We need good governance. My children have given their life to their motherland and we should see their land returned,” she said.

Hagazi Haftu, who also lives in the camp and lost family members, said: “Our children fought for the dignity of Tigray and its development, so we need to see the sovereignty of Tigray is respected and we have to return back to our home."

Getachew Reda, Tigray's interim administration president, delivered a solemn speech during the mourning period. He commended "the bravery and unwavering commitment of the fallen heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice".

Candlelight vigils were held in Tigrayan towns, while Tigrayans across the world paticipated in a moment of silence in memory of the dead.

The mourning period will continue until Monday evening.

Read more:

• The short, medium and long story of Ethiopia's Tigray war

Hanna Temuari
BBC News, Addis Ababa

Image source, Getty Images

The authorities in Eritrea have said they will not be “drawn into” conversations about Ethiopia's access to the Red Sea following controversial comments from Addis Ababa.

While addressing lawmakers, Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said access to the Red Sea was "a matter of existence" for his country.

"The Red Sea and the Nile River define Ethiopia. They are the foundations for Ethiopia's development or its demise," Mr Abiy said in remarks some commentators have said could cause friction with Eritrea.

Ethiopia became Africa’s largest landlocked country following Eritrea's secession in 1993. It has since depended on its tiny neighbour Djibouti for more than 85% of its imports and exports.

Ethiopia previously announced a plan to rebuild its navy a few years ago. Mr Abiy listed ports in Eritrea, Djbouti and Somaliland as facitilities that could be obtained peacefully.

A brief statement by Eritrea’s Ministry of Information on Monday said “discourses” about access to sea and related topics “floated in recent times” were “excessive”. It said the matter had “perplexed all concerned observers”.

Eritrea was the Addis Ababa government's ally during a recent brutal war in the Ethiopian state of Tigray.

Prime Minister Abiy also worked with Eritrean leader Isaias Afeworki in 2018 to end a bitter two-decade war between the two nations.

More on this topic:

• A wedding, birth and baptism at the Ethiopia-Eritrea border
• Remembering the Eritrea-Ethiopia border war

Image source, Getty Images

Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park has been named the best in Africa for the fifth time in a row.

It beat six other parks in the continent in this year's World Travel Awards (WTA), a global body that aims to reward excellence in travel and tourism.

The Serengeti, which is popular for its wildebeest migration, has won the award ever year since 2019.

The Tanzania National Parks Authority (Tanapa) celebrated the Serengeti's "stunning five-time victory".

Other African contenders included Botswana's Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Namibia's Etosha National Park, Uganda's Kidepo Valley National Park, South Africa's Kruger National Park and Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve.

Some 167 people are still missing after a boat capsize which killed at least 40 people.

South African police say they have re-arrested an escaped suspect, Kingsley Leeto Chele, who is accused of impersonating a doctor.

As we reported earlier, the police had said they had launched a manhunt for the suspect who escaped from custody last week. They described him as a "Facebook con artist” who targeted women.

They now say he was re-arrested in the early hours of Monday in Vosloorus, near Johannesburg, following a tip-off from a media house.

“[The] police in Gauteng appreciates the role played by the media in particular and the community in general in the fight against crime,” a police statement, external said.

The suspect, whose country of birth the police have not yet confirmed, is due to appear before a court in Pretoria on Tuesday, as had been scheduled before his escape.

A charge of escaping custody has been added to the charges that he was already facing.

He had been accused of two cases of fraud - he is alleged to have told health professionals on Facebook that he was seeking investors, before swindling them.

Chele has not yet commented on the accusations.

With 73% of the votes counted, President George Weah and Joseph Boakai are both on 43%.

A Sudanese resident has told the BBC life is "getting harder and harder" six months into the ongoing civil war.

A conflict between the Sudanese military and powerful paramilitary group the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed more than 5,000 people and forced five million others from their homes, according to the UN.

As the conflict deepens, humanitarian conditions there are worsening, as is the promise of a long-awaited transition to democracy.

Mohammed, who has been in Sudan since the conflict started in April, told the BBC's Newsday that life had been "a mess".

"Everything changed rapidly... the situation is dynamic," he said. "It’s getting harder and harder."

However, Mohammed believes there is hope - volunteers and humanitarian groups on the ground are working to provide aid and support to those suffering.

"Something good always happens when there is evil around," he said.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Image source, AFP

Chadian opposition leader Succès Masra has said he is postponing his return from self-exile to next month on the advice of the Democratic Republic of Congo's president.

Mr Masra, the head of the Transformers party, fled Chad a year ago following a deadly crackdown on protesters opposed to election delays by the ruling military junta.

He vowed last month to return home by 20 October, the anniversary of the protests.

But in a statement on Sunday, external, he said Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi, the current chairperson of the Economic Community of Central African States (Eccas) bloc, advised him to delay his return until early November.

He did not say on what date he now plans to return.

The announcement comes after Chad's junta reportedly ordered airlines not to fly Mr Masra home and to provide the names of all passengers travelling to the capital, N'Djamena.

The junta issued an arrest warrant for the opposition leader in July, accusing him of inciting hatred and rebellion in the central African nation.

Some 200 opposition supporters have been arrested for preparing to welcome Mr Masra.

Image source, SA Police Service

Police in South Africa have launched a manhunt for an escaped suspect accused of pretending to be a doctor.

Kingsley Leeto Chele “is a Facebook con artist who targeted women by misrepresenting himself as a doctor or a pharmacist and scamming them of their hard-earned money”, the police said.

He also goes by the names Dr Kingsley Chele or Dr KJ Ncube.

Chele is accused of having told health professionals on Facebook that he was seeking investors, before he "swindled them out of thousands of rands for projects that did not exist”.

He was arrested on 2 October after cases of fraud were reported in June.

A court in the capital, Pretoria, denied him bail and he was remanded pending his appearance, which had been scheduled for this Tuesday.

He escaped last Wednesday “when the police were cataloguing his household items at his residence, and he has been on the run since”, the police said in a statement., external

The police have asked anyone with information about his whereabouts to get in touch.

It comes barely a week after a TikTok content creater was accused by health authorities in South Africa of impersonating a medical doctor.

The man, who goes by Dr Matthew Lani, appeared on the app wearing scrubs in a public hospital, giving medical advice via his TikTok account.

Image source, AFP

Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have agreed to mutually abolish visa requirements to allow visa-free travel between each country.

The agreement is aimed at easing the movement of people and strengthening trade between the two countries.

The agreement follows recent talks between the two countries' officials in the DR Congo capital, Kinshasa.

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has for months been advocating for visa-free entry between the two countries.

“Crossing in East Africa should be cost-free. You pay for a visa when going to America, or Europe, but a visa to DR Congo?! That is rubbish. If that is the case, I have removed it,” President Museveni said last December when he launched the Mpondwe one-stop border post at Uganda's border with DR Congo.

In May, he asked officials from both countries to speed up the process of introducing visa-free travel.

Both Ugandan and Congolese nationals have previously complained about paying high visa fees at border crossings.

Image source, Reuters

Liberia’s President George Weah and opposition candidate Joseph Boakai are neck-and-neck in the presidential election results, with almost three-quarters of the vote results in.

Mr Weah has a narrow lead of 43.8% against Mr Boakai’s 43.5%, with about 73% of the votes, the country’s National Elections Commission announced.

By Sunday, the commission had announced results from 4,295 of the country’s 5,890 polling places.

The announcement came as the West African regional bloc Ecowas warned against the declaration of “premature” victories.

It also called for all parties to uphold peace as they awaited the results, adding that they would be held accountable for any actions that could lead to violence and instability.

President Weah is seeking a second term in office.

Mr Boakai, who emerged second in the last elections, was deputy to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf when she was president.

The winner must get at least 50% of the vote to avoid a run-off.

Liberians went to the polls on 10 October to elect the president, members of the House of Representatives and half the Senate.

The president says two bombs were linked to public address systems, and sent to pastors.

The Newsroom
BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

Four children have died in Burundi after a church collapsed in stormy weather.

According to state media, 15 others were injured in the incident early on Sunday.

The south of the country - where the church is located - had been hit by strong winds and heavy downpours.

A wall of the building fell on the children, who had been attending religious education classes.

Thomas Naadi
BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

At least 30 people are known to have drowned in the Democratic Republic of the Congo when a boat capsized on the Congo River.

There are fears that the number of casualties could rise as search and rescue efforts continue.

More than 160 people are still missing as a result of the incident, which occurred on Friday near the city of Mbandaka in the north-west.

Reports suggest the boat, which was sailing at night in breach of regulations, might have been overloaded.

Officials say it was carrying more than 300 people, as well as cargo, including cement, fuel and iron bars.

In the absence of a national road network, river transport is commonly used in DR Congo, and accidents are frequent.

Image source, Ugandan Presidency/X

Ugandan police foiled a bomb attack on churches by a notorious Islamist militant group, President Yoweri Museveni has said.

The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) were on Sunday planning to plant two bombs in churches in Kibibi, about 50km (30 miles) from the capital, Kampala, Mr Museveni wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

But the devices “were reported to police and defused”, he added.

The president said the bombs were concealed as PA systems and gifted to local pastors. They were reported by vigilant members of the public, he said.

Earlier the same day, Mr Museveni said Ugandan forces had carried out air strikes against four ADF positions in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

“It seems quite a number of terrorists were killed,” the president said.

He warned that the escaping ADF were "re-entering Uganda and trying to commit some random terrorist acts".

In June, ADF militants killed 42 people, including 37 students in a high school in western Uganda near the border with DR Congo.

It was one of the deadliest ADF attacks in the country.

More on this topic:

• Uganda school massacre: Arrests raise murky questions

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