Nomsa Maseko
BBC News, Johannesburg

Earlier we reported that more than 500 workers at a mine in South Africa had been underground since Sunday, in what appeard to be a dispute between two unions.

Those rival unions - the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) - are currently in talks with mine bosses in an effort to solve the issue.

The NUM, which is the only union recognised by One Gold Modder East mine, has alleged that its members are being held there against their will.

It said some of the miners had been assaulted and intimidated by workers who want the mine to recognise the Amcu.

Amcu dismissed suggestions that workers were being held hostage, saying those underground at the moment are there willingly.

Currently, workers at the One Gold Modder East mine are automatically enrolled into the NUM.

Image source, Getty Images

Nigeria has begun a mass vaccination campaign against human papillomavirus (HPV) in a bid to drastically reduce cervical cancer rates.

HPV, a common virus usually spread through intimate sexual contact, can in a minority of cases lead to cervical cancer.

In 2021, a major study found the HPV vaccine was cutting cases of cervical cancer by nearly 90%.

Nigeria's Health Minister Muhammad Pate told the BBC the programme was vital as “at least 12,000 women every year have advanced stages of cervical cancer [in Nigeria]".

"About 90% of them lose their lives because of that," he added.

The nationwide campaign began on Tuesday and the health ministry aims to vaccinate 16.6 million girls aged between nine and 14 by the end of 2025.

It has been integrated into Nigeria’s national immunisation schedule. Outreach includes co-operation with schools and leaders from religious and civil society circles.

Read more:

• How the HPV vaccine protects against cervical cancer

The BBC names a Tanzanian student still missing in Israel weeks after Hamas attacked civilians.

Paul Njie
BBC News, Yaoundé

Around 40 Chadian and Cameroonian citizens have been kidnapped in Cameroon’s northern town of Touboro, a local mayor has said.

Celestin Yandal told the BBC that suspected bandits had targeted and ambushed Chadian traders on Sunday as they were returning home from the Touboro market, where they trade cattle.

He said other people “leaving from Chad to Cameroon, including students, and those returning towards the Chadian border” were also kidnapped.

The Chadian ministry of public security said their forces had so far freed eight of those who were kidnapped.

Cameroon’s defence ministry is yet to respond to the BBC’s request for comment, but a security official said soldiers were working to free the others.

Cameroon and Chad share a 1,100km (680-mile) border, which sees many cases of kidnapping, theft and other illicit activities. Both countries recently resolved to intensify co-operation in order to protect their citizens and resources.

Ian Wafula
Security reporter, BBC News, Nairobi

Image source, Reuters

Kenya's High Court has extended an order blocking the government from deploying police officers to Haiti on a UN-backed mission aiming to tackle violence in the Caribbean nation.

The ruling came a day after the UN warned that security in Haiti, where violent gangs control large swathes of the country, has collapsed even further, with major crimes hitting "record highs".

Kenya had offered to lead a multinational force to Haiti in an effort to quell the troubles. It also pledged to deploy 1,000 of its police officers.

But earlier this month, the court granted an interim injunction in a case brought by opposition politician Ekuru Aukot, who argued the constitution does not envisage the deployment of police officers outside of the country.

He also said he would sue the cabinet for contempt of court after they approved the deployment despite a court order being in place.

Kenya's parliament will need give formal consent to the mission before the deployment can start.

However, a legal team representing parliament said MPs cannot debate the issue until the court order is lifted.

Following months of gang violence, Haiti's Prime Minister Ariel Henry had called for international help, saying his government was overwhelmed.

Read more:

• Can Kenya's police officers defeat Haiti's gangs?

Image source, AFP

South Africa’s sports minister has expressed support for rugby star Bongi Mbonambi, who was accused of using a racial slur towards England's Tom Curry during the World Cup semi-final last Saturday.

“Bongi Mbonambi is us. We support you Bongi, and the rest of the Springboks as you prepare for the World Cup final,” South African Sports Minister Zizi Kodwa posted on social media platform X.

Mbonambi, 32, is currently under investigation by international governing body World Rugby and the South African national rugby union team.

If investigations show Mbonambi used the slur, he could miss the final against New Zealand on Saturday, dealing a blow to Springboks in their pursuit of a historic fourth World Cup victory.

Many South Africans, including Mbonambi’s teammates, have come to his defence, suggesting the alleged slur may have been a mishearing of an Afrikaans phrase that sounds similar to the slur but carries a different meaning.

Andrew Ochieng, London & Nomsa Maseko, Johannesburg

Image source, Reuters

More than 500 workers at a mine in South Africa have been underground since Sunday in what appears to be a dispute between two unions.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said staff at One Gold Modder East mine near Johannesburg were being held underground against their will.

An NUM statement said: "NUM calls for the law enforcement agencies in South Africa to intervene and go underground and arrest the hooligans who are holding our members against their will."

However, a rival organisation, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), said most of the employees were holding a protest to force the mine to recognise the Amcu.

Representatives from the mine itself have sought a court order to end what they’ve described as an illegal sit-in underground.

The US has suspended most of its financial assistance to Gabon in response to a military takeover there two months ago.

The US State Department said it had formally established that a coup took place in the West African country, which under US law requires an end to non-humanitarian aid.

Humanitarian, health and educational assistance to Gabon would continue, a statement from the department said.

"We will resume our assistance alongside concrete actions by the transitional government toward establishing democratic rule," the statement added.

Last month, the US said it had paused some foreign assistance programmes that were benefiting the Gabonese military government.

Mutinous soldiers led by General Brice Oligui Nguema overthrew Ali Bongo Ondimba in August, just as he was proclaimed the winner of a widely-criticised election.

The junta appointed Raymond Ndong Sima, who had been an opposition leader, as Gabon's prime minister.

The military has pledged to oversee free and fair elections, but has not yet released polling dates.

Abdesalem Lassoued shot dead two Swedes before a Euro 2024 qualifier game last week.

Image source, South Africa Parliament

South Africa’s parliamentary committee on ethics has opened an investigation into Deputy Health Minister Sibongiseni Dhlomo after receiving a sexual assault complaint against him.

It follows an exposé by the South African newspaper The Sunday Times, in which a male parliamentary staffer alleged that Dr Dhlomo had sexually assaulted him.

The staffer alleged that Dr Dhlomo made sexual advances towards him after inviting him to his house in Cape Town.

Dr Dhlomo has denied the accusations. The minister alleges he had kicked the staffer out of his home for taking a banana out of his fruit basket without asking, and that the staffer is therefore disgruntled.

Parliament on Monday said in a statement that it could not disclose details of the complaint but a subcommittee would be formed to hear the allegation in November.

Western Cape police have also opened investigations into the report.

A Rwandan national has been hit by a stray bullet during clashes between armed groups near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda's government says.

The incident happened on Monday in the Rubavu border area, Rwanda's spokeswoman Yolande Makolo said in a statement.

“The injured man is receiving treatment at the Cyanzarwe Health Centre in Rubavu," she added.

Ms Makolo said Rwanda was "deeply concerned" by escalating "provocative actions" along the DR Congo border.

She blamed the "Kinshasa-backed illegal armed groups" for the clashes.

The spokesperson said Rwanda would maintain "defensive and preventive mechanisms" to guard against violations of its airspace and borders.

There was no immediate response from the DR Congo government.

Rwanda has repeatedly accused DR Congo of colluding with the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which includes some of the alleged leaders of Rwanda's 1994 genocide. Kinshasa rejects the accusations.

For its part, DR Congo accuses Rwanda of supporting the M23 militia - a primarily Congolese ethnic-Tutsi rebel group - allegations Kigali denies.

Algeria’s appeal court has sentenced 38 people for the 2021 lynching of a man wrongly suspected of starting wildfires.

The court on Monday found them guilty of multiple charges, including murder, torture and incitement leading to murder.

The 38 were handed death sentences, but these will be commuted to life in prison as Algeria has a moratorium on executions.

The lynching victim, 38-year-old Djamel Ben Ismail, had travelled to help fight wildfires in the Kabylie region, east of the capital Algiers.

Locals accused him of starting the fires, before torturing and killing him.

The court acquitted 27 defendants and sentenced 29 others to terms ranging between three and 20 years.

In November last year, an Algerian court sentenced 49 people to death for Ismail’s murder.

However, the rights group Amnesty International in January criticised the mass sentences, saying that the trials “were marred by fair trial violations and torture claims, while at least six were prosecuted due to their political affiliations”.

The rights group called for the overturning of sentences and retrials for “those convicted in their absence or prosecuted over their political affiliations”.

Image source, EPA

The final election results are due to be announced in Liberia after the poll body said it had completed the nationwide ballot tallying and collation.

Voting was repeated last week in two polling stations in north-eastern Nimba county. This is after ballots were tampered with by unknown people during the first round of the elections on 10 October.

The total poll outcome for presidential, senatorial and local representatives vote would be announced at the National Elections Commission (NEC) headquarters in the capital, Monrovia, the agency's chief, Davidetta Browne-Lansanah, said.

Provisional results show that President George Weah and his main rival Joseph Boakai are still running neck and neck, meaning they are set for a run-off.

Mr Weah has 43.8% of the vote with Mr Boakai on 43.5%, according to provisional results announced last week.

A candidate needs more than 50% of the vote to be declared the winner.

This was Liberia's closest presidential race since a civil war ended two decades ago.

Read more on the story:

• George Weah and Joseph Boakai set for run-off

Image source, Getty Images

Security forces in Nigeria have arrested more than 70 people on allegations that they organised a gay party that included a wedding ceremony between two men.

The arrests occurred on Saturday night in Gombe, a predominantly Muslim state in northern Nigeria, but were confirmed on Monday.

"We apprehended 76 suspected homosexuals holding a birthday party organised by one of them, who was to wed his male bride at the event," Buhari Saad, a spokesperson for the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, told AFP news agency.

The suspects included 59 men and 17 women, with 21 of the men "willfully confessing being gay", he added.

It is the latest crackdown on gay people in Nigeria, where a 2014 law prohibited same-sex relationships and marriages.

The legislation introduced a prison sentence of up to 14 years for those convicted of such offences.

In August, security forces arrested 67 people for allegedly attending a gay wedding in the southern Delta state, but a court released them on bail.

Image source, Reuters

At least 40 people have drowned after a passenger boat capsized in western Democratic Republic of Congo, a week after at least 47 others died in a similar incident.

The wooden riverboat, known as a whaler, was carrying passengers and goods, when it overturned on the Lulonga River on Saturday night.

The incident happened near Boyeka village in the Equateur province.

The passengers, mostly traders, were returning from a local market crossing to Mbandaka, the province's capital.

The death toll could rise as more passengers are reported missing. More than 200 others had survived, local media reported.

The accident comes 10 days after another boat capsized in the same province, killing dozens. An unknown number of people are still missing.

Boats are a common mode of transport in DR Congo because of a lack of roads.

However, boat accidents are frequent because of overloading, poor maintenance and overnight travel.

Many passengers also do not wear life jackets.

Read more:

• Boat ban after deadly DR Congo incident

Our proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

Faced with the ever-quickening pace of urbanisation, what is the future for Africa's swelling cities? Experts predict that Africa could be home to forty percent of humanity by the end of this century, and that the twenty fastest-growing cities in the world will be in sub-Saharan Africa. Will the continent have the potential for a brilliant urban future – or for an increasingly bleak one? Much will depend, in large part, on how it’s managed. How can already highly pressurised African cities provide better opportunities for all their inhabitants?

In the final episode of 'Africa's Urban Future', a four-part series from the BBC World Service, Mike Wooldridge considers the future - and nothing is more pressing than the combination of this rapid urbanisation and accelerating climate change. In many cities, climate change will only add to the challenges. How the continent manages this, will not only affect the daily lives of the millions of Africans, but shape everything from migration and global economic prosperity to the future of the African nation state and the prospects for limiting climate crisis.

‘Africa’s Urban Future’ is a Ruth Evans Productions series for the BBC World Service.

That's all for now from the BBC Africa Live team - we'll be back on Tuesday morning, Nairobi time at bbc.com/africalive.

Until then you can find the latest updates on the BBC News website or listen to the Focus on Africa podcast.

A reminder of Monday's wise words:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this picture of a man washing his taxi in the historical neighbourhood of Piazza in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. It's part of a series on daily life in the city taken by photographer Michele Spatari, external:

Image source, AFP

UAE maritime giant DP World signs a controversial deal to manage Tanzania's main port for 30 years.

Mayeni Jones
BBC News, Lagos

The Nigerian government has won a case in a UK court that has overturned an $11bn (£9bn) arbitration award made to a firm following a dispute over a failed gas deal.

The award, first made in 2017 then increased in 2019 to include interest, amounted to a huge chunk of Nigeria's foreign reserves.

Monday's ruling is part of a protracted legal battle between British Virgin Islands-based firm Process and Industrial Developments Limited (P&ID) and the Nigerian government.

Nigeria's lawyers argued that P&ID had paid bribes to obtain the contract and corrupted lawyers to obtain confidential documents. P&ID denied Nigeria's allegations, blaming the failure of the gas deal on institutional incompetence.

Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu welcomed the decision by the Business and Property Court in London.

In a statement, he described it as a victory for Africa and the developing world, which he said had long been on the receiving end of “overt exploitation”.

Campaign group Spotlight on Corruption said Nigeria’s economic prospects had been held hostage by what it said was an arbitration award built on bribes and lies.

In his ruling released on Monday, the judge found that P&ID had paid bribes to a Nigerian oil ministry official in connection with a 2010 gas contract, and had failed to disclose this when it took Nigeria to court after the deal fell through.