Africa Live: Lagos slum evictions 'unlawful', South Africa actress shot on smallholding
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- Crowds cheered as court ruled that Lagos evictions were unalwful
- Suspected Boko Haram fighters kill at least two in Nigeria ambush
- Popular South African actress seriously wounded in attack
- CAR clashes 'kill 100' despite ceasefire
- Sudan military helicopter crash 'kills crew'
- South Sudan famine 'eases'
- #SocialMediaBlackout campaign in South Africa flops
- Moroccan named as Brussels bomb suspect
- Wednesday 21 June 2017
Live Reporting
By Paul Bakibinga and Farouk Chothia
All times stated are UK
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Lagos slum evictions 'unlawful'
Stephanie Hegarty
BBC Africa, Lagos
A High Court in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos has ruled that the eviction of up to 30,000 people from a waterfront slum is unconstitutional.
The community of Otodo Gbame was cleared between November 2016 and February this year by the Lagos State government. It said the area posed an “environmental risk”.
Crowds cheered outside a packed courtroom where many of the evicted residents had gathered for the ruling.
The judge ruled in their favour, saying the eviction violated their rights because there was no resettlement plan in place.
Lagos State previously denied that they demolished the slum and said it was destroyed by a fire after which they cleared the remains in February because it was unsanitary and was a fire risk.
But it seems that account did not hold sway in court. The judge ruled the state should pay compensation to residents and ordered the two sides to go into mediation.
The clearing of Otodo Gbame is seen as part of a statewide policy to clear up to 300,000 people from informal waterside settlements.
Lagos State officials have yet to respond to the verdict, though they have ignored rulings like this in past.
Read: Solving Nigeria's megacity housing crisis
'Free sanitary pads for Kenya schoolgirls
Anne Soy
BBC Africa, Nairobi
Schoolgirls in Kenya have to be provided with sanitary towels, under the amended Basic Education Act that has been signed into law by President Uhurru Kenyatta.
The news was announced on the president's official website this afternoon
The Act was earlier amended by parliament to make it mandatory for the government to supply schoolgirls with sanitary towels.
This is a big win in the campaign to improve education for girls.
While the government has been giving sanitary towels to girls at some schools, others have not been getting them. Girls, therefore, miss school when they menstruate as they cannot afford to buy sanitary towels.
The new law will help ensure the girls continue with their education uninterrupted.
Read: The invention that stops girls missing school every month
CAR clashes 'kill 100'
BBC World Service
Local officials say about 100 people have been killed in the latest outbreak of religious violence in the eastern town of Bria in the Central African Republic (CAR).
Dozens more are being treated, mainly for gunshot wounds. The fighting began on Tuesday, just hours after the government signed a peace agreement with rebel groups.
It is chiefly between members of the largely Muslim Seleka rebels and a group of the mainly Christian anti-Balaka militia.
There has been an upsurge of violence in recent months, with Bria being particularly badly affected.
Read: Peacekeeping, African warlords and Trump
Bangura: Leone Stars have enough quality
Sierra Leone are good enough to qualify for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, according to captain Umaru Bangura.
The Leone Stars have not been seen at African football's flagship tournament since the 1996 finals in South Africa.
But Bangura is confident they have enough quality to emerge from a group that includes four-time champions Ghana, Kenya and Ethiopia.
They kicked off their campaign for the 2019 edition with a 2-1 win over the Harambee Stars and lie second on the table behind the Black Stars on goal difference.
Read the full BBC Sport here
Pope donates '$515,000 to South Sudan'
The Vatican has announced that it is donating about $515,000 ($400,000) towards aid projects in South Sudan, AFP news agency reports.
The move comes after Pope Francis dropped plans to visit South Sudan because of security fears in a country hit by myriad conflicts since it gained independence from Sudan in 2011.
The $515,000 would be spent on two hospitals run by nuns, a teacher training programme and a project to buy seeds and tools for some 2,500 farming families.
Speaking at a press conference at the Vatican, Ghana's Bishop Peter Turkson said the aid was a "concrete sign" of the pontiff's closeness to the people of South Sudan.
He added:
Read: Pope Francis in profile
Egypt's constitutional court 'halts' islands transfer
Egypt's highest court has put a temporary halt to the proposed transfer of two uninhabited Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia until it rules whether the agreement is unconstitutional.
The High Constitutional Court's ruling came a week after parliament approved the deal which has been criticised by many Egyptians.
One court has already opposed the decision which parliament says is within its domain.
The Egyptian government argues that the two islands called Tiran and Sanafir belong to Saudi Arabia but had been leased to Cairo in the 1950s..
New UN envoy for Libya approved
The UN Security Council has approved the appointment of Lebanese academic Ghassan Salame as the new UN envoy for Libya.
This follows a four-month search for the person expected to lead negotiations to end the instability which has hit Libya since Nato-backed forces overthrew Col Muammar Gadaffi's government in 2011.
Mr Salame, 66, is dean of the Paris School of International Affairs and a professor of international relations at the Paris Institute of Political Studies.
Mr Salame was Lebanon's culture minister from 2000 to 2003 and later an adviser to then-UN chief Kofi Annan.
He replaces Martin Kobler from Germany, who has held the post since November 2015.
A number of other candidates were vetoed by council members.
Read: Why is Libya lawless?
Hunger hits Swaziland schools
Officials in Swaziland have appealed to parents to send their children to school with food because of shortages that have hit the government's feeding scheme, the state-owned Times of Swaziland newspaper has reported.
Headteachers said hunger was written all over the faces of pupils, making it difficult to teach them, it added.
The Swaziland Association of Schools Administrators pleaded with parents to at least put sweet potatoes, boiled peanuts, or jugo beans in their children’s lunch boxes so that they have something to eat during break time, the Times of Swaziland reported.
Southern Africa has been affected by a severe drought, making people more dependent on aid.
The Somalis dying to get married
Many young Somalis risk everything trying to seek a better life in the Middle East or Europe - often because this is the only way they can afford to get married.
Mohamud Ali and video journalist Christian Parkinson report from Hargeisa, capital of Somalia’s self-declared republic of Somaliland, on what it means for those left behind.
Kenyan teachers to face 'mass transfers'
More than 300,000 teachers in Kenya are to face transfers following a directive from President Uhuru Kenyatta, The Standard newspaper reports
Some schools have more teachers than they need while others are inadequately staffed, the president is reported to have said.
In a speech read on his behalf by Education Minister Fred Matiang'i at an annual meeting of secondary school headteachers, he said:
The ratio of pupils to teachers in many schools is heavily skewed because many teachers prefer to be based in towns and cities rather than rural areas, the Standard paper says
Sudan helicopter crash 'kills crew'
A Sudanese military helicopter has crashed, killing all four crew members, the army has said, AFP news agency reports.
Bad weather caused the the Russian-built Mi-17 helicopter to come down yesterday in Dongola, the capital of Northern State, army spokesman Brigadier Ahmed Khalifa Shami said in a statement.
#SocialMediaShutdown trends
#SocialMediaShutdown and #SocialMediaBlackout are trending on Twitter in South Africa, according to Trendsmap, in a clear sign that calls for a mass boycott of social media have flopped.
Police Minister Fikile Mbalula believes he has a perfectly valid reason to break the boycott:
So, what were the excuses of other Twitter users?
See earlier post for more details
Brussels bomb suspect was 'Moroccan'
A man suspected of setting off a bomb at Brussels Central Station on Tuesday has been identified as a 36-year-old Moroccan from a city district that has spawned a number of jihadist attackers.
The unnamed suspect came from Molenbeek, and a number of raids in the area were reported early on Wednesday.
Read the full BBC story here
Luanda world's most expensive city
Luanda, the capital of Angola, has regained top spot as the world's most expensive city for expats, pushing Hong Kong back into second place.
The claim is made in the 23rd annual cost-of-living survey carried out by the advisory firm Mercer.
Tokyo, Zurich and Singapore comprise the rest of the top five.
London fell 30th place in the rankings, partly because of the pound's devaluation.
The annual survey looks at more than just the cost to expats of renting an apartment or house.
It examines the cost of 200 items in each place, including housing, transport, clothes, food and entertainment..
Read: Angolan capital 'most expensive city for expats'
South Sudan famine 'eases'
A UN-backed report says the famine in South Sudan has eased, but it warns the situation for millions of people there remains desperate.
The report says the classification of famine no longer applies to several counties where it was declared in February.
It says the scale up of humanitarian assistance has played a significant role in reducing the severity of food shortages, but adds that the number of people struggling to find enough food each day has swelled to about six million.
South Sudan, the world's youngest state, has seen a succession of conflicts since independence in 2011.
#SocialMediaBlackout in South Africa
Campaigners have called for a #SocialMediaBlackout in South Africa today to protest against the alleged high cost of data and collusion between network providers to exploit customers.
The public is being urged to avoid buying data bundles and keep off social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter for the day.
Leading South African poet and musician Ntsiki Mazwai is at the forefront of the campaign:
South African actress shot
A popular South African actress has been shot and wounded during an attack on her smallholding near the main city, Johannesburg, paramedics have said.
Initial reports suggested that she was shot twice when gunmen entered her home shortly after midnight, Netcare 911 paramedics spokesman Chris Botha said.
She was taken to hospital and was in a serious but stable condition, he added.
The actress has not yet been named.
'Deadly ambush on 200-vehicle' convoy in Nigeria
Suspected militant Islamists have ambushed a convoy of about 200 vehicles on a major highway in north-eastern Nigeria, killing a police officer and a truck driver, the local Vanguard newspaper has quoted witnesses and police as saying.
The convoy included the burial party of a policewoman who died last week, as well as a busload of mobile police unit officers. It came under fire yesterday from suspected Boko Haram gunmen on the highway between the capital of Borno state, Maiduguri, and the town of Damboa, the newspaper reported.
It quoted witnesses as saying that anti-aircraft guns and other heavy weapons were used in the estimated 30-minute long attack on the convoy, which was being escorted by police and government troops.
Vehicles on the Maiduguri-Damboa highway usually travel in a convoy under security escort because of the threat posed by militant Islamists.
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