BBC News Africa

Twitter did not chose Nigeria for its African headquarters because the media often mispresents the country, Information Minister Lai Mohammed has said.

He was responding to Monday’s announcement by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey that the micro-blogging site had decided on Ghana for its first African office as the country was a “champion for democracy” and “a supporter of free speech” and “online freedom”.

Nigeria is Africa's biggest economy and has a more established tech hub, but it also faces numerous security challenges - and was hit by mass protests last year against police brutality by the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars).

The demonstrations became known by the Twitter hashtag #EndSars - and led to President Muhammadu Buhari bowing to the protesters’ demands and disbanding the unit.

In a video posted on the information ministry’s Twitter feed, Mr Mohamed was critical of the media’s "unpatriotic" coverage of the protests when asked about asked about Twitter's decision to snub Nigeria.

"Nigerian journalists were... painting Nigeria as a hell where nobody should live," the minister said.

"This is what you get when you de-market your own country.”

You may also be interested in:

• Why Nigerians fear social media sanctions

AFPCopyright: AFP

French anti-terrorist prosecutors have asked for a Rwandan former policeman to stand trial in Paris for genocide and crimes against humanity in his homeland in 1994.

Philippe Hategekimana has been held in France for two years since his extradition from Cameroon, where he was arrested on a French warrant in 2018.

He has accused of putting up checkpoints where ethnic Tutsis were slaughtered in the southern town of Ntyazo, and of complicity in the murder of the town's mayor Narcisse Nyagasaza.

About 800,000 people were slaughtered in Rwanda in 100 days in 1994 by ethnic Hutu extremists, many of whom later fled the country.

They were targeting members of the minority Tutsi community, as well as their political opponents, irrespective of their ethnic origin.

Last month, a report by French historians said France bore "heavy and overwhelming responsibilities" over the genocide but found no evidence of French complicity.

More on the genocide:

• What happened during Rwanda's 100 days of slaughter
• The radio show which brought children back from the dead

AFPCopyright: AFP

A court in Ivory Coast’s main city of Abidjan has handed down a life sentence to a former warlord, Amadé Ouérémi, for his role in massacres that were carried out in the west of the country following the disputed election in late 2010.

The UN said 300 people were killed in Duékoué although the International Committee of the Red Cross said more than 800 died in a single day - 29 March 2011.

At the time Ivory Coast was in the grip of a civil war - which arose from Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to step down as president after losing an election to Alassane Ouattara.

The five months of violence were described as some of the most brutal clashes the country had ever seen.

Ouérémi’s militia was also allegedly responsible for the destruction of a camp for displaced people in Nahibly, also in the vicinity of Duékoué, in July 2012.

The former militia leader was arrested in May 2013 in a rainforest where he had been making a living from trafficking timber and the cultivation and sale of cocoa beans.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Ouérémi faced 24 charges including mass murder and rape.

Given the magnitude of the war crimes committed during the crisis - more than 3,000 people died - many in Ivory Coast feel others should also be put on trial, our reporter says.

Last month, Mr Gbagbo's acquittal by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity was upheld.

BBCCopyright: BBC

The Ugandan government has admitted to having held more than 1,000 people who were arrested in the run-up to January's elections.

The internal affairs minister told parliament most were still in detention.

The government has been under pressure to respond after the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) party said more than 400 of its supporters and members were missing after being seized in raids by the security forces.

Following a BBC report in March about 18 young men who had been taken from a village in Kyotera, south-west of the capital, Kampala, all of them were released without charge, dumped near their village in the dead of night.

Dozens more have been released in a similar manner, some saying they had been tortured during their detention.

Earlier this week, UN Human Rights experts called on the Ugandan authorities to stop suppressing their political opponents.

The government's latest response leaves many unanswered questions about the number of people being held, on what grounds and where.

Singer-turned-NUP politician Bobi Wine was the main challenger to President Yoweri Museveni, who went on to win a sixth term in January.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

More than seven million people in South Sudan will suffer acute food insecurity over the coming few months - and efforts need to be focused on stopping a potential famine, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has said.

“This coming lean season 7.24 million will suffer from severe food insecurity - including 1.4 million children and young mothers who will suffer from malnutrition, and that is the situation we are responding to,” the WFP's Matthew Hollingworth told reporters in the capital, Juba.

“As such, we need to act and focus all our resources and energy on it in order to mitigate and stop this potential catastrophic food insecurity - to stop potential famine," he said.

The warning came as the US government, through its envoy in Juba, announced that it was contributing $95m (£70m) in additional humanitarian assistance for those affected by ongoing political conflict and extreme food insecurity.

A unity government was formed in February last year, ending a six-year brutal civil war - but insecurity is still rife across the fertile country.

This has prevented many farmers, who were forced to flee their homes, from planting or harvesting crops, causing food shortages nationwide.

Meanwhile, South Sudan has lifted a lockdown it imposed in early February to help contain rising cases of Covid-19, which will allow non-essential businesses to reopen.

The pandemic has further hampered economic recovery following the civil war.

AFPCopyright: AFP

A court in France has sentenced three airmen to life in prison for the killing of nine French peacekeeping soldiers and an American aid worker in Ivory Coast 17 years ago.

The suspects, Yury Sushkin - a Belarusian mercenary pilot and his Ivorian co-pilots, Patrice Quei and Ange Gnanduillet - were tried in absentia. Their whereabouts are unknown.

The unexplained air raid on the French military base at Bouaké took place during the civil war in Ivory Coast.

In retaliation, France destroyed the entire Ivorian air force, halting former President Laurent Ggagbo's military campaign against rebels.

France twice failed to act on chances to detain the Belarusian suspect.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

A Malawi court has said businessman Thomson Mpinganjira - accused of attempting to bribe election judges - has a case to answer, which paves the way for a full trial.

Mr Mpinganjira was accused of attempting to bribe a panel of five judges who were hearing an opposition challenge to the presidential election results.

Peter Mutharika had been declared winner by the Malawi Electoral Commission of the May 2019 election.

The constitutional court annulled his victory in February last year, but Mr Mpinganjira is alleged to have tried to coerce them to rule in favour of Mr Mutharika.

The businessman denies wrongdoing and through his lawyers, he had asked the court to throw out the case on grounds that it lacked merit.

But High Court Judge Dorothy DeGabrielle said in her ruling on Thursday that the evidence the state had brought before the court proved elements of attempts to bribe the judges and therefore the businessman “has a case to answer”.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that more than 30 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are being pushed into poverty by the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

It has called on wealthier nations to help African countries get better access to vaccines.

The IMF estimates that some African countries - aiming to vaccinate 60% of their populations - will need to increase their health spending by 50%.

Last year, economies in sub-Saharan Africa contracted by almost 2% - the worst year on record.

The lockdowns have hurt businesses - from market-stall holders to tourist resorts and multinationals.

Having a young population seems to have helped protect the continent from the coronavirus.

But with Africa's population growing so fast, vast numbers of young people need work.

So the lockdowns need to end as soon as possible and the vaccines rolled out quickly to reduce the economic impact across the continent.

The IMF estimates that they will recover this year with a growth spurt of 3.4%, although all other regions in the world are expected to experience greater economic growth.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Four suspected members of a counterfeit ring producing fake Covid-19 negative certificates have been arrested, the authorities say.

The gang’s operations centred around the Ressano Garcia border post where people need negative Covid-19 results to travel to neighbouring South Africa, Mozambique’s National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) said.

Two suspects were arrested in mid-March and the others on Monday in the capital, Maputo, Sernic spokesperson Hilario Lole said.

Three of those arrested were government health workers - another was someone who touted their services, he said.

The gang charged between $50 (£36) and $60 for each "test" with a guaranteed negative result.

It is not easy to get a free Covid-19 test at government-run hospitals for the purposes of travel - and private clinics tend to charge around $100 for a test.

Many Mozambicans travel to South Africa for work or to buy goods to resell back home.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Caster Semenya says she will not attempt to qualify for the 200m at the Tokyo Olympics after defending her national 5,000m title in South Africa.

The 30-year-old won the title in 15 minutes 52.28 seconds - 42.48 seconds outside the Olympic qualifying time.

Semenya will be unable to defend her 800m title after a controversial World Athletics rule change around testosterone levels in female runners.

"I'm getting old‚ I'm scared to tear my muscles," she said of the 200m event.

The qualifying deadline for Tokyo is 29 June.

Read the BBC Sport story for more.

French prosecutors have asked a court in Paris to impose life sentences on three airmen accused of killing nine French soldiers and an American aid worker in Ivory Coast.

Neither the Belarusian mercenary pilot nor the two former Ivorian officers accused are in court.

The unexplained raid on the French military base at Bouaké took place 17 years ago during the civil war in Ivory Coast.

In retaliation, France destroyed the entire Ivorian air force, halting former President Laurent Ggagbo's military campaign against rebels.

France twice failed to act on chances to detain the Belarusian suspect.

A verdict is expected later on Thursday.

AFPCopyright: AFP

A memo allowing all female civil servants in The Gambia to leave work two hours early during Ramadan has been criticised as sexist.

From Monday to Thursday they could leave at 14:00 local time - and at 12:30 on Fridays as usual, the authorities said earlier this week at the start of the Muslim holy fasting month.

"This is to allow female staff to attend to their traditional evening 'iftar' preparations ahead of the breaking of the fast," the statement noted.

But gender rights activist Fatou Baldeh says the initiative is a way of confining "women to the kitchen, while men work in the office".

"When you say women to go home early, we as Gambian women know what that means,” she told the BBC's Focus on Africa radio programme.

“It means go home and prepare food for breaking the fast, so go home and prepare food for your husband, for your family.

“If this statement was given to everyone, if they said all civil servants can go home at two o'clock that's a different thing.”

And the fact that it had come from a government institution in the mainly Muslim West Africa country was worrying, she said.

“We are seeing institutionalised sexism, institutionalised structures that are holding women back.”

AFPCopyright: AFP

A senior health official in the Ethiopian region of Tigray says women are being held in sexual slavery.

Reuters news agency quotes Dr Fasika Amdeselassie as saying more than 800 cases of sexual assault have been reported at five hospitals since the conflict began in November.

Medical staff say new rapes are being reported every day.

Some women said they had been pulled off buses and taken to military camps where they were gang-raped.

Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers have been accused of carrying out the attacks.

The government in Addis Ababa says it is investigating reports of sexual violence. A senior Eritrean official described the allegations as fabricated.

• Ethiopia's Tigray crisis: 'I lost my hand when a soldier tried to rape me'

Singer-songwriter Yasmeen Helwani says she often feels like an outsider in her home country of Ghana, something which prompted her to release a song about her heritage.

She was born and raised in Ghana to a Lebanese father and Ghanaian mother.

Her latest song - How Are You? - addresses her mixed identity and features another well-known person of mixed heritage, Ghanaian-Romanian Wanlov.

"It speaks of my experience as a Ghanaian and also addresses my Ghanaian brothers and sisters in a local language, telling them - listen I’m your sister, but you don’t know."

Communicating in local languages is the one thing that she has found that changes attitudes about her and helps other perceived differences to fade away.

"Once I mastered the courage to reach out to my community, that was the only thing that broke the ice.

"One of the best things my mum did was allow us to learn local languages," she says.

Helwani's late father, Faisal Helwani, also found his heritage difficult despite being born in Ghana and his legendary status on the music scene in Ghana and West Africa - producing great acts like the highlife band Basa Basa and managing Fela Kuti.

"My father was very interested in musicians, he had a lot of heartbreak because he would invest a lot in people and then eventually being referenced as some foreigner.

"He did face a lot of discrimination during his lifetime here in Ghana."

Listen to my full interview with Yasmeen Helwani:

Madagascar has postponed the reopening of schools previously planned for Monday next week, citing an increase in coronavirus cases.

The country's cabinet said schools would remain closes until further notice.

Some schools have been converted into Covid-19 treatment centres, Madagascar-Tribune has reported.

Weekly markets in the capital, Antananarivo, have also been suspended.

Madagascar has so far reported 29,348 coronavirus cases including 520 deaths, according to data from John Hopkins University.

The country had touted a herbal tonic - Covid Organics - as a cure for the virus despite the World Health Organization's warning against using untested remedies.

Last month, Madagascar said it would register to join the Covax global vaccine initiative.

You may also be interested in:

• Madagascar president's herbal tonic fails to halt Covid-19 spike

Turkey says it has accepted an invitation to send a diplomatic delegation to Egypt, as efforts to improve strained relations between the two countries continue.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the talks in Cairo next month would focus on normalising ties.

The relationship was ruptured eight years ago when Egypt's military overthrew Mohamed Morsi, the country's democratically elected Islamist president.

He had been close to the Turkish leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.