Africa Live: Crocodiles escape from SA breeding farm

1. Some 20 escaped crocodiles have been returned to an SA farm
2. Shots fired amid chaos at Nigerian girls' reunion
3. Ethiopian party withdraws from polls over its jailed leaders
4. South Sudan suspends airline after plane crash
5. At least 20 die as migrants thrown into sea off Djibouti

Ghana court upholds Akufo-Addo's election victory

Thomas Naadi

BBC News, Accra

Ghana’s Supreme Court has upheld Nana Akufo-Addo's victory in the December presidential election, dismissing allegations of irregularities.

Opposition candidate, and former president, John Mahama filed a petition asking the court to annul the results of the elections and order a rerun because of alleged irregularities.

But the court ruled that Mr Akufo-Addo had obtained over 50% (51.295%) of total valid votes and that the electoral commission's corrections of the declared results did not significantly impact the outcome.

According to the court, the declaration of the results was therefore legal and represented the will of the people.

Mr Mahama’s lawyers tried unsuccessfully to get Electoral Commission chairperson Jean Mensa to testify and be cross-examined during the hearing.

They had wanted to ask her questions relating to the alleged irregularities.

Mayor complains after Port Elizabeth renamed Gqeberha

Will Ross

Africa editor, BBC World Service

The local authorities in South Africa’s Eastern Cape have agreed to ask the government to reconsider recent name changes following public outcry.

Last month the country’s arts and culture minister Nathi Mthethwa announced that the city of Port Elizabeth had been renamed Gqeberha.

Several other changes were also introduced, aimed at erasing colonial or apartheid-era names and celebrating members of the black communities living there.

After tens of thousands of people signed a petition, the mayor of Mandela Bay Municipality Nqaba Bhanga said that he would submit a formal complaint to the arts and culture minister.

Gqeberha is a Xhosa name which has a "click" sound in it that some non-Xhosa speakers have trouble pronouncing.

Watch the BBC's Pumza Fihlani, a fluent Xhosa speaker, demonstrate how to say Gqeberha:

How to say Gqeberha - the new Xhosa name for Port Elizabeth

Read more: South African city of Port Elizabeth becomes Gqeberha

UN asks Ethiopia to allow war crimes investigation

Will Ross

Africa editor, BBC World Service

Getty Images

The conflict in Tigray started in November

The UN's human rights commissioner has called on Ethiopia to allow independent experts into the country to investigate continuing violations that may amount to war crimes in the Tigray region.

Michelle Bachelet said she had received distressing reports of killings, rape, destruction and looting.

The UN says the Ethiopian and Eritrean armed forces, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and Amhara Regional Forces are all implicated.

A statement said her office had corroborated information about indiscriminate shelling in three towns and reports of grave human rights violations and abuses, including mass killings in Axum by Eritrean armed forces.

Ms Bachelet said victims and survivors must not be denied their rights to the truth and justice.

More on the Tigray conflict:

• How a massacre in Ethiopia’s sacred city unfolded
• The Nobel Peace Prize winner who sent his troops to battle
• 'I lost my hand when a soldier tried to rape me'
• Medics on the run: 'I hid in the woods to flee shooting'

Nigeria governor brushes off suggestion of intimidation

The governor of a Nigerian state where kidnappers recently released 279 girls has brushed off the suggestion that the government's no-fly zone order was intended to intimidate him.

The order, covering the north-western state of Zamfara, was announced on Tuesday by the president's national security adviser as part of efforts to clamp down on notorious criminal gangs often involved in kidnapping.

The presidential spokesman told the BBC earlier this week that private jets were being used to ferry arms to Zamfara.

But reports also indicate that Zamfara Governor Bello Matawalle was not consulted on the no-fly order.

On Wednesday night, in a Channels TV interview, he was asked: "Are you intimidated in any way Governor Matawalle? Because that is the claim of your party the PDP that the order of yesterday was meant to be intimidating."

Governor Matawalle said: "How can I be intimidated?"

He also talked about the subject of resigning:

If I know my resigning as a governor can make the people of Zamfara state to sleep with both their eyes closed, and if I can resign and the whole scenario in Zamfara state would finish [end], I assure you I can resign today.

I'm not zealous that I must be a governor. No. I'm doing it because of my people.

Zamfara is one of the northern states in Nigeria battling armed groups that often kidnap for ransom.

On Wednesday, the girls who were kidnapped from a school in the state were released following negotiations between government officials and the abductors.

Governor Matawalle denied paying for the girls to be released and no group has said they were behind the Zamfara kidnappings.

South Sudan extends partial Covid lockdown

Nichola Mandil

BBC News, Juba

The authorities in South Sudan say a partial lockdown, brought in to reduce the spread of Covid-19, will remain in place for another month.

Schools and universities will remain closed, while social gatherings - including religious and sporting events - remain banned.

The partial lockdown will run until 3 April, according to the head of the Covid-19 national taskforce, Hussein Abdelbagi Akol.

He termed the extension as "necessary to prevent wider spread of the Covid-19 across the country".

Mr Abdelbagi directed law enforcement agencies to enforce the measures and ensure that violators face penalties.

On Wednesday, South Sudan confirmed 109 new cases and three deaths, bringing the total cases to 8,414, and 100 deaths.

Chad president cleared to run for sixth term

Killian Ngala

BBC News, Yaoundé

AFP

Mr Kebzab's inclusion in the race has raised questions

Chad's supreme court has cleared President Idris Deby, who has been in power for 30 years, to seek a sixth term in office in the 11 April presidential election.

He faces nine other candidates who were qualified by the supreme court, including his main and historical rival, Saleh Kebzabo.

The inclusion of Mr Kebzabo, who had on Monday withdrawn his candidacy, has raised questions.

The opposition leader had cited the "obvious militarisation of the political climate" following the deadly attempt by security forces to arrest another opposition candidate, Yaya Dillo, at his home in the capital, N'Djamena.

The 28 February attack left five members of Mr Dillo’s family dead, according to his party, although the government says three people were killed, including the mother of the opposition leader.

The supreme court rejected the candidacy of seven other aspirants including Mr Dillo and Succès Masra on grounds that their parties were not "legally constituted".

With the crackdown on a fractured opposition, the incumbent is now seen as the favourite to win re-election for a 6th term.

Ethiopian party withdraws from polls over its jailed leaders

Bekele Atoma Boru

BBC Horn of Africa

Getty Images

Activist Jawar Mohammed is among party members in jail

One of Ethiopia's main opposition parties, The Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), has announced its withdrawal from parliamentary election scheduled for June until its demands are met.

It wants its jailed leaders to be released and its offices across Oromia state to be allowed to operate.

Senior members of the party Bekele Gerba, Dejene Tafa and Jawar Mohammed are facing terrorism charges.

They were charged in September in relation to a wave of ethnic unrest that followed the murder in June of popular musician Hachalu Hundessa.

“If our questions are answered and our demands are met, we will remain in the race [election],” party official Tiruneh Gemta told the BBC.

The authorities have not yet commented on the party's withdrawal.

Another opposition party, The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), is also mulling withdrawing from the election citing imprisonment of its senior leaders and closure of its offices - including the head office in the capital, Addis Ababa.

The withdrawal of the two main parties could undermine the credibility of the election.

Crocodiles escape from breeding farm in South Africa

BBC

Officials have warned that the crocodiles pose a danger

An unknown number of young crocodiles are on the loose in South Africa's Western Cape province after escaping from a breeding farm on Wednesday, local media report.

Efforts to recapture the crocodiles, each measuring over a metre, are underway.

Most are suspected to have found their way to the nearby Breede River.

"They present medium danger to people because they are farmed animals used to regular feeding and do not hunt for food. But they are wild and instinctive animals and, like all wild animals, always pose a danger to people," local government spokesman James-Brent Styan is quoted by Times Live.

About 20 crocodiles have been returned to the farm, according to a local official quoted by Eye Witness News.

Electric boats give Kenyan fishermen a cheaper option

Fishermen on Lake Victoria in Kenya have begun using some of Africa’s first electric fishing boats.

Asobo, a Kenya-based start-up, is offering battery-powered engines to some of the tens of thousands of boats that go out onto the water each night, as a cheaper and greener alternative to petrol ones.

Most of the estimated 60,000 fishermen who go out fishing every night use petrol-powered engines, which emit fumes and can pollute the lake through oil spills.

"There is a difference because with this motor there are fewer fumes while driving and the petrol engine vibrates a lot and the fumes get into your lungs. This is good and works well," Cevince Odhiambo, told the BBC.

Rose Awino said the benefits of the electric-powered boat are clear: "I had a petrol engine, but the problem is that it kept on breaking down, but with this one they repair it themselves. We can focus on preparing our fishing trips," she said.

"We need as humanity to change our ways of using energy, and get away from fossil fuels, said Laurens Friso, Asobo's chief executive officer.

Fishermen in Kenya swap petrol outboard motors for electric engines

How did Zambia get into so much debt?

Alan Kasujja

BBC Africa Daily

Getty Images

Zambians are complaining about rising prices

Zambia’s up to its eyeballs in debt. Late last year, it became the first African country to default on its foreign debt since the Covid pandemic began.

“We’re on a downhill trajectory and we’ve almost hit the bottom, but there’s nothing stopping us from going further,” says Trevor Hambayi, a financial analyst in Zambia's capital, Lusaka.

And people across the country have started feeling the pinch - many complain about rising prices and their sudden inability to pay their bills.

“Because the price of cooking oil has also gone up, we’ve suspended meals that required cooking oil,” a Nakonde resident tells me.

But Zambia’s looking for a way out: it has been talking to the International Monetary Fund, hoping to get some sort of bailout.

How did things get so bad though? And is there an easy way out of this crisis?

Find out in Thursday’s edition of Africa Daily.

Subscribe to the show on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.

South Sudan suspends airline after plane crash

Nichola Mandil

BBC News, Juba

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has ordered the suspension of the operations of a local airline whose plane crashed on Tuesday, killing all on board.

The small plane operated by South Sudan Supreme Airlines Aviation Company crashed in the eastern Jonglei State shortly after take-off at Pieri airstrip.

BBC

The dead included a Kenyan pilot, his South Sudanese co-pilot and seven female passengers.

In a statement, President Kiir said the suspension of the airline was a "temporary measure to deal with these avoidable air accidents before laws governing civil aviation are strengthened via legislative means".

"This measure is necessary for these institutions to ascertain air worthiness of the remaining South Sudan Supreme planes. It is also a necessary step to restoring public confidence in air travel in the country,” President Kiir said.

The airline is owned by Ayii Duang Ayii, the president of the South Sudan General Business Community and Employers’ Federation.

Migrants die after being thrown in sea off Djibouti

BBC World Service

AFP

Drownings are common as migrants try to escape war in Ethiopia and Somalia

The UN says at least 20 African migrants died after smugglers threw them overboard off the coast of Djibouti.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said at least 80 people were thrown off the vessel after the traffickers realised it was overloaded.

Their boat had been carrying about 200 migrants, including women and children according to IOM.

The migrants were on their way to Yemen, hoping to get to Saudi Arabia to look for work.

The head of IOM, António Vitorino, tweeted about the news:

Drownings are common off Djibouti as migrants from Ethiopia and Somalia try to escape war and poverty at home to find work in the Gulf.

'Nigerian forces shoot three' as freed girls return

Mayeni Jones

BBC News, Lagos

Reuters

There were chaotic scenes as parents reunited with their daughters

There were chaotic scenes on Wednesday in north-western Nigeria as parents were reunited with their kidnapped daughters in the town of Jangebe.

Eyewitnesses say at least three people were shot by the security forces.

The shooting reportedly happened after parents, frustrated by the length of the handover ceremony, started throwing stones at government officials. It's unclear whether there were any deaths.

The 279 schoolgirls were kidnapped on Friday, and have been in the custody of the state government since they were freed on Tuesday.

UN experts have called for the traumatised students to receive urgent rehabilitation.

One mother told the AFP news agency that they were keen to return home before dark because the roads were unsafe.

President Muhammadu Buhari has declared a no-fly zone across the state and banned all mining activities in response to the insecurity.

More on this topic:

• Why schoolchildren are being abducted in Nigeria

Thursday's wise words

Our proverb of the day:

When you find yourself in the same place in the forest twice, then you are lost."

A Beti proverb sent by Christian Messina Mvogo in Yaoundé, Cameroon

BBC

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

Scroll down for Wednesday's stories

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team for now. Keep up-to-date with what's happening across the continent by listening to the Africa Today podcast or checking the BBC News website.

A reminder of our wise words of the day:

To appreciate the taste of any food, it must have been introduced to you by your mother at tender age."

A Lozi proverb sent by Mubiana Gilliam Njamba in Lusaka, Zambia

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this photo of a motorbike passenger in Senegal's capital, Dakar, keeping her eyes shut amid clashes between supporters of an opposition politician and the security forces earlier on Wednesday:

Reuters

Mozambique football clubs allowed to resume training

Jose Tembe

BBC News, Maputo

Footballers who play for clubs in Mozambique’s top football league have been authorised to return for training.

But the national championship, known as Mocambola, is not being allowed to resume yet.

It was suspended in early February because of a spike in coronavirus cases.

President Filipe Nyusi said clubs should be committed to conducting regular tests - something they had not being doing properly before.

Any players who tested positive should be isolated, he added.

Mali used to 'refine and sell off Venezuela's gold'

Getty Images

Venezuela has been selling off its gold reserves

Venezuela's cash-strapped government sent gold to Mali last year in Russian-owned planes to exchange it for foreign currency, Reuters news agency is quoting prominent Venezuelan opposition politician Julio Borges as saying.

The gold was refined in Mali - one of Africa's largest gold producers - and then resold in the United Arab Emirates, Mr Borges, who lives in exile in neighbouring Colombia, reportedly said.

He alleged this was part of a scheme that allowed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's administration to stay afloat despite US sanctions.

There has been no immediate comment from the authorities in either Mali or Venezuela.

For the last few years, Venezuela's government has been selling off some of its gold reserves to allies in Turkey, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.

Mr Maduro was re-elected for a second six-year term in May 2018 in highly controversial elections, which most opposition parties boycotted and at a time of a deep economic crisis.

The opposition argued that as Mr Maduro had not been elected fairly, the presidency was vacant and opposition leader Juan Guaidó declared himself interim president.

He was recognised as Venezuela's legitimate leader by more than 50 countries, including the US, the UK, the EU parliament and most Latin American nations.

But Mr Maduro has remained in control of the security forces and also retains the support of Russia and China, two powerful allies.

Watch this report from 2019 about Venezuela's gold diplomacy gamble:

Venezuela's gold diplomacy gamble

Nigeria's freed schoolchildren 'need urgent help'

Reuters

The girls from Zamfara state were released a few days after their dramatic abduction by gunmen

Nigerian children traumatised after their abduction need urgent and specialised help to recover from their ordeal, UN experts say.

Their statement comes a day after 279 girls were released following their recent kidnapping from a school in north-western Zamfara state.

It was the third school kidnapping since December in northern Nigeria by criminal gangs known to demand ransoms. In all three cases the pupils have now been freed.

“Social inclusion of these children requires the provision of long-term measures aimed at restoring their physical and psychological well-being,” the experts said.

They pointed to the mass kidnapping in December at a boys boarding school in Kankara in Katsina state as an example of how things had gone wrong.

“There has still not been an impartial, independent investigation into the abductions nor specialised rehabilitation for the children after the incident," they said.

“Due to such incidents, many children have not returned to class and some schools have already closed down in the border areas out of fear of reoccurrence. This may mean an end to education for these children.”

Kidnapping is a widespread criminal enterprise in Nigeria - and happens on an almost daily basis.

The UN experts said this was of particular concern when it came to abducted women and girls.

“We are alarmed at reports that an unknown number of women and girls have been abducted in recent years, and subjected to domestic servitude, forced labour, sexual slavery through forced marriages, forced and unwanted pregnancies.”

They reminded the Nigerian government that it had international legal obligations to protect the right to life, liberty and security of a person “as well as the obligation to adopt effective measures and policies to prevent exploitation”.

Senegal opposition leader 'arrested' after clashes

Reuters

Ousmane Sonko's supporters were throwing stones at the security forces

Prominent Senegalese opposition politician Ousmane Sonko has been arrested, his lawyer says.

He is accused of disturbing public order in the capital, Dakar, as he travelled to court for a hearing in a rape case.

His motorcade was followed by hundreds of chanting supporters, who were dispersed by police with teargas.

Reuters

Supporters of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko are angry about the rape allegation

Reuters

Gendarmes fired teargas to disperse Ousmane Sonko's supporters

On Friday, Senegal's parliament voted to strip Mr Sonko of his immunity so the rape prosecution could proceed.

Mr Sonko denies he raped a woman at a salon where he went to get massages.

AFP

Ousmane Sonko finished third in presidential elections in 2019

The 46-year-old, who heads the opposition Pastef party, says the charges are politically motivated to stop him running in elections in 2024.

Mr Sonko came third in the 2019 presidential election and has accused President Macky Sall of manoeuvring to run for an unconstitutional third term.

Nigeria kidnap gangs targeted in mining and jet ban

Chris Ewokor

BBC News, Abuja

Reuters

The girls taken last week were reportedly made to walk a long distance into the forest

Nigeria has announced a ban on mining and a no-fly zone in the north-western state of Zamfara as part of efforts to clamp down on notorious criminal gangs often involved in kidnapping.

Mining activities are believed to offer cover to these groups, which often invade communities and abduct villagers - many of them for ransom. Last week, 279 girls were kidnapped from their boarding school before being released on Tuesday.

It is suspected that powerful figures engaged in illegal artisanal mining are arming the gangs.

“Private jets are being used to ferry arms to Zamfara and then take gold to Dubai,” presidential spokesman Garba Shehu told the BBC.

More on this topic:

• Why schoolchildren are being abducted in Nigeria