BBC News Africa

Two police officers and an unidentified shooter have been killed in an armed confrontation near the French embassy in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam.

The motive of the attack is not clear, but the country’s police chief Simon Sirro has confirmed the deaths.

“We’ve lost two officers… the shooter has been killed. We now work on finding his identity and where he’s coming from, and we will later hold a briefing," he said.

Eyewitness videos have been posted on social media showing the shooter:

Some show the moment he was taken down by a sniper bullet just a few meters from the front entrance of the French embassy.

AFP via Getty ImagesCopyright: AFP via Getty Images

Rwandan and Mozambican troops have reportedly encircled militants in Mozambique's northern Cabo Delgado province ahead of a "last major military push" against the Islamic State-linked insurgents.

The forces are surrounding the militants in the areas of Siri I and Siri II.

The military push comes barely four days after the joint forces seized Mbau - another key insurgent stronghold - after a fierce battle.

Military sources reported that more than 100 people were released from jihadist captivity, and dozens of militants were killed.

On 8 August, the joint forces drove out insurgents from Mocimboa da Praia, a port city that had been the headquarters of the militants for more than three years.

After fleeing the city, the insurgents moved further southwards into the thick forests of Mbau. Siri I and Siri II are the insurgents only remaining major hideouts in Mocimboa da Praia.

In July, Rwanda deployed 1,000 troops to Cabo Delgado at the request of Mozambique to help fight the jihadists, stabilise the area and restore the authority of the state.

• You may be interested in: Mozambique insurgency: Rwanda leads the fightback

AFPCopyright: AFP

Morocco has rejected reasons put forward by Algeria in its decision to sever diplomatic relations with its North African neighbour.

Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra announced his country’s decision on Tuesday to cut all ties with Morocco for "hostile acts".

Algiers accused its neighbour of providing support to members of the MAK separatist movement, which is fighting for self-determination in the Kabylie region of Algeria.

MAK is believed to have started forest fires in Algeria, and is also accused of involvement in the killing of a man mistaken for an arsonist.

In response, the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: "Morocco rejects this unjustified decision. The pretext is fallacious and absurd.

"The Moroccan kingdom will however remain a credible and loyal to the Algerian people and will continue to act with wisdom."

The Algerian foreign ministry had previously summoned the Moroccan ambassador over remarks the Moroccan envoy to the UN had made backing the separatist movement in Algeria.

Rabat has not provided a response to Algiers questions. This is believed to have exacerbated the row between the two countries and led to Algeria severing all ties.

Morocco has also been accused of using Israeli technology to spy on journalists and foreign officials, including Algerian military and political leaders. The Moroccan government denies this.

The already fractious relations between Algeria and Morocco over Western Sahara has worsened recently with Rabat re-establishing diplomatic relations with Israel.

Niger’s army says it has killed 100 jihadists in an operation in a south-western region near the Burkina Faso border.

The operation in the Torodi area was in response to an attack that killed 19 security officers on a resupply mission on 31 July. Another team that later came to rescue was hit by an explosive device.

The Nigerien army said in a statement that it had aimed to "search for and neutralise" those responsible for the ambush and bomb attack.

Officers had also destroyed their ammunition, vehicles and tricycles, it said.

Western Niger, especially the "three border zone", has been plagued by armed attacks attributed to jihadist groups based in northern Mali since 2017.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Children of Zimbabwean victims of a massacre decades ago are being subjected to further injustice by being deprived of citizenship rights, a study has found

In the 1980s, Zimbabwe's then-leader Robert Mugabe initiated a brutal crackdown on a revolt in Matabeleland.

The troops killed an estimated 20,000 people, mostly from the Ndebele minority, in what became known as the Gukurahundi massacres.

Some of those killed disappeared and were not declared dead, meaning there were no death certificates issued by the government, the study by the Zimbabwe Peace Project noted.

It says that children of these victims have suffered from statelessness as they cannot obtain identity documents - including a birth certificate and a passport.

“Without a death certificate of a parent it’s not possible for a child to be able to get a birth certificate, and without a birth certificate a child cannot get an identity document,” Jestina Mukoko, the director of the project, told the BBC Newsday radio programme.

She says there are a “huge number” of Zimbabwean people - the children and grandchildren of massacre victims - who have been deprived of their rights including the right to vote as a result.

Ms Mukoko says some who cross into neighbouring countries in search of jobs have become stateless as they have no papers - which is in turn affecting their children.

She told the BBC that while the state had an alternative mechanism where they could register, the process required them to travel with witnesses to areas far from their home and many could not afford to pay for it.

Besides, the people also felt intimidated and afraid to go through the process, she said.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

The suspended secretary-general of South Africa's governing party has taken his appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

Ace Magashule, a former top official in the African National Congress (ANC), was ousted in May after being charged with corruption.

He lost his bid to have his suspension overturned by the High Court in July. It ruled that the ANC was right to suspend him for failing to follow the party’s rule requiring him to step aside on being charged with a criminal case.

But Mr Magashule now wants the Supreme Court of Appeal to overturn the decision.

In March, he was given a 30-day ultimatum to step down after being charged with embezzling public funds while he was premier of the Free State province. He denied the charges and refused to resign voluntarily, which resulted in the ANC suspending him.

He then vowed to suspend President Cyril Ramaphosa - illustrating a power struggle within the party - but the ANC called on Mr Magashule to "respect" the party decision.

Mr Magashule also wants the Supreme Court of Appeal to suspend Mr Ramaphosa as party president.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Ivory Coast's first person to test positive for Ebola since 1994 has now recovered, the health ministry says.

The 18-year-old woman from Guinea had travelled to Abidjan by bus two weeks ago and then tested positive for the haemorrhagic disease.

Ivory Coast immediately held a vaccination drive to cover people who'd had contact with the visitor, and security forces on the border with Guinea.

The woman has now had two negative tests so her isolation has been lifted.

The Democratic Republic of Congo and Guinea itself are the other two African countries affected by Ebola this year.

AFPCopyright: AFP

The police in Ghana have notified the public that they will be conducting a mass burial for 200 unidentified and unclaimed bodies

It is to start "by close of work this week", according to a statement released by Ghana's Police Service.

The move was aimed at clearing out the mortuary at the country’s police hospital, an official told the BBC.

The bodies, which have accumulated over the past six months, include victims of hit-and-run accidents and people who had died on the streets, Ghana Police Hospital official Yaw Nketta-Yeboah said.

They were also unidentified victims of crime and some who had died on admission to hospitals but who had been abandoned by their families, he added.

The police hospital urged members of the public to try contact its pathology department this week to help identify the bodies.

This was to prevent a situation where bodies would be wrongly earmarked for mass burial, it said.

The police hospital has periodically conducted mass burials for unclaimed bodies - despite burials being culturally important in the West African nation.

SolaCopyright: Sola

Rwanda will host dozens of schoolgirls being relocated from Afghanistan following the takeover of their country by Taliban militants.

Shabana Basij-Rasikh, the founder of a privately run School of Leadership, Afghanistan (Sola), said on Tuesday that about 250 students, staff and family members were en-route to Rwanda, through Qatar, to begin a “semester abroad for our entire student body”.

Rwanda’s education ministry has tweeted a message of welcome to the Sola community:

Ms Basij-Rasikh said they hoped to resettle temporarily and wanted to return to Afghanistan when the situation permitted.

"My heart breaks for my country," she wrote on social media.

"I’ve stood in Kabul, and I’ve seen the fear, and the anger, and the ferocious bravery of the Afghan people. I look at my students, and I see the faces of the millions of Afghan girls, just like them, who remain behind."

Afghans have been growing desperate to leave their country, in fear of living under Taliban rule, and thousands have have been evacuated to other countries.

The Taliban, which enforced a strict version of Islamic law when they ran Afghanistan before 2001, retook full control of the country more than a week ago.

A government-licensed recruiting agency based in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, is conducting interviews for doctors to leave Nigeria and work in Saudi Arabia.

Meed Consultants’ recruitment drive comes at a time resident doctors in Nigeria are on strike over the delayed payment of salaries and allowances.

Flyers announcing the interviews have been circulating widely on social media, especially on WhatsApp platforms.

Consultant Dr Kura Phillip told the BBC’s Ishaq Khalid that he was applying as he wanted the opportunity to broaden his experience abroad - the poor treatment of doctors in Nigeria was an added incentive.

Nigeria’s Daily Trust newspaper says the strike is behind a mass exodus of doctors - though many have often left over the years seeking better pay and conditions.

But Dr Peter Inunduh, chief medical officer at Benue State’s Federal Medical Centre, told the paper that things hadn’t been this bad since the late 1980s and 1990s - and it was putting lives in jeopardy.

"For example, you have one anaesthetist in the hospital and it is the anaesthetist that manages the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in an hospital, if he leaves, what do you think will happen to the ICU?” he said.

“Just this morning, my only anaesthetist, who is the most senior in Benue State, walked into my office to inform me he is leaving for Saudi.”

He warned that unless something was done urgently many critical areas would have to shut down.

South Africa’s unemployment rate in now the highest in the world, according to a list of 82 countries monitored by Bloomberg.

It rose to 34.4% in the second quarter from 32.6% in the three months of the year, the news agency quoted Statistics South Africa as saying in its latest report.

Unemployment has been a long-standing problem in South Africa.

But analysts say recent restrictions to curb a third wave of coronavirus and last month’s riots in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng provinces are likely to continue harming one of Africa’s biggest economies.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Algeria has severed all ties with Morocco, accusing its North African neighbour of “hostile acts”.

The move comes a week after Algeria accused Morocco of complicity in starting recent forest fires that ravaged coastal regions.

“We have decided to sever diplomatic relations with Morocco staring from today,” Algeria’s Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra said at a press conference.

"The Moroccan kingdom has never stopped its hostile actions against Algeria."

Algeria has also been upset by recent accusations that Morocco used Israeli technology to spy on journalists and political leaders, including high-ranking Algerian political and military officials. These allegations have been denied by Rabat.

The two countries have long had a fractious relationship - especially over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

Morocco has annexed the region, however Algeria backs the Polisario Front, which has been fighting for independence of the former Spanish colony for the Saharawi people since the 1970s.

The border between Algeria and Morocco has been closed since 1994.

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About 1,000 lorries from across East Africa have stopped at the main crossing point between Uganda and South Sudan after their drivers went on strike.

They are refusing to move until the South Sudanese government offers them protection.

Kenya suspended all deliveries to the country following the killing of two Kenyan truckers in an ambush in South Sudan along the Nimule-Juba highway on Sunday.

At least 30 traders and lorry drivers from across East Africa have been killed this year on the road from the Ugandan border to the South Sudanese capital, Juba.

South Sudan, which is recovering from a brutal civil war, is heavily dependent on its neighbours for essential supplies.

The US government's aid agency has denied accusations that it has been feeding rebels fighting in Ethiopia's northern region of Tigray.

It follows accusations that humanitarian organisations were “giving high-energy foods meant for mothers and children” to fighters loyal to the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).

Ethiopia’s state broadcaster ETV reported over the weekend that a TPLF commander captured by government troops in the Amhara region had been found with biscuits donated by USAid.

USAid rejected accusations that it had deliberately given food to fighters, saying that its food donations were only meant for those in need.

But is said: "It is a reality that in conflict areas armed actors often steal food from those in need."

Last week, the US agency blamed the Ethiopian government for "obstructing" access to Tigray, and warned that food aid was set to run out for the first time.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Mozambique’s former Finance Minister Manuel Chang has been handed over to Interpol to be extradited home instead of to the US, South Africa’s justice department has confirmed.

The decision has led to diplomatic tension and a last-minute attempt to stop him being sent to Mozambique.

The US embassy in Pretoria issued a statement on Sunday saying it noted “with great disappointment” that South Africa had decided to extradite Mr Chang to Mozambique despite having received its extradition request before that of Mozambique.

Mr Chang is accused of fraud and corruption after allegedly receiving bribes to sign off on international loans of $2bn (£1.5bn) intended to buy fishing trawlers and military patrol boats but much of it allegedly diverted to government officials.

He denies any wrongdoing.

The US embassy statement said the alleged crimes had “victimised US citizens and robbed the government of Mozambique of over $700m”.

Mr Chang was arrested in December 2018 and held in South Africa while the government considered rival extradition requests.

Civil society groups in South Africa and Mozambique have questioned whether Mozambique has the political will or capacity to mount a proper prosecution.

On Monday, 19 accused went on trial in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, including Ndambi Guebuza, the son of former Mozambican President Armando Guebuza.

Lawyers for the Mozambican Forum de Monitoria do Orçamento (FMO), a non-government organisation (NGO) that monitors government finances, said they were preparing to file an urgent application in the South African High Court on Wednesday in a last-minute attempt to block the extradition.

Draft papers said Mr Chang should be extradited to the US as “Mozambican citizens would not be served by Mr Chang’s extradition to Mozambique”.

The BBC was unable immediately to establish whether Mr Chang was still on South African soil.

The Algerian government has shut down two private TV channels for breaching broadcast regulations.

El Djazairia One channel has been closed permanently and with immediate effect - though the communications ministry did not specify exactly what broadcast rules had been broken.

But the ministry said the owners of the channel had been charged with the illegal transfer of money and money laundering.

El Bilad TV has had its licence revoked for a week for failing to protect children by repeatedly showing pictures showing the killing of artist Djamel Ben Ismail in the recent wild fires.

He was lynched by a crowd after being wrongly suspected of starting some forest fires, when he had come to help put them out.

The authorities exercise broad control over the media in the North Africa nation.

Until 2014, a state monopoly forced private satellite TVs to operate from outside Algeria.

Less than 10 are now authorised to operate within the country.

AFPCopyright: AFP

The Islamist group, al-Shabab, is reported to have seized a strategic town in central Somalia.

Residents of Amara in the Galmudug region said the militants stormed an army base before over-running the town.

The insurgents captured several armoured vehicles, burning some of them.

Earlier this month the Somali military captured Amara from al-Shabab, which had held the town for a decade.

The group controls large parts of southern and central Somalia, and regularly attacks government-held areas.

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