BBC News Africa

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At least 10 people have died during ethnic clashes that began at a busy market in the Nigerian city of Ibadan in Oyo State.

The governor of south-western Oyo State has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew to contain the violence in the city.

It began after a wheelbarrow pusher, believed to be from the ethnic Hausa group, allegedly hit and killed a Yoruba man during an altercation.

The south-west of Nigeria is seen as the home of the Yoruba ethnic group, and Hausa people mainly live in the north of the country.

Witnesses say some Yoruba youths then began retaliatory attacks on Saturday against members of the Hausa community.

The chairman of the Traders’ Union at Shasha Market, where the trouble erupted, told the BBC that they had so far recovered at least 10 bodies.

He said more than 100 others were wounded and dozens of shops and homes had been burnt down.

Police spokesperson in Oyo State, Olugbenga Fadeyi, told the BBC that officers were still gathering casualty details but had intensified patrols in the area.

Amnesty International urged the authorities to investigate the attacks on northerners residing in the Shasha area of Ibadan.

Tension over a long-running row over cattle grazing has generated a lot of anti-northerner sentiment in southern Nigeria.

Fulani herders, who like the Hausa people originate from the north, and their families, walk for hundreds of kilometres to central Nigeria and beyond at least twice a year to find the best grazing land for their cattle.

But this has often led to friction, and in recent years deadly clashes, with local communities, who accuse the cattle of trampling on their crops, and sometimes accuse the herders of robbery and other crimes.

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• The Nigeria car salesman going after cattle herders

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Eleven people have been killed during separatist assaults in the southern city of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo, officials say.

Six insurgents, four soldiers and a civilian died during the attacks on two military camps where the fighters were trying to loot weapons, the city mayor said.

The attackers are said to come from the Bakata-Katanga militia, which is fighting for the Katanga region to secede from DR Congo, a country which is the size of mainland western Europe.

The group stages regular attacks in Lubumbashi, a key mining hub and DR Congo's second-largest city.

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Hassabo Mohamed Abdel Rahman, who once served as vice-president to Sudan's ousted long-serving leader Omar al-Bashir, has been arrested for fomenting weeks of protests against rising food prices.

Other senior members of Bashir's administration have also been detained.

AFPCopyright: AFP

About 300 people were arrested earlier this week during protests across Sudan. States of emergency were declared in four provinces.

There have been months of bread, fuel and power shortages as a fragile power-sharing government, which is leading a three-year transition to civilian rule, struggles to manage the economy.

It is hoping the country’s removal in December from the US list of state sponsors of terror will be a lifeline for the economy.

Sudan was put on the list in 1993 after it was used as a base for al-Qaeda, meaning it was cut off from the global financial system.

Now it can re-engage with international financial institutions to obtain loans and get debt relief.

Bashir, who took power in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989, was toppled in April 2019 after mass protests fuelled by a rise in the prices of fuel and bread.

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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:

Quote Message: A roaring fire bears cold ashes." from A Lango proverb from Uganda sent by Martin Okello in the UK

A roaring fire bears cold ashes."

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this photo of a farmer feeding locusts to his dog.

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Click here to see more of our favourite photos taken this week.

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Organisers of Zanzibar's week-long Sauti za Busara music festival decided to restrict it to just two days this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"There are musicians from only three places outside Tanzania,'' says Yusuph Mahmoud, who's running the festival, adding that it was inevitable because of the lockdowns and border closures elsewhere.

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Lower visitor numbers and plenty of hand sanitisers will help to keep visitors safe, he says.

"When I got the chance to come here, I was so happy - it’s good for my sanity," says Emma visiting from Germany.

Another European traveller, Adrik from Russia, agrees: "It’s so refreshing to be traveling again. I love African music and I can’t wait for tonight."

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AFPCopyright: AFP

Nigerian Nobel literature laureate Wole Soyinka has come out with an alarming prediction if the increasingly deadly conflict between cattle herders and others does not cool down.

“If we’re not careful… we’re going to have a famine when farmers cannot go to their farms,” he told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme.

“This is serious… right on my doorstep we’re having food producers being thrown out of their livelihood.”

He alleged that farmers were being kidnapped and killed.

Soyinka himself said he had got into a row with some herders after some cattle had been driven into his compound.

He said that better community policing could help solve the problem.

The government has proposed the establishment of large ranches for the herders to prevent them from the cattle straying onto farms.

But some governors in south-western states have rejected the proposal. They have set up their own security unit – the Amotekun.

The US Embassy in Chad has asked opposition leader Succès Masra to leave its grounds.

The leader of the Transformers Party sought refuge at the US Embassy on 6 February along with 10 of the party’s top staff, as government forces sought to arrest them for staging what they say was a peaceful protest.

They were protesting against President Idriss Déby’s attempt at a sixth term in office.

The US Embassy now says it has been assured by the Chadian government that Mr Masra won't be arrested if he leaves the embassy premises.

Nichola Mandil/BBCCopyright: Nichola Mandil/BBC

Parents of 930 primary school children who couldn't sit their exams because of local inter-communal violence have been told a new date has been set.

Fighting in Jonglei and Unity states, two areas controlled by forces loyal to SPLM-IO leader and South Sudan's Vice-President Riek Machar, has forced thousands of people from their homes in recent weeks.

The national primary exam for the hundreds of pupils who missed out will be held at between 15 and 19 February at 19 centres - in Nasir, Akobo, Fangak, Nyrol, Ayod, and Longchuk.

Mr Machar's office says it wants to assure the families that their children will be safe.

Education Minister Awut Deng Acui said she welcomed the directives issued by the office of Mr Machar in those SPLM-IO-controlled areas.

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has ordered the suspension of a multi-million dollar European Union fund operating in the country that supported local democracy and governance groups.

It follows the European bloc's decision to recommend sanctions against Uganda in light of arrests and a crackdown on political opponents since President Museveni's contested re-election in January.

In a letter to his finance minister, President Museveni said funds paid by the EU to the Democratic Governance Facility (DGF) ended up being "used to finance activities and organizations designed to subvert Government under the guise of improving governance".

The EU has yet to comment.

But Denmark's ambassador to Uganda told AP news agency that, although the DGF hadn't received any formal communication from the government, as development partners they "remain open to dialogue with the government".

Read more:

• Yoweri Museveni overcomes Bobi Wine challenge - for now

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Police in Sudan are reported to have arrested about 200 armed young men who they say were intent on looting a market.

The arrests reportedly took place in Nyala in South Darfur state. The Sudanese news agency said a further 100 people had been rounded up in North Kordofan state.

The latest incidents follow weeks of protests against rising food prices and fuel shortages.

The authorities are blaming supporters of former President Omar al-Bashir for the unrest. States of emergency have been declared in four provinces.