BBC News Africa

BBCCopyright: BBC

Twenty-four members of the same family have died after consuming a suspected poisoned meal in north-western Nigeria.

The incident happened in Danzanke village - a remote community in the north-west Sokoto state.

The state's health commissioner, Ali Inname, told journalists that the family mistakenly used fertiliser chemical that looked like salt in preparing a meal on Monday.

He said medical personnel tried to save the victims’ lives without success.

But two members of the family who only tasted the food are now receiving treatment in a hospital.

Following the incident, officials have once again advised people to always keep poisonous chemical substances away from their food stores for safety reasons.

Similar incidents involving families have happened in the past in Nigeria but the number of those who died in the latest case is unusually high.

Two army officers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been sentenced to life in prison by a military court in North Kivu province for fighting at Goma airport.

Videos of Major Rimenze Kangingo Bisimwa and Captain Mukando Muzito Paulin insulting each other and throwing punches were shared online over the weekend.

The court found both guilty of assault and battery and for violating a state of siege in the province, local media reported.

The two officers have five days to appeal.

North Kivu and Ituri provinces have been under military control since May as the government fights militia groups in the region.

AFPCopyright: AFP

All civil servants in Guinea will now be required to prove that they have been vaccinated against Covid-19 before they are allowed to access their work stations.

The new directions follow a special cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

President Alpha Condé directed the prime minister to ensure that ministers and all government staff obtain a health certificate to allow them to work.

He instructed government officers to take vigorous steps and act to protect the public from the risk of infection.

The president has also demanded that people entering Guinea from countries affected by the Delta variant must be vaccinated, as is the practice everywhere.

He also announced the strict enforcement of preventive measures to limit the virus from spreading among citizens.

These measures include mandatory mask wearing, the indefinite closure of night clubs and other popular and often crowded leisure venues.

Divers in Egypt exploring the ancient sunken port city of Thonis-Heraklion have discovered the wreck of a warship buried in the seabed for more than 2,000 years.

The Egyptian-French team says the flat-bottomed vessel, with oars and a wide sail, sank while moored next to a temple which collapsed into the sea in the second century BC.

The city lies a few kilometres off the coast of Alexandria.

Once ancient Egypt's largest port on the Mediterranean, Thonis-Heraklion eventually sank after being battered by a series of earthquakes and tidal waves.

AFPCopyright: AFP

The UN refugee agency says it has regained access to two camps in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region hosting Eritrean refugees.

It said aid had now reached Mai Aini and Adi Harush camps - hosting about 23,000 refugees - but warned that conditions in the camp were still dire.

The UNHCR noted that it only had limited access to the two camps due to the fluid security situation. It said healthcare was unavailable and clean drinking water was running out.

It is now calling for help to safely transfer the refugees to new facilities in Alemwach near Dabat town, 135km (83 miles) away.

The UN agency has also expressed concern over fresh displacement from fighting in Amhara and Afar regions – with an estimated 170,000 people internally displaced. It also observes that more refugees had been crossing into Sudan.

The agency is appealing for more than $164.5m (£118.9m) to assist about 750,000 people in Tigray - and some 120,000 Ethiopian refugees in Sudan.

The conflict, which began in November last year, has forced over two million people to flee their homes, with hundreds of thousands pushed into famine conditions.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Zambia’s electoral commission has said all systems are in place to ensure free, transparent and fair polls on Thursday.

This follows allegations by opposition parties that the commission hasn’t followed procedures to subject the voters roll to an independent audit.

The chairperson of the commission Patrick Nshindano said the electoral body would not manoeuvre election results and that Zambians would know who their next president would be 72 hours after the closure of polling stations.

Concerns over the fairness of the elections have been raised by observers and opposition parties who claim they have been prevented from campaigning.

Thousands of police officers and unarmed troops will be on the streets on election day to monitor voting sites.

The vote is expected to be a close contest between the incumbent President Edgar Lungu and Hakainde Hichilema from the United Party for National Development.

Fourteen other candidates are also vying for the top post.

AFPCopyright: AFP

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa is due to appear on Wednesday morning before the country's long-running corruption inquiry.

It was set up to investigate allegations that his predecessor Jacob Zuma - during his term in office - allowed the wealthy Gupta family to plunder state resources and to influence policy and cabinet appointments.

Both Zuma and the Guptas deny any wrongdoing.

The corruption is estimated to have cost South Africa $81bn (£58bn) in public funds and lost opportunities.

Mr Ramaphosa was a deputy leader of the governing African National Congress (ANC) party at the time.

He has been called to answer questions on what the party knew, if anything, about the alleged misconduct and if they did anything to try to stop it.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

At least 42 people are now known to have died as a result of more than 100 wildfires in Algeria.

The most intense have taken hold in forested mountains of the Kabylie region, where 25 soldiers have been killed fighting fires.

Algeria's President Abdelmajid Tebboune has sent his condolences to the victims' families, saying the troops had rescued more than 100 people from the flames.

The interior ministry suspects arsonists are behind many fires.

Wildfires in several Mediterranean countries may worsen as a forecast heatwave traps desert air over the region.

Tunisia's capital, Tunis, experienced a record high temperature of 48C on Tuesday.

Namibia's first woman Olympic medallist Christine Mboma has been given a hero’s welcome on her return home from Tokyo.

Water cannons showered the commercial jet that flew the 18-year-old and the rest of the Olympic team back to the capital, Windhoek, from Japan, the AFP news agency reports.

Outside the airport, dancers, bikers and sports fans joined in the frenzied celebrations, before a victory convoy paraded through the city, AFP reports.

A local radio station tweeted footage of the convoy, including fire trucks and hundreds of cars, making its way through the city to Katurura, Windhoek's largest township:

Mboma won a silver medal in the 200m at the Games, just weeks after she had been told she could not compete in her preferred 400m because of her high levels of testosterone.

EPACopyright: EPA

Tunisia has seen temperatures in the north of the country hit record highs, according to meteorological office.

The capital, Tunis, reached 49C and further north in Bizerte it hit 46C.

You know it's unbearably hot when you deliriously start questioning if oxygen has somehow been dried out of the air by the sun.

Breathing in slightly scorches the back of your throat.

Tuesday is a public holiday here, so many Tunisians have flocked to the country’s countless beaches for some respite.

But even there shallow shores have been too warm to cool anyone down, and the sand has felt like hot coal.

While such high temperatures are common in the south of Tunisia, along the Sahara, it is rare for its coastal cities to witness these stifling conditions.

The heatwave has hit both Tunisia and neighbouring Algeria.

There are concerns that these high temperatures might trigger wildfires like the deadly ones Algeria is battling - although it’s unclear how those fires started.

Tanzania's main opposition party has hit out at President Samia Suluhu Hassan for saying their leader fled the country for several months after last November’s election.

Chadema leader Freeman Mbowe is currently in detention after his arrest last month on terrorism-related charges.

Mrs Samia told the BBC that he should not have left Tanzania at a time he knew he was under investigation.

In response to the president’s comments, Chadema said that Mr Mbowe had been out of the country legally and accused President Samia of interfering in a case that was before the courts.

The president was either misguided or had deliberately chosen to misinform the public, John Mnyima, Chadema’s general secretary, said.

In the BBC interview Mrs Samia, who took over as president after the death in March of her predecessor John Magufuli, also defended her ban on political rallies, saying they created “political chaos”.

Chadema said this contravened the country’s constitution, which allows political parties to conduct their affairs freely - including the holding of political rallies.