BBC News Africa

Michelle Guda/BBCCopyright: Michelle Guda/BBC

A host of leading Kenyan athletes have conducted a peaceful procession in honour of the late Agnes Tirop, while escorting her body from Eldoret Hospital to her home in the same town ahead of her burial on Saturday.

Faith Kipyegon, Joyciline Jepkosgei, Eunice Sum and Mary Keitany were among the 300 or so marching behind a banner reading "End gender-based violence".

Several leading male athletes - including Eliud Kipchoge, Julius Yego and Conseslus Kipruto - also attended.

Ms Tirop was stabbed to death at her home earlier this month, and police have detained her husband Ibrahim Rotich in jail as the prime suspect.

He is being held for 20 days, during which time he will be assessed to see if he is mentally fit to stand trial.

Ms Tirop's murder has sparked other Kenyan athletes to talk about what they have faced when it comes to gender-based violence.

A 17-year-old Kenyan schoolboy has died from injuries sustained when he was attacked after sneaking into a girls’ school, police say.

The final-year secondary school student was among six students who had reportedly entered a neighbouring girls’ school in Kiambu county, which neighbours the capital Nairobi.

Police said the students entered a dormitory at around 04:00 local time before they were spotted by some of the girls who raised the alarm.

This reportedly attracted the attention of the school security, staff and the head teacher.

Five of the boys escaped, and police the remaining one was confronted by angry students and members of the staff.

"Sadly, they descended on him causing him life threatening injuries. The boy later succumbed to his injuries…," the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said in a tweet:

Crime scene detectives later visited the scene and said they recovered planks of wood suspected to have been used to beat the student.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Ethiopian authorities have confirmed the national air force shelled the Tigray regional capital of Mekelle on Thursday afternoon, its fourth strike on the city this week.

The ongoing struggle in Ethiopia's Tigray region has killed thousands of people and displaced more than two million.

The government says its latest aerial attacks targeted Tigrayan rebels who are controlling the city, but the fighters in Tigray have claimed civilians were the target.

Some human rights activists in Tigray are suggesting high-rise residential buildings had been bombed - but the military says it was targeting manufacturing and armament repair sites belonging to the Tigray People's Liberation Front, as well as destroying illegal caches of heavy weaponry.

Tigray media has also shown footage of what appeared to be child soldiers allegedly fighting on the government’s side. Meanwhile the Ethiopian government has been accusing the Tigrayan fighters of using child soldiers since they recaptured Mekelle in June.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo and Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble have reportedly agreed to end a bitter rift that had threatened to derail the country's long-delayed elections.

The row between the two leaders had also risked splitting Somali security forces.

It was sparked by the government’s handling of the disappearance in June of a female spy, Ikran Farah, leading to the appointment of parallel intelligence chiefs and security ministers.

On Thursday, President Farmajo and Mr Roble held their first face-face meeting in several weeks in Mogadishu.

According to a statement read by government spokesman Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimu, they agreed that Abdullahi Mohamed Nur, who was appointed by the prime minister as security minister, would stay in the post.

Under the agreement, Yasin Farey, who was picked by the president as the acting spy chief, would continue to hold the role until a replacement is named.

The two leaders also agreed that the case of missing female intelligence agent would be left to the courts to decide.

A Zambian journalist has surrendered $4m (£3m) found in her house last month as part of a corruption amnesty deal, officials have announced.

Margaret Chisela Musonda, alias Faith Musonda, has also forfeited her house located in an upmarket suburb in the capital, Lusaka, where the amount in local currency and US dollars was found.

Officials have not disclosed how she acquired the money and the nature of her wrongdoing, but said she had admitted culpability.

Ms Musonda is a well-known journalist who had a stint at the state broadcaster. She has not commented on the matter.

In a statement, a joint investigative team said the deal would see Ms Musonda avoid criminal proceedings.

It said the law allows the state “to grant amnesty to accused persons in certain instances on condition that they admit wrongdoing and return what they wrongfully acquired through corrupt practices”.

The team comprised officers from the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Zambia Police Service, the Drug Enforcement Commission and the Financial Intelligence Centre.

Zambians on social media have expressed divided opinions to the deal:

AFPCopyright: AFP

Eswatini has banned all protests to try to end pro-democracy demonstrations that have in recent weeks shaken the kingdom formerly known as Swaziland.

Housing and Urban Development Minister Prince Simelane told a news conference in the capital, Mbabane, on Thursday that following the ongoing tensions the government had decided not to issue permits to protesters.

Local media reported that activists and opposition groups had vowed to defy the ban.

The government announced the ban as envoys from the regional Southern African Development Community (Sadc) arrived in the country to try to stem the unrest.

Dozens of people have died in anti-government demonstrations since June.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Guinean authorities have relaxed Covid-19 measures, including ending a night curfew and suspending a requirement for prior authorisation to transport bodies outside the capital, Conakry.

"The curfew is lifted; advance requests for authorisation to transport bodies from Conakry to the interior and exterior of the country have been suspended," the military junta, the National Rally and Development Committee (CNRD), posted on Twitter.

But the junta said Covid-19 testing remains mandatory.

The CNRD added that "burial of bodies that tested positive for Covid-19 has to be supervised by the Red Cross".

Other Covid-19 measures that will remain in force include mandatory wearing of masks in public areas, hand-washing and social distancing.

AFPCopyright: AFP

New research indicates poaching has led to more elephants being born tuskless.

During the Mozambican civil war, 90% of elephants in Gorongosa National Park were killed for their ivory.

When the population recovered after the conflict, a larger proportion of female elephants were born tuskless.

The scientists say most of those who survived the poaching carried a rare genetic mutation that stops tusks from growing, and passed the trait on to their offspring.

The scientists say the spread of the mutation shows how human interference can have an impact even on animal anatomy.

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Benin lawmakers have voted to legalise abortion in the country, expanding on the restricted circumstances where the practice was already allowed.

Women can now end their pregnancy within the first three months in cases where it could "aggravate or cause material, educational, professional or moral distress, incompatible with the woman or the unborn child's interest".

Before, abortion was only legally allowed in limited situations such as rape or incest cases, or if the mother's life was threatened.

It was also allowed in cases where the unborn child’s health would be severely affected.

The new law, passed on Wednesday night after a heated debate in parliament, still needs to be ratified by the constitutional court before it takes effect.

Health Minister Benjamin Hounkpatin lauded the new law, saying it would ease the pain for many women with unwanted pregnancies who “find themselves obliged to risk their lives by using unsafe abortion methods”.

"In Benin, nearly 200 women die each year as the result of abortion complications," he said.

Abortion without restriction can only be offered in four out of 54 African countries - Cape Verde, Mozambique, South Africa and Tunisia - but with gestational limits.

AFPCopyright: AFP

The Egyptian activist Mozn Hassan says the authorities have closed the case against her, after more than five years of an asset freeze and travel ban.

Her non-governmental organisation - Nazra for Feminist Studies - and other NGOs had been accused of receiving foreign funding to harm national security.

Reports say that a judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence to press charges against them.

The activist says she'll now be able to think of the future without living in fear.

She took part in the protests of the Egyptian revolution of 2011 and worked to help those who were sexually assaulted at the time.

EYEWITNESSCopyright: EYEWITNESS

The Nigeria Railway Corporation indefinitely suspended train services on a major route linking the capital, Abuja, to the north-western state of Kaduna after an armed gang attacked a passenger train on Wednesday.

Eyewitnesses said the attackers targeted the engine driver and the train tank. No casualty was reported.

One of the passengers told the BBC that they heard a loud bang before the train stopped for several hours.

Former Nigerian Senator Shehu Sani has tweeted that a second train on the route was forced to return to Abuja on Thursday after explosives were detonated on the railway.

In a statement, the Nigeria Railway Corporation said "efforts are being put in place to ensure absolute safety along the route".

The railway service is often considered a safer alternative to road travel due to persistent bandit attacks on vehicles and kidnapping of travellers on the Abuja- Kaduna highway.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Hundreds of schoolchildren have pleaded with parliament in the Democratic Republic of Congo, demanding higher salaries for their teachers.

The pupils waved branches and chanted "we want to study" and "if we don't study, we will take drugs".

A similar protest was held at the town hall of the eastern town of Beni in North Kivu region, according to the UN-owned Radio Okapi.

Teachers have been on strike since 4 October, the beginning of the school year, demanding a pay rise and a lower retirement age among other issues.

The government has accused the leaders of religious groups, who administer most primary schools, of being behind the strike. They deny this.

Addressing the students, the first vice-president of DR Congo's national assembly, Jean-Marc Kabunda, urged them to go home saying this was not their fight:

"You do not belong in the street, you belong at school and if you are not at school, you should be at home."