BBC News Africa

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Nigeria’s electoral commission has cleared 18 candidates to contest the presidential election scheduled for February next year.

In a list published on Tuesday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) noted that 18 parties had fielded presidential candidates and their running mates.

The list include the names of the 75-year-old veteran presidential contestant and former vice-president, Atiku Abubakar of the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party, and former Lagos governor Ahmed Bola Tinubu, 70, of the ruling All Progressives Congress.

It also includes the 60-year-old former governor of Anambra state, Peter Obi of Labour Party, who is seen as a third force.

Election campaigns officially begin next week on Wednesday.

Rampant insecurity, chronic unemployment and a worsening economic outlook are among issues the candidates are expected to address.

Nigeria has a population of more than 200 million people, out of which more than 95 million voters have registered to participate in the coming election.

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The Ethiopian government has rejected a report by a UN commission, describing it as "incomplete, incoherent and unsubstantiated" and intended to demonise Ethiopia.

The UN-backed commission on Tuesday highlighted what it called credible information of large-scale killings committed by Ethiopia's national defence force.

"The government regrets the hasty, substandard, and agenda-driven pathway the [International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia], chose to discharge its responsibility"

It added that the report was "a manifestly political statement issued under the guise of an investigation report".

The government defended itself saying it had brought perpetrators of human rights violations to justice.

Both the federal government and the rebel Tigray forces have accused each other of human rights violations as the war in the northern region of Tigray rages.

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Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (Nema) held an emergency meeting on Tuesday following deadly floods that could worsen after neighbouring Cameroon opened flood gates at a dam to release excess water.

Since the start of the rainy season in July, at least 300 people have been killed and more than 100,000 others displaced.

Nema Director General Mustapha Habib Ahmed said 13 Nigerian states are at risk.

He said the spill-over effects from Cameroon's Lagdo dam combined with heavy rainfall could affect more states - including the oil-producing Niger Delta.

“The released water complicates the situation further downstream, as Nigeria’s inland reservoirs including Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro, are also expected to overflow between now and October ending," Mr Ahmed said.

Heavy rains in the north-eastern Yobe State have submerged roads and swept a major bridge linking the state capital and some local government areas, the authorities said.

More than 100 alleged members of a youth gang arrested in Tanzania are expected to appear in court to answer to criminal charges in the city of Dar es Salaam.

The authorities are working towards containing criminal activities carried out by the Panya (Swahili for rat) Road gang.

The gang, which has members aged 14-30, has been in operation since 2016 and is widely known for using machetes to raid homes and carry out robberies.

Jumanne Muliro, the Dar es Salaam regional police commander, said more than 300 police officers have been deployed across the city to arrest suspected gang members.

Last week, police confirmed killing six people in connection with criminal activities in the city.

This was just a few days after the gang reportedly invaded a neighbourhood at night and killed a second-year university student identified as Maria Basso.

An incident of violent robbery involving the gang was also reported last week in the city’s Temeke district.

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Senegal’s President Macky Sall has called for the lifting of sanctions against Zimbabwe in his address to the 77th UN General Assembly in New York.

The Senegalese leader, and the current chairman of the African Union, said the measures against Zimbabwe were aggravating the suffering of the people.

The US and the European Union (EU) maintain sanctions on Zimbabwe, citing a lack of progress in democratic and human rights reforms as well as restrictions on press freedoms.

The sanctions target both specific individuals and companies - including President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Zimbabwe's economy has faced deep economic crises over the past few years with periods of hyperinflation - but there's little evidence to suggest that the sanctions are responsible.

President Sall was the first African leader to address the General Assembly.

He urged the Security Council to address conflicts in Africa in the same way it addressed other conflicts.

He also called for reforms in the council that would make it more inclusive and possibly grant Africa a permanent seat.

Mr Sall also called for Africa to be given a seat in the G20 group, which includes leaders of the world's 20 major economies.

More African leaders are expected to address the UN general assembly on Wednesday on the second day of the high-level debate.

More on Zimbabwe's sanctions:

• Who are Zimbabwe sanctions hurting?
• Is Zimbabwe worse off than under former President Mugabe?

Slow reconstruction following February's devastating tropical storm in Mozambique has left more than 7,000 students in the western Tete province with no access to classrooms or desks, the authorities there say.

Students in Tsangano have been gathering in churches, under trees, sitting on home benches and blocks, according to Domingos António, the district director of education, youth and technology.

He told local media that 20 more classrooms were under construction but a lack of equipment had delayed others.

Tropical storm Ana also destroyed 778 schools in the provinces of Zambézia, Tete, Manica, Sofala and Nampula.

Education authorities worry they would be unable to provide safe learning environments to tens of thousands of learners across the country.

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The authorities in Nigeria say more than 300 people have been killed and more than 100,000 displaced by floods across the country since July.

Homes and farms have also been devastated.

The West African country is currently experiencing its worst deadly floods in many years.

The authorities say 29 of its 36 states have been affected by floods.

They are caused by heavy rains and release of excess waters from dams by authorities within Nigeria and in neighbouring Cameroon. Rivers are also overflowing.

Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency has warned that more floods are expected in the coming weeks.

It urged state governments to help evacuate people living in flood-prone areas.

The head of the agency, Ahmed Mustapha Habib, said more emergency personnel and equipment have been deployed to help victims, describing the emergency situation as a "challenging moment’’.

Several African countries are experiencing unusual torrential rains - often leading to devastating floods.

Experts partly attribute this to the impact of climate change.

Poor infrastructure and a lack of mitigating measures are also believed to be contributing to the huge levels of destruction.

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Kenya's central bank has licensed 10 digital money lending companies in a move intended to lock out rogue players.

The regulator said another 278 that had applied for clearance had not met the required standards.

Digital-lending apps have established a solid footing in the country, some backed by huge venture capital groups in Western and Asia markets.

But their presence has raised concern because they are largely unregulated.

The central bank had given a six-month window for the lenders to apply for licences, which closed on 17 September.

Surprisingly, the leading lenders are not on the list of 10 announced.

The regulator says the hundreds of applications are still being processed, promising to shut down any players that will not comply.

The clean-up is part of a new law that gave the central bank powers to regulate mobile lending companies. It is aimed at protecting borrowers from exploitation of private data as well as being charged exorbitant interest rates.

More on this topic:

• Kenya outrage over debt collectors' shaming tactics
• The lure of the get-rich-quick scam in Kenya

The United States says it's following Eritrean troop movements in northern Ethiopia's Tigray region after rebels there said a full scale offensive was underway.

The US special envoy to the Horn of Africa, Mike Hammer, described the reports as extremely concerning.

He said external forces should avoid fuelling the ongoing conflict in Tigray.

Eritrea has been allied with Ethiopian government soldiers in their two- year long war against Tigrayan rebels.

Mr Hammer said the presence of Eritrean troops only inflamed an already tragic situation.

Earlier, a spokesman for the rebel TPLF Getachew Reda said there was heavy fighting in several areas along the border.

Read:

• Eritrea's mass mobilisation amid Ethiopia civil war

Tanzania has scrapped unpopular banking and mobile money transaction fees imposed last year amid public outcry.

Finance Minister Mwigulu Nchemba told lawmakers the charges were abolished following a directive by President Samia Suluhu Hassan.

The move affects charges for transactions from bank accounts to mobile money accounts, transactions within the same bank, and transactions from one bank to another.

“I would like to present this report whereby we have made the following adjustments that would reduce the burden of transaction fees in the society,” the minister told MPs.

The changes will come into effect on 1 October.

The minister said the changes will greatly affect the government’s revenue, but ordered state agencies to cut expenditures on snacks, seminars and workshops.

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The death penalty has been abolished in Equatorial Guinea, according to a new criminal code signed by President Teodoro Obiang, state media has reported.

The last execution in the country took place eight years ago.

Mr Obiang's son, Vice-President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, described the decision as "historical and memorable," Reuters news agency reports.

The new penal code will be implemented after 90 days, Reuters reports.

The move comes three years after President Obiang promised to abolish the death penalty.

The acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif praised the new law.

"I welcome the adoption of a new penal code in Equatorial Guinea abolishing the death penalty. The death penalty is incompatible with fundamental tenets of human rights and dignity," she said in a statement.

Capital punishment remains legal in just over 30 African countries, but more than 20 of those have not carried out executions for at least 10 years, according to data provider Statista.

A spellbinding performance by a South African musician has got the attention of R&B singer John Legend after he challenged musicians to record a verse for his latest song.

Mthandazo Gatya added "an African touch" as he called it, to Legend's Nervous hit.

The American singer had posted a video of himself on TikTok singing a verse from his hit song and cueing others to join in.

Gatya, according to many fans, created the magic that Legend was looking for. Watch below:

"Thank you all for making sure John Legend sees my duet, great news is that he loved it and replied," Gatya tweeted.

His verse, sang in his native Zulu, quickly became the fans' favourite attracting more than one million views. Others urged Legend to end the challenge because there was a clear winner.

Gatya, a well known Amapiano artist, gained fame for a song widely shared online during South Africa's lockdown to curb the Covid-19 pandemic.

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A cholera outbreak has caused deaths at a camp in north-eastern Nigeria that holds former Boko Haram fighters and their families.

Eyewitnesses have told the BBC that at least a dozen people have died, but authorities say only a small number of cases have been reported.

The Shokari camp in Borno state is home to thousands of former Islamist militants from the insurgent Boko Haram group.

Many of them abandoned the group and surrendered to government troops following the death of their leader Abubakar Shekau last year.

But people in the camp say living conditions are unsanitary.

Multiple sources describe toilets overflowing with faeces and stagnant water.

It's unclear how many people have died since the start of the outbreak, but one eyewitness counted the bodies of four children.

The charity Médecins Sans Frontières says there’s been a dramatic uptick in the number of cholera patients in Maiduguri.

Numbers have gone from around 50 per week earlier in the outbreak, to 250 cases last week.

Last year Nigeria experienced its worst cholera outbreak in recent years, with more than 100,000 cases and about 3,500 deaths reported.