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The government in Burkina Faso says at least 43 people have been killed during an attack on two villages in the north of the country.

It has announced two days of national mourning in response to Sunday's attack in Yatenga Province, close to the border with Mali.

The area has witnessed jihadist attacks as well as violence between rival ethnic militias.

The two villages that were targeted are mainly inhabited by ethnic Fulanis.

In Burkina Faso 750,000 people have been displaced by violence - most of them since the beginning of the year.

To provide some defence against the jihadist attacks, the authorities are providing volunteers with weapons and two weeks of training.

Read more: Burkina Faso to arm civilians against militants

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Rights campaigners have called on the Ethiopian government to restore internet and mobile services that have been cut off since January in parts of the country’s largest region, Oromia.

Human Rights Watch said restrictions violate multiple rights and should be lifted immediately, as many have been unable to reach their relatives in the area.

Ethiopia has blocked the internet at least eight times since Prime Minister Abiy Amhed came to power in 2018.

The internet was blocked during protests but also during secondary school exams.

Many of these incidents lasted for no more than a few weeks.

But the current shutdown in the western part of Oromia has gone on for more than two months.

In some of these areas mobile networks are also unavailable.

In late February a senior military official told the BBC that the communication shutdown had been useful for counter-insurgency operations the army is taking against "bandits".

Preparations are underway for a highly anticipated general election later this year but many fear communications shutdowns could have a negative impact on its credibility.

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One of the key militant Islamist groups operating in Mali has said it is ready for talks with the Malian government "to end the bloody conflict", according to a statement seen by the security research consultancy Menastream.

The al-Qaeda-linked Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) has, however, said it will only take part in negotiations if French troops leave the country.

Last month Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta announced talks with JNIM leaders Iyad Ag Ghali and Amadou Koufa.

Local rights groups and media welcomed the development.

This development comes at a time when JNIM appears to be losing ground to the so-called Islamic State (IS) group, with local media reports indicating that JNIM fighters have been defecting to IS.

Four more people have tested positive for coronavirus in South Africa.

They were part of a group of 10 who travelled together to Italy and returned last week.

This brings the number of infected people in South Africa to seven.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize also said that the evacuation of more than 150 South Africans from Wuhan - the Chinese city at the epicentre of the outbreak - was still on course.

Meanwhile a school in Sandton, in northern Johannesburg, has been closed for the day as a precaution following concerns that one of its teachers had contact with some of the people who recently returned from Italy.

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One of the most influential spiritual and traditional leaders in northern Nigeria, the Emir of Kano Muhammad Sanusi II, has been dethroned for "insubordination" after a prolonged dispute with a local governor.

Correspondents say the move is likely to provoke anger amongst the emir's huge number of followers in the mostly Muslim north of Nigeria.

A controversial former bank chief, he came to the emir's throne in 2014 after exposing massive corruption in the oil sector.

The BBC's Ishaq Khalid in Nigeria says while the sacking has shocked many Nigerians, to those in the northern state of Kano it is not a surprise.

Since 2017 relations between the emir and the current Kano governor - Abdullahi Ganduje - have been strained.

Supporters of the governor believed the emir had opposed his re-election last year.

After the 2019 election, the governor split the Kano emirate into five and appointed four more emirs - to weaken Mr Sanusi’s influence.

Mr Sanusi has not yet commented on his removal - and his replacement has not been announced yet.

Traditional leaders hold few constitutional powers but are able to exert significant influence as they are seen as custodians of both religion and tradition.

• Read: A royal feud threatens Nigeria's heritage

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Zimbabwe has amended its laws to make the first 12 years of schooling compulsory.

Children are now required by law to stay in school for an extra five years to 16 years of age.

It is also now an offence to expel children on the grounds of pregnancy or non-payment of fees.

It appears to be a bold attempt to force parents to prioritise education in the wake of an economic crisis.

They now face up two years in jail, or a $260 (£200) fine if they can afford it, if they do not send their children to school.

But some believe that the government is shirking its responsibilities amid broken promises to provide free basic education and a chronic shortage of state schools.

Parents are spending less on education in a struggle to buy food. National research shows drop out in some areas are as high as 20%.

The high drop-out rate has also been blamed on pregnancy, early marriages, the distance from school and a lack of interest.

Scientists say that trees in the Congo basin are absorbing less carbon dioxide (C02) than they were in the past.

The Congo basin, which reaches across parts of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo and Gabon, is the world's second-largest rainforest after the Amazon.

A study published in the journal Nature said that we rely on the trees in the Congo Basin to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), something which fights against climate change, but that the trees had now reached their maximum growth rate.

One of research team, Aida Cuni-Sanchez, told BBC Newsday:

Because there's more CO2 in the atmosphere - which is the food of the plants - the faster they grow. But we discovered the last time we went that they were not growing faster because... they had reached the maximum growth rate.

This happened about 30 years earlier than was predicted.

Rising temperatures and changes in rainfall has [also had] the effect of more trees dying.

Therefore trees are growing a little more slowly and they're dying more, so the overall conclusion is that they're absorbing less CO2 than in the past."

Listen to the interview in full:

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The Nigerian government has confirmed another case of coronavirus in Ogun state, southwest of the country.

BBC's Chris Ewokor reports that the new case is a Nigerian who had been in contact with the Italian who tested positive for coronavirus two weeks ago.

The new case was put in isolation and was tested as part of the government's strategy to test everyone who had been in contact with the Italian.

"All other contacts of the index case in Ogun & Lagos will remain in isolation & testing will be done on those not yet tested," the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) wrote.

The NCDC tweeted:

Guinean President Alpha Condé has appointed the first ever female brigadier general.

Mahawa Sylla was promoted on 8 March which was the International Women's Day.

During the announcement, President Condé promised to promote women's empowerment saying, "women come first in Guinea".

A tweeter congratulated Gen Sylla:

Gen Sylla studied at the Command and Staff College in China and obtained a diploma in 2014, according to Vision Guinee news website.

She was appointed to the position of Deputy Secretary General of the National Defence Council in late 2017.

She also served with the United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI).

Guinea's directorate of information and public relations of the armed forces said Gen Sylla was promoted based on proposals given by the national defence ministry.