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There are reports that fighting has resumed in the city of El Geneina in the Sudanese region of Darfur where at least 200 people died over the weekend.

Following a lull in the fighting on Tuesday the sound of heavy gunfire can once again be heard.

Tension has been high between Arab nomads and members of the Massalit community who have clashed over land for decades.

On Sunday members of the Janjaweed militia backed up by a paramilitary unit known as the Rapid Support Force launched an attack on El Geneina.

The city is home to many thousands who fled their homes during the Darfur war that took place almost two decades ago.

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Somalia's members of parliament have elected Sheikh Adan Madobe as the speaker of the country's lower house of parliament.

Mr Madobe's election comes a day after the upper house re-elected its speaker.

The election of speakers is a crucial step towards the conclusion of the country's long-drawn electoral process.

The new parliamentary leaders are expected to spearhead the process of electing the country's next president and that process must be done by the end of May.

Mr Madobe, 66, previously held the speaker's position for two years in 2007 during the transitional administration of the late President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed.

He garnered 163 votes against his closest contender Hassan Abdinur's 89 votes in a hotly contested election that ended in the early hours of Thursday.

He took the oath of office at the end of the election that was held in an air force hangar near the African Union peacekeeping mission base in the capital, Mogadishu.

The country had missed several deadlines to conclude elections, resulting in sanctions against MPs by the US.

Related stories:

• Somalia's elections - where the people don't vote

• A quick guide to Somalia

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The Nigerian senate has passed a bill imposing jail terms of at least 15 years on anyone paying a ransom to free someone who has been kidnapped.

Critics say the move is unfair as it criminalises people who are desperate to free their relatives.

The new law will also provide the death penalty or life in prison for anyone found guilty of kidnapping.

For more than a decade, Nigeria has been struggling to deal with a deadly wave of kidnappings for ransom by armed groups.

The bill needs to be debated and passed by the lower house before the president signs it into law - a process that could take weeks or months.

More on Nigeria's kidnapping crisis:

• 'I was kidnapped and now only travel by train'
• 'I saw my two-year-old carried by a man with a gun'

• Outrage at Nigeria's brazen bandit attacks

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Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni says Uganda may deploy a large force to help fight Islamic militants in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province.

His Mozambican counterpart, Filipe Nyusi, is on a three-day visit to Uganda to strengthen ties between the two nations.

Ugandan troops are currently deployed in Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Troops from Rwanda and others from the regional bloc, the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), are helping Mozambique fight the insurgents.

Uganda has so far helped the Mozambican forces with military equipment.

A study by the Geneva-based Global Initiative Against Transnational Crime warned in February that the militants had expanded their operations inside and outside of Mozambique despite the intervention of regional forces.

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There are reports that 20 Muslim worshippers have been attacked and killed in Ethiopia's Amhara region as they were on their way to a burial.

The violence appears unrelated to the conflict between pro-government forces and Tigrayan rebels.

The head of the Islamic Affairs Supreme Council in Amhara said an explosive device thrown into the crowd killed three people.

He said the other victims died when clashes broke out which also saw shops looted.

The cemetery where the attack occurred has been the subject of a dispute between Muslims and Orthodox Christians who account for the majority of Ethiopia's population.

A charity has begun what it says is the first legal challenge to the British government's policy of removing asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda.

Campaign group Freedom from Torture said it had “serious concerns about the lawfulness of the policy”. The government has defended it.

In a pre-action letter - the first step in applying for a judicial review of the policy - the charity asked the Home Office to disclose details of the policy, including risk assessments.

Read: Is Rwanda a land of safety or fear?

At least 130 people, mostly civilians, have been killed by landmines and other explosives left after heavy fighting in 2020 around the Libyan capital Tripoli, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said.

The explosives were scattered in the suburbs of Tripoli during heavy fighting in 2019-2020, when military strongman Khalifa Haftar tried to capture the capital.

"Forces allied with Khalifa Haftar laid landmines and improvised explosive devices that have killed and maimed several hundred civilians including children, and hinder southern Tripoli residents from returning home," said HRW's Libya director Hanan Salah.

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Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has met Chad's leader Mahamat Idriss Déby in the Saudi city of Jeddah.

Saudi Arabia's official news agency SPA said that the two leaders had discussed cooperation in a multitude of fields.

It did not provide further details.

Tigrayan forces have completely withdrawn from the neighboring Ethiopian Afar region, Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) spokesman Getachew Reda has said on Twitter.

“A note to the international community and to all concerned: for the record, there are no Tigray Forces, literally none, left in Afar,” he tweeted.

Mr Getachew told Reuters on Monday that he hoped that it meant much-needed food aid would reach famine-stricken Tigray.

Since the Ethiopian government and Tigriayn forces reached a truce last month, only 144 trucks of food aid have made it into the region, according to the World Food Programme. The UN said at least 100 trucks are needed every day.

On Monday, the latest World Food Programme humanitarian convoy of 74 trucks arrived in Tigray.

The head of the Afar regional government's Peace and Security Bureau, Ibrahim Hamed Mohammed, told the BBC that Tigray forces had withdrawn from most of the region but still remained in some parts.

"They did not fully leave. There is a small army in the districts of Araju and Hida in the Magal district. They are still within 15 km (10 miles) of our border," he told the BBC.

Conflict broke out in Tigray in November 2020 and spread to the neighbouring Amhara and Afar regions, killing thousands, forcing millions to flee their homes and leaving hundreds of thousands on the brink of famine

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The Central African Republic (CAR) has adopted the cryptocurrency Bitcoin as legal tender.

It's the second country to do so after El Salvador.

Members of parliament unanimously approved the move and President Faustin Archange Touadera signed a bill into law that makes bitcoin legal tender alongside the CFA franc.

An official in the presidency said the move placed the CAR on the map of the world's boldest and most visionary countries.

The landlocked state, which is one of the world's poorest, has suffered from a devastating armed conflict in recent years

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Nigeria’s secret police have warned of possible bomb attacks during celebrations for Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

In a statement, spokesperson Peter Afunanya said the Department of State Services (DSS) had uncovered a plot by suspected gangs to carry out attacks on critical infrastructure, places of worship and recreation centres.

The warning comes after recent explosions at bars in the north-eastern states of Taraba and Yobe that killed several people.

A splinter faction of Boko Haram known as Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap) said it carried out the attacks.

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A new report has warned that a scheme set up to ensure mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo does not fuel conflict is being abused to launder tainted minerals.

Global Witness says companies - including Apple, Tesla and Intel - are relying on the due diligence scheme to source minerals that are widely used in electronic equipment such as mobile phones, computers and automotive and aeronautical systems.

Those behind the initiative have denied the allegations.

For years there have been warnings that some minerals sourced in DR Congo that are used in electronic devices are from mines controlled by armed groups.

A scheme was launched to try to prevent these so-called "blood minerals" reaching the international market.

But Global Witness says it has uncovered compelling evidence that the International Tin Supply Chain Initiative (ITSCI) is failing.

It says the scheme is being used to launder tin, tantalum and tungsten from mines controlled by militia or where children work.

Global Witness says companies like Apple, Tesla and Intel need to do more to ensure their minerals are not fuelling conflict.

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Cases of police brutality and enforced disappearances are on a steady increase in Kenya, according to a joint report by Amnesty International Kenya and 16 local NGOs.

The report found 189 cases of police killings, as well as at least 30 people who have gone missing in police custody.

“We’re noticing a significant increase since 2020, and the numbers are steadily going up," said the executive director of Amnesty International Kenya, Irũngũ Houghton.

"The new trend we’ve noticed is the enforced abduction and disappearances of suspected criminals, terrorists, or just everyday civilians. Some of them have been found dead in Yala river or in Siaya county among other places,” he added

In response, a Kenyan government spokesperson said they are committed to abide by the rule of law and ensure that human rights are protected.

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One woman, Anne Wanjiku Kariuki, who is pregnant with her third child, said the last time she saw her husband, he was being dragged through their home by suspected police officers in plain clothes.

They were searching for something but refused to tell her what it was. Her husband managed to mutter "I’m being arrested’" before he was taken away. He hasn’t been seen since.

“It’s been a month and two weeks since they took him. The children are asking where he is and why he was arrested. I don’t know what to do, or how to feel, I’m constantly wondering whether he is alive or not,” she said.

Humans rights activist David Kuria said that regional police officers have denied involvement in his disappearance.

Miss RwandaCopyright: Miss Rwanda

The organiser of Miss Rwanda beauty pageant has been arrested on allegations of sexually abusing contestants, the authorities have said.

The arrest of Dieudonné Ishimwe, the chief executive of Rwanda Inspiration Back Up, the company that organises the contest, comes just a month after this year's edition.

Mr Ishimwe has not responded to the accusations against him.

The Miss Rwanda pageant is one of the most followed events in Rwanda.

An employee of the organising company told the BBC that four girls who contested last year and in this year’s edition had made complaints to investigators before his arrest.

“While the case was still under investigation, he was arrested on Monday”, she told the BBC under a condition of anonymity.

A state investigator is quoted by local media as saying that Mr Ishimwe "is suspected of sexual abuse charges towards Miss Rwanda contestants on different occasions”.

Leading one to sex acts “by force, threats, trickery or by use of authority over that person” is punishable by up to 15 years in prison in Rwanda.

The spokesperson of Rwanda Inspiration Back Up, who is the winner of Miss Rwanda 2019, resigned last week.