BBC News Africa

People in Bana in western Cameroon have been sharing pictures and videos of what many said was snowfall.

As it started to come down people rushed out to capture this unusual event.

But was it in fact snow?

Looking at the pictures, BBC Weather forecaster Nikki Berry said it looks more like hail rather than snow.

"It would be highly unusual to get snow in Cameroon, other than on the very highest mountains," she told us.

"I believe Bana is around 1500m elevation which would not be high enough for snow at that latitude. You can see in the video that it is formed of granular lumps of ice rather than flakes."

"It certainly is possible to get hail at those latitudes if thunderstorm clouds reach high enough in the atmosphere. There have been some active thunderstorms in the region over the last few days - and so entirely possibly that one of them resulted in hail."

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

A delegation from the West African regional bloc Ecowas has had an initial meeting with members of the military junta in Guinea's capital, Conakry.

The diplomats, including foreign ministers from Ghana, Burkina Faso and Togo, flew into the country following Sunday's overthrow of President Alpha Condé.

In response, Ecowas condemned the coup and suspended Guinea from the organisation.

The Ecowas delegation will be looking for assurances that Mr Condé is in good health, pressing for his release from custody and asking for a timetable for the return of constitutional order, the BBC's Alhassan Sillah reports from Conakry.

Kenya’s Interior Minister Fred Matiangí has accused politicians of being behind the ongoing violence in Laikipia county in the the Rift Valley.

More than a dozen people have died in the past month, hundreds of people have fled and many homes have been destroyed.

A current and former member of parliament are already facing charges. Neither has commented.

At first, the authorities said that a scramble for water and land was at the heart of the violence.

But now the state alleges the violence is a calculated move aimed at disrupting some voters before next year’s general election.

The government says it is moving an elite forces training base to the affected area, and promised to help displaced families return to their farms.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has begun legal proceedings to try and get a court to set aside the decision to release former President Jacob Zuma on medical parole.

This comes after the national commissioner of correctional services, Arthur Fraser, admitted that he vetoed a decision by the independent medical parole board to deny the controversial ex-president's request.

The board had declined Zuma’s medical parole, saying that his health was stable enough for him to complete his prison sentence.

The Democratic Alliance wants access to the medical records that were used by correctional services to grant Zuma’s parole.

Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in jail by the Constitutional Court after being found in contempt of court for refusing to testify at a corruption enquiry.

The court has not yet set a date to hear the DA's case.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

A Nobel peace laureate from the Democratic Republic of Congo has called for the establishment of an international criminal court for his country following 25 years of conflict.

The gynaecologist, Denis Mukwege, described the violence perpetrated by dozens of armed groups in the east of the country as intolerable, with people living in fear and horror.

He said investigators should exhume mass graves and preserve evidence of what he said were likely to be war crimes.

Dr Mukwege has treated hundreds of women who have been raped and sexually mutilated by militiamen.

Aid groups say more than five million people have died as a result of the conflict.

The UN says one million people have been displaced this year alone, and 25,000 human rights abuses recorded.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Malawi's High Court has found prominent businessman Thomson Mpinganjira guilty of attempting to bribe judges in an effort to get them to rule in favour of then-President Peter Mutharika.

Mpinganjira is one of Malawi's richest people and is known to have links to Mr Mutharika's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Mr Mutharika was re-elected for a second term in May 2019, but the opposition went to court to challenge the results, arguing that they were tainted with irregularities.

Mpinganjira was recorded on tape offering one of the judges financial inducements to influence the court outcome.

In 2020, the court ruled that there had been widespread irregularities and ordered a new election. Mr Mutharika lost the re-run to Lazarus Chakwera.

In Friday's judgement, the High Court in Blantyre found Mpinganjira guilty of corruption and ordered that his bail be revoked as he waits for sentencing.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

A magistrate in Zimbabwe has said that the body of former President Robert Mugabe can be exhumed after a traditional leader said that his burial had violated cultural practices.

Mugabe, who died aged 95 in 2019, was buried in a courtyard of his family homestead. But after a local court hearing in May, the traditional leader said the internment broke local custom, the Reuters news agency reported at the time.

"I give powers to those who are permitted by law to exhume the late Robert Mugabe's remains from Kutama and rebury them at the National Heroes Acre in Harare," a copy of the ruling in the local Shona language quoted by Reuters said.

Mugabe's family challenged that ruling, but a magistrate has dismissed the challenge.

The family is likely to appeal to the High Court, the BBC's Shingai Nyoka says.

Mugabe led Zimbabwe from independence in 1980 to 2017, when he was overthrown.

His family says he remained bitter after being ousted from power and did not want to be buried at the national shrine.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Ethiopia says a controversial mega dam it’s building over the Blue Nile will start generating electricity in a month.

The announcement by the country’s water ministry comes as the two downstream countries, Egypt and Sudan, continue to raise concerns that the dam will impact their essential water supplies.

The $5bn (£3.6bn) project is aimed at providing power to tens of millions of Ethiopians, which could transform people's lives and the economy.

Speaking to the BBC, Water Minister Sileshi Bekele said that an initial 750 megawatts of electricity will be produced by two of the dam’s turbines.

When it's finished, the dam is expected to generate eight times that amount.

The project has caused tension between Ethiopia and its neighbours, with Egypt and Sudan worried about droughts and water security.

But, at a time when Ethiopia is enmeshed in a costly civil war, this is a rare bit of good news for many in the country.

The African Union has suspended Guinea in the wake of Sunday's coup, a tweet from the AU's Political Affairs Peace and Security department says.

President Alpha Condé was overthrown by a group of soldiers led by Col Mamady Doumbouya.

The coup has been condemned by regional leaders as well as the African Union, UN secretary general and the US.

The regional body Ecowas suspended Guinea on Wednesday and regional ministers have arrived in Conakry to talk to the junta about a return to constitutional order.

But the military leaders have been met by jubilant crowds on the streets of the capital, Conakry.

Many expressed dissatisfaction with President Condé, serving his third term, and the corruption and economic mismanagement of the country.

BBCCopyright: BBC

The Kenyan military has joined police units to drive out attackers from the troubled Laikipia Nature Conservancy in the Rift Valley.

Armed pastoralists have invaded the private protected area and have torched homes as well as moved large herds of animals to graze on maize fields.

Police say the illegal herders are mostly from neighbouring Baringo county.

At least six people have been killed in the last week and more than a dozen have died in a month.

According to local reports, seven houses were destroyed overnight, including two which belong to police reservists.

Affected locals are suggesting there is a deliberate effort to drive some communities out of the region.

Hundreds of people have been forced from homes where some have lived for decades in incidents which have been linked to growing competition over land and water.

Two politicians, including a member of parliament, were arrested two days ago on suspicion of incitement. They have not commented on the charges.

South Sudan Embassy in GermanyCopyright: South Sudan Embassy in Germany

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has sacked the country's foreign affairs minister.

Beatrice Khamisa Wani Noah's dismissal was announced in a presidential decree read on the national broadcaster SSBC on Thursday night.

No reasons were given for her removal from office.

She has been replaced with Mayiik Ayii Deng, the former minister for presidential affairs who was sacked in June last year.

The veteran South Sudanese female diplomat was the second woman in South Sudan to hold the foreign affairs post.

Appointed on the ticket of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) party of President Kiir, she assumed the position in the national unity government in February last year.

The dismissal of Ms Khamisa has generated social media frenzy among South Sudanese - both at home and in the diaspora.

Some online users have condemned her sacking and replacement with a man - saying it’s a blatant violation of the 35% affirmative action allocated to women in the revitalised peace agreement.

A video that appears to show US soldiers driving among crowds of people in the Guinean capital, Conakry, has been fueling speculation that America had some involvement in this week's coup.

In the video, people are shouting "freedom, freedom, freedom" and greeting the soldiers who are smiling back.

But the US has said it was not involved in the coup and has in fact condemned it.

In a statement, the US state department said that some US service members were involved in a joint training exercise outside of Conakry, a correspondent for the Reuters news agency has tweeted.

"Given the changing security situation, it was decided that the team would be relocated to the US. Embassy in Conakry. Guinean security forces provided an escort to Conakry to ensure the safe passage of the team," Hereward Holland quotes the statement as saying.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Almost all state institutions in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province remain shut, about a month after jihadist attacks in the area were brought under control.

The situation is considered serious in Palma district, the only area in which civilians have been allowed to return, of the several that have been recaptured from jihadists by joint Mozambican and Rwandan forces.

The few people who have had the courage to return to their homes have found a scene of destruction and a heavy military presence.

“I had fled to Quitunda and when I returned to the village of Palma, about a week ago, I found only military personnel and all government buildings destroyed and closed,” said Sufo Assane, one of the first returnees.

Besides the absence of the state institutions, many families who have returned to the recaptured areas are food are facing hunger and are surviving through the help of others who found some produce in their farms.

“Since we arrived here, we still haven't received help from the government and we eat cassava and sweet potato leaves that we are being offered by people who have managed to recover some produce from their fields,” Bacar Macotcha explained.

Some small traders have resumed their businesses including selling basic foodstuffs, but there are few customers as most families have little money to spend.

Another concern is accommodation, with some still sleeping outside while waiting for an opportunity to rebuild their destroyed homes.

The people have also been complaining about the lack of healthcare in Palma.

“The hospital is closed and we don't have any nurses. When someone is sick, they go to Quitunda, about 15km (nine miles) from here,” said Aissa Momade.

Ethiopia's double Olympic gold medallist Derartu Tullu has visited four of the country's top runners to share the joys of motherhood after they gave birth in recent months.

The four include Sofia Assefa, who won silver in the 3000m steeplechase at 2012 London Olympic Games, World Athletics Championship bronze medallist Belaynesh Oljirra, as well as Hiwot Ayalew and Tirfi Tsegaye.

Derartu, a mother of two, gave them gifts - including flowers and sheep.

The visit was ahead of celebrations to mark Ethiopia's New Year. The nation will start 2014 on Saturday.

The Ethiopian Athletics Federation has posted images of Derartu's visit to the athletes on its Facebook page:

AFPCopyright: AFP

Gunmen have kidnapped three people who worked on a farm owned by Nigeria's former President Olusegun Obasanjo in south-western Ogun state.

The gunmen opened fire on a vehicle transporting the three, before abducting them and running into a forest.

Ogun police spokesman Abimbola Oyeyemi confirmed the abductions.

Security forces have embarked on a manhunt for the kidnappers in a bid to rescue the victims, he added.

Mr Obasanjo owns a company which is heavily involved in farming, especially poultry.

The motive for the abductions is still unclear, but kidnappings for ransom have been on the rise across Nigeria despite increased security operations.