BBC News Africa

Police in Trinidad and Tobago have told the BBC they are still trying to discover the identities of 15 bodies found in a Mauritanian boat that washed up in the Caribbean nation in May.

It's believed they were attempting to get to the Canary Islands in order to get to Europe, when the boat was blown off course.

It may have been floating in the Atlantic Ocean for about two months before it was found.

William Nurse, the assistant commissioner of Tobago's police force, is one of those involved in the investigation and was part of the team which found the skeletal remains on the vessel.

“It was one of the most horrific experiences I have ever seen in my 38 years as a police officer,” he told the BBC’s Newsday presenter James Copnall.

"I asked myself... what were they trying to escape from? Where were they trying to go? What was their life before they left their country of their origin?

“The boat was a large boat with a very small Yamaha engine and very little fuel, so there was no way they could have made that journey based on where they started to where they wanted to go."

He says investigators have been able to collect some fingerprints and their cyber unit has gathered information from seven mobile phones found on the boat.

This information is being shared with officials in Mauritania as part of efforts to identify them.

He added that this was not an isolated incident - and he had heard of other lost boats crossing the Atlantic - one turning up in Turks and Caicos and another in Honduras.

Listen to the full interview:

Tamy MoyoCopyright: Tamy Moyo

Zimbabwe’s Tamy Moyo is only 23 but she’s already had a long career in music.

She started singing at the tender age of seven, and recorded her first album under her father’s supervision aged 13.

She’s performed or collaborated with a roll call of big names including Oliver Mtukudzi and Burna Boy.

Her father is Richard Kohola, a presenter at Zimbabwe’s Star FM, and he is her manager to this day along with her mother Doris Moyo.

I asked Moyo what it was like growing up with such a well-known father:

“It was awesome, he’s a great ball of energy, very creative, I consider him a music genius, my biggest critic and my biggest fan at the same time.

"He’s always believed in me from day one and told me, ‘You’re gonna be a star’ - and till today he still affirms those things. You need somebody in your corner like that.”

Lucky lady, and Moyo has not disappointed her father. She’s had a string of hits and in 2019 she was nominated in the category of best female artist from southern Africa at the All Africa Music Awards (Afrima).

But Moyo admits it hasn’t always been easy working with her parents.

“Trying to differentiate baby from artist wasn’t easy at all, especially with my Mum! I have to remind her and say, ‘Yo, we’re at work today!’”

Moyo also says she became very dependent on the opinions of certain important people and needed to learn to trust her own judgement more. A big breakthrough for her was the song Kwandinobva.

“I played the beat to my Dad because I trust him so much and he was like, 'No, it’s not the song.' I remember thinking, 'So what is the song, because I tried!'”

Moyo went back to the drawing board, but after five months, she approached DJ Tamuka, the producer of the beat, again, and asked him to give it to her.

She had the lyrics done and dusted in an hour. The song starts: “If I say that I like it, don’t you tell me any different…”

The musician says: “I remember when it came out it was pure magic for me, because I’ve doubted myself for the longest time. And this is proof that if I put my mind to something and if something sits on my heart, obey that, listen to it.

"I think to date it’s one of my best and my biggest songs.”

You can hear my conversation with Tamy Moyo on This is Africa this Saturday, on BBC World Service radio and partner stations across Africa.

@africatechieCopyright: @africatechie

Cameroonian tech entrepreneur Rebecca Enonchong has been freed after three days in detention.

The reasons for her arrest in the country's economic capital, Douala, on Tuesday are unclear.

But her detention prompted her supporters to launch the hashtag #FreeRebecca, which has been trending in the region on Twitter.

On Friday afternoon she tweeted: “I’m free!! All charges dropped!

“We can retire the #FreeRebecca hashtag. So immensely grateful to all of you for believing in me and supporting me.”

Earlier in the week, her business partner had told the BBC that Ms Enonchong had been detained for contempt of court linked to legal cases involving some family property.

Last year, Ms Enonchong was listed by Forbes as one of the 50 most powerful women in Africa.

She has been critical of the government's handling of the crisis in Cameroon's English-speaking regions.

A Kenyan gospel singer is under fire for saying women working in the Middle East are to blame for being mistreated as they often sleep with their employers.

Jimmy Gait was a guest on K24 TV - talking about putting together his latest album when he revealed he also ran a job placement agency, helping young people get work in the Middle East.

He was asked by the presenter to comment on accounts about women being abused by their employers in the Middle East.

Gait dismissed such concerns, saying: “The number one reason why these girls get mistreated is indiscipline... They go sleeping with people’s husbands, they get caught and they face the repercussions.”

He went further to suggest that men never had such problems: “Here’s the thing, the reason you don’t get to hear men being mistreated is because, they do not go sleeping with the bosses’ wives.”

Kenyans on social media have expressed their dismay at the singer’s comments - and his name has been trending on Twitter.

They accuse him of victim blaming and shaming, an attitude that promotes rape culture.

Thousands of Kenyan women work in the Middle East as domestic workers, often lured with promises of large salaries.

They can face terrible conditions from which they are unable to escape as their passports are often confiscated by their employers.

Several years ago, the Kenyan government introduced new rules to protect these expatriate workers and requiring job agencies to submit regular reports.

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The announcement of the results at Zambia’s electoral commission has been temporarily halted, the BBC’s Nomsa Maseko has tweeted from the capital, Lusaka.

Some party agents criticised the commission for attempting to announce some results which had not been verified.

Party agents have marched out of the auditorium for a meeting with electoral officials, our reporter says.

She has also tweeted pictures of the data emerging from the count so far.

Twelve people have died in clashes between two communities in Cameroon’s Far North region, Midjiyawa Bakari, the regional governor, says.

The unrest, in which 48 people were also injured, took place in Logone Birni, an area on the banks of Logone River along the border between Chad and Cameroon.

It began following a dispute between an ethnic Mosgoum fisherman and an Choah Arab herder.

The fisherman had built a dike to hold fish in an area the herder came to water his cattle.

One of the cows died in the dike leading to the disagreement between the communities.

The army was deployed to calm the tensions.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Dealing with a cholera outbreak at the same time as the highly contagious Delta strain of coronavirus is posing an existential threat to Nigeria, the head of the country’s public health agency says.

More than half of the country's 36 states have been hit by cholera outbreak and hundreds of victims have died, many of them children, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) says.

The dense population of some Nigerian cities as well as fatigue over preventative cautions were also contributing to the surge in Covid-19 infections, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu told the BBC.

A strike by doctors in public hospitals was making matters even more difficult, the NCDC boss said

"There couldn't be a worse time to have a strike at the moment," he said, appealing for it to be called off.

The strike, over delayed salaries and allowances, has entered its second week.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

The emergency services in Algeria are continuing to battle around 35 wildfires raging in a number of provinces.

But the authorities say three-quarters of the 100 or so that were burning on Thursday have now been extinguished.

More than 70 people have been killed in the blazes that began breaking out on Monday.

Algeria is enduring heatwave conditions at a time of year when it's prone to forest fires.

But senior officials have repeatedly blamed arsonists for much of the devastation. More than 20 arrests have been made.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

A key political ally of Riek Machar has resigned dealing a blow to the South Sudanese vice-president, who is facing leadership challenges from within his party.

Henry Dilah Odwar, Mr Machar’s deputy, is leaving the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) and his role in the unity government, set up to end a bitter civil war.

He gave no reason for his resignation, but it comes just over a week after three generals in the military wing of the SPLM-IO tried to remove Mr Machar.

The SPLM-IO leader has dismissed their attempt, saying those behind it were “peace spoilers”.

He maintains their true motive is to derail the unification of former rebel and government forces into a new national army, a key part of the 2018 peace agreement.

SPLM-IO spokesman Puok Both Baluang told the BBC that Mr Odwar had told Mr Machar he was stepping down because of health issues.

However, there are reports that he has joined the generals whose breakaway group is known as Kitgwang.

The bodies of two women and four children are reported to have been found in the desert in south-western Tunisia.

They are understood to have been migrants from Niger, who apparently died of thirst.

A sole survivor of the group had left to try to find water, but got lost.

The migrants had crossed into Tunisia from Algeria - walking in the heat wave that's currently gripping North Africa.

Tunisia is a point of departure for many people trying to reach Europe.

The Nigeria High commission in London has been closed after two officials tested positive for Covid-19.

The 10-day closure is likely to affect the mission’s services.

One of the diplomats tested positive during screening at the entrance to the UK's Home Office - where they were due to attend a meeting, a statement from the high commission said.

As a result, all members of the Nigerian diplomatic mission were tested.

During the testing exercise, another official was found to have contracted the virus.

Those who have had contact with them have now gone into mandatory isolation for 10 days.

Officials say the closure of the embassy is in line with Covid-19 protocols and the need to respect the UK’s rules.

The services that will be affected include visa processing and the issuance of passports.

BBCCopyright: BBC

The trial of Tanzania’s main opposition leader Freeman Mbowe has been postponed for a third time - and will now start on 27 August.

The Chadema leader has been in detention since his arrest last month on terrorism-related charges.

The hearing was meant to be in court but transport difficulties meant officials tried to hold it online.

However the virtual session was then affected by technical issues as not all the defendants were able to join.

The court ordered that at the next hearing Mr Mbowe and his co-accused should be physically present.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Sierra Leone is dropping the last three zeroes from its currency, the leone.

The new currency will be valued at about 10 to the US dollar, according to the country’s central bank.

The leone has been falling since austerity measures were introduced in 2017.

With mining companies and the government in a long-running battle, the Covid-19 pandemic has made things worse.

The central bank governor, Prof Kelfala Kallon, said the move would make it easier for people who had to go around carrying “a whole amount cash to just do something very simple”.

He told the BBC's Focus on Africa radio programme that people had been putting themselves at risk with thieves “lurking around [banks] to see who is coming out with a big sack and then they follow them”.

The governor said the re-denomination would also give a “psychological boost” for Sierra Leoneans.

No date has been give for when exactly the new leone, as it'll be called, will be introduced.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Zambia’s main opposition presidential candidate has called on the for the internet to be restored after it was cut during Thursday's tightly contested elections.

“We call on Zicta [the communications authority] to immediately unblock the internet so citizens can follow the electoral process and continue with their lives unhindered,” Hakainde Hichilema said in a tweet.

The BBC team in Zambia says WhatsApp is still down and Twitter and Facebook intermittently so.

People have been using virtual private networks (VPNs), which allow users to circumvent local restrictions.

Election day passed off largely peacefully, but President Edgar Lungu, who is seeking a second term, said some violence was reported in the North-Western province, a stronghold of Mr Hichilema, where two people including a ruling Patriotic Front (PF) party chairman were killed.

“I’m also appalled by the amount of mayhem witnessed in North-Western, some parts of Western, and Southern provinces. Clearly, the elections in these places have not been free and fair,” he tweeted.

He said he had ordered that troops be reinforced in these three provinces.

BBCCopyright: BBC

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AFPCopyright: AFP

South Africa is calling for more men to come out in greater numbers and take Covid jabs as their numbers trails that of women.

About 60% of vaccines have been administered to women, health officials noted on Friday during a media briefing on government’s efforts in the fight against the disease.

It comes as the country aims to vaccinate at least 70% of its total adult population by December

As the number of fully vaccinated people currently stands at about four million, 28 million people will have be vaccinated to meet the target, Nicholas Crisp, a director in the ministry, says.

Health Minister Joe Phaahla ruled out the easing of Covid restrictions despite a “downward trend” in infections.

He said the positivity rate was still high and that hospitals were still under tremendous pressure.

South Africa has so far registered 2,568,511 cases of Covid and 76,243 deaths. It has the most cases in Africa.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Kenya says its low-key reception for Olympians returning from Japan was to ensure adherence to Covid-19 regulations.

Contrary to what Kenyans online were saying, the athletes were received, just not with a grand ceremony like many expected, government spokesperson Cyrus Oguna said.

The government was trying to avoid large gatherings at the airport - and the negative comparison to the grand reception given to Ugandan athletes was inappropriate, he said.

"When you are a new mother you get extremely excited about your child but when this is your 10th child the excitement may not be as much," the spokesman said - making reference to Kenya's previous successes in the world of athletics.

The East Africa nation emerged top in Africa bagging 10 medals in Tokyo.

Uganda, which won four medals, including two golds, has a more sporadic record overall.

Their athletes were given cars and houses at a major ceremony in recognition of their efforts.