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Somalia's army has captured a major stronghold from the Islamist militant group, al-Shabab.

The town of El Bur, in central Somalia, had been held by al-Shabab since 2017.

Although the army have taken over, there were no reports of clashes and local correspondents say the jihadist fighters appear to have made a tactical withdrawal.

The development comes days after President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud announced the launch of a second offensive, which he said would eliminate the group within months.

Since last year, government forces working with clan militias have seized swathes of territory from al-Shabab.

The group has been weakened but continues to carry out frequent attacks, including in the capital, Mogadishu.

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President Yoweri Museveni’s criticism of the World Bank is an act of "hypocrisy", Ugandan opposition politician and activist Bobi Wine says.

The World Bank announced on 8 August that it would stop new loans to Uganda due to the country's punitive anti-gay law.

Mr Museveni responded by condemning the World Bank, accusing it of trying to coerce Uganda to reverse the controversial law.

However, Bobi Wine has said that Mr Museveni’s criticism of the World Bank is insincere, accusing him of previously working with the World Bank to sell off Ugandan public service infrastructure.

"Your recent outburst about the World Bank withholding future assistance to Uganda is a clear indication of your ideological disorientation and policy nomadism that has characterised your four-decade rule," Bobi Wine posted on X.

The World Bank said the new anti-LGBT law contravenes its values.

LGBT acts were already illegal in Uganda, but anyone now convicted faces life imprisonment under the new law which was enacted in May.

Dr Yilkal Kefale Asres/ TwitterCopyright: Dr Yilkal Kefale Asres/ Twitter

The head of the restive Amhara region in north-western Ethiopia has resigned amid ongoing violence that prompted a six-month state of emergency to be declared.

Yilkal Kefale led Ethiopia’s second most populous region for nearly two years.

His tenure has been marked by violence as a brutal civil war that broke out in neighbouring Tigray later expanded to Amhara resulting in civilian deaths, accusations of sexual abuse and a humanitarian crisis.

Since April, the region has seen sporadic clashes which earlier this month morphed into widespread unrest. Local militias opposing the federal government’s move to disband a regional paramilitary unit entered several cities and briefly controlled an airport.

An emergency summit of the region’s council in the capital Bahir Dar accepted the outgoing regional president’s resignation and appointed Arega Kebede to replace him.

Read more on this story:

• Why Ethiopia's Amhara militiamen are battling the army

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Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has banned the importation of second-hand clothes and electricity meters and cables.

The directive is aimed at creating jobs and developing Uganda’s manufacturing sector, including the textile industry.

“Stop buying second-hand clothes, these clothes are for dead people. When (whites) they die, they organise the clothes and bring them to Africa,” Mr Museveni said, according to the privately owned daily Daily Monitor.

President Museveni issued the directive while launching 10 factories that will manufacture electricity meters and cables in the eastern Uganda town of Mbale.

The factories, run by Chinese investors, are part of the Sino-Uganda Industrial Park, a project between the Ugandan government and Chinese investors.

Uganda’s neighbour Rwanda successfully banned the importation of second-hand clothes in 2018.

Other East African countries have also attempted to phase out second-hand clothing imports in the past.

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Sierra Leone's government has said that it is ready to "establish an Embassy of Sierra Leone in Jerusalem".

This follows other countries like the US, Guatemala, Honduras and Kosovo who have already opened embassies there.

Israel considers Jerusalem to be its capital - including East Jerusalem which it annexed in 1980.

But the move is not recognised by most of the international community.

Most countries have kept their embassies to Israel in Tel Aviv, as they think the status of Jerusalem should be decided in negotiations with the Palestinians - who claim it as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

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An “emotional” coming-of-age drama about a child with albinism will become the first Zambian full-length film to be shown on Netflix.

Can You See Us?, directed by Zambian filmmaker Kenny Mumba, follows a young protagonist as he navigates "bullying, tragedy and cautious hope” as a result of his genetic condition.

People with albinism can have pale skin, white hair, short sight and a sensitivity to light.

Can You See Us? had its general release in 2022 and was screened in the "best feature film" and "best cinematography" categories at the Zambian film festival.

Mr Mumba's creation was also hailed by Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema, who called the film “gripping” and emotional”.

Just last month, another Zambian production, Supa Team 4, became the first original African animation series to be released on Netflix.

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Election observers from southern African countries have criticised the conduct of the poll in Zimbabwe where votes are being counted.

The regional body called SADC said the voting was peaceful, but that some aspects fell short of local laws and its own guidelines.

Late on Wednesday more than 40 poll monitors were arrested as they were trying to compile their own vote count to compare with the official tally.

The arrests have been condemned by rights groups.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa is seeking re-election amid high unemployment and soaring inflation.

His main challenger is Nelson Chamisa of the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change.

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The United States treasury on Thursday announced the sanctioning of six Rwandans and Congolese alleged to have contributed to the ongoing conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo).

“Each of these individuals is contributing to instability in the eastern DR Congo and, in many cases, perpetrating human rights abuses, including sexual violence and violence against children,” the US Department of State said in a statement.

The six include a commander in DR Congo's military, a brigadier in Rwanda's armed forces, and members of M23 group and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR)

The sanctions will result in the freezing of the individuals’ assets in the US.

The sanctions also prohibit the individuals from engaging in business with Americans or receiving or benefitting from support in form of funds, goods, or services.

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The UN says the war in Sudan is having a devastating impact on the whole country and could tip the entire region into a humanitarian catastrophe.

Fighting between the army and a paramilitary force began in April and is spreading.

The UN says hundreds of thousands of children are severely malnourished and are at imminent risk of death if left untreated.

The UN's Humanitarian Co-ordinator says hunger, disease and displacement are threatening to totally destroy Sudan.

There have been many grim reports about the impact of the war but Martin Griffiths is suggesting that if the fighting between the army and the Rapid Support Forces continues, the whole region will face dire consequences.

This week the charity Save The Children said because of the violence it had been forced to close down dozens of its nutrition facilities.

It said more than 30,000 children were missing out on treatment and as a result close to 500 had died.

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Rwandan President Paul Kagame has warned Catholic believers against engaging in practices that he says glorifies poverty and which a government spokesperson described as "cult-like" behaviour.

He was alluding to a Catholic pilgrimage that took place in June, the New Times paper reports.

"If I ever hear about this again, that people travelled to go and worship poverty, I will bring trucks and round them up and imprison them, and only release them when the poverty mentality has left them," Mr Kagame is quoted by the AFP news agency as telling a youth conference in the capital, Kigali, on Wednesday.

"No-one must worship poverty. Do not ever do that again," he said.

The government clarified Mr Kagame's comments, saying he was not referencing - as had been reported - the world-famous Catholic site in Kibeho where the Virgin Mary is thought to have appeared.

"President Kagame did not at any point mention a specific pilgrimage site, and certainly not Kibeho," spokesperson Yolande Makolo told the AFP news agency.

Ms Makolo added that the president was likely referring to "an informal pilgrimage-type event that takes place in Rutsiro district".

She also said that the President's point in making his remarks "was to encourage young Rwandans to be ambitious & work hard".

At this event, faithful carry out a three-day pilgrimage that ends on a hill called Our Lady of the Poor, Rwanda's New Times reports.

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Floods caused by torrential rains have killed 32 people in Niger in recent months, the state-owned ANP news agency reported on Thursday.

"Tahoua [southern region] is the most bereaved with 12 dead, followed by Maradi [south] with 10 and Zinder [south] with six," the report said, citing updated figures from a department of the Interior ministry.

"Two deaths were reported in Tillaberi [western region], one in Niamey [capital] and one in Diffa [south-eastern region]."

According to the report, nine were killed after the houses they were staying in collapsed, while 23 perished by drowning.

Deadly torrential rains hit landlocked Niger every rainy season, which generally lasts between three and four months, from mid-June to mid-October.

Nigerian presidencyCopyright: Nigerian presidency

Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu has called for an immediate resolution to disagreements with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that affected flights and issuing of visas.

The UAE last year stopped issuing visas to Nigerians following the suspension of flights by the Emirates airline after it was unable to repatriate funds from the West African country due to forex restrictions.

Emirates said then that it had failed to make progress after “making considerable efforts to initiate dialogue with the relevant authorities” to find a viable solution

On Thursday, the president said the matter should be resolved “immediately” noting that he was ready to” personally” intervene in the matter.

“We should look at the issues as a family problem, and resolve it amicably… We must work together. We need to agree on core aviation and immigration issues," he said.

He spoke as he received the UAE ambassador, Salem Saeed Al-Shamsi, at state house in the capital, Abuja.

Mr Al-Shamsi said he had been working on 24 agreements with the Nigerian government adding that “these are small issues, all within a family, and they will be resolved”.

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Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen will next month visit Eswatini, its only African ally, as she seeks to reinforce ties between the two nations.

She will attend celebrations to mark the country’s independence day and King Mswati III’s birthday during the visit.

Her trip, between 5 and 7 September, will also mark 55 years of the countries’ bilateral relations.

Taiwan is claimed by China as its own territory with no right to state-to-state relations. It has formal ties with only 13 countries including Eswatini.

Taiwan Deputy Foreign Minister Roy Lee is quoted as telling reporters that the Taiwanese president’s visit is not to compete with Chinese President’s Xi Jinping visit to neighbouring South Africa this week.

Ms Tsai last visited Eswatini in 2018. It is the only African country that maintains diplomatic relations with the Asian island after Burkina Faso switched to China in May 2018.