This statue in Enugu city commemerates themImage caption: This statue in Enugu city commemerates them
An event to remember 21
protesting coal miners killed 70 years ago by colonial troops has been held in
Nigeria.
Workers at the Iva Valley
Coalmine in Ogbete, a suburb of the south-eastern city of Enugu, had been
demanding a salary increase at the time.
But the authorities accused them
of organising a rebellion against British colonial rule.
"I was on duty when I saw the
colonial military as they approached the mining site - and I sensed trouble," survivor Ogbonnaya Eze, who is now 110, told the BBC.
BBCCopyright: BBC
Former miner Ogbonnaya Eze, now 110, survived the raidImage caption: Former miner Ogbonnaya Eze, now 110, survived the raid
"I alerted the other miners around me to escape from another direction. We fled to a nearby bush and hid ourselves and from our hiding place, we heard the cackling of gunshots."
Godwin Aniagbo, an 85-year-old retired miner who was at secondary school in Ogbete on that day in November 1949, told the BBC he remembered hearing the sound of gunfire.
Some people say the victims' families were never compensated, but Mr Aniagbo says the colonial government gave them £400 each and says some of their children were offered scholarships.
Apart from a monument to the miners in Enugu, very little is left to remember them.
It is believed they were the forerunners of the labour union movement in Nigeria, which gained independence from the UK in 1960.
A seminar to educate secondary schoolchildren and others about the incident was held in Enugu on Monday - the date of the 70th anniversary.
And a local non-government organisation, the Centre for Memories, published the names of the 21 coal miners who had died - along with the jobs they had been assigned at the mine.
BBCCopyright: BBC
Miners still live in the suburb of OgbeteImage caption: Miners still live in the suburb of Ogbete
There are more than five million firearms in South Africa according to a weapons watchdog (file photo)Image caption: There are more than five million firearms in South Africa according to a weapons watchdog (file photo)
A lawyer has died after an exhibit gun brought into the court as evidence went off and hit her in KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa, police say.
Adelaide Ferreira-Watt succumbed to her wounds just hours after the shotgun hit her in the hip inside Ixopo regional court.
The gun went off as it was being presented to the court as evidence in a house robbery case.
Police say they are investigating Ms Ferreira-Watt's death as a case of manslaughter.
They will also look into why the gun was loaded and whether appropriate steps had been taken to ensure the gun was safe to carry in a public space.
Ghanaians are being encouraged to rethink what it means to be a man by a campaign called #IAmUNLEARNING.
"Violence in our country is a major issue. Too many boys who become men
learn ideas, lessons and witness experiences that make violence normal," says one of the organisers, Esther Armah.
Free workshops and summits will be offered to help men "unlearn what
doesn’t serve them, their families, their community, society".
The project is co-funded by EAA
Media Productions, academic Eli Tetteh and organisations
White Ribbon Ghana and The Safe Space Foundation.
Video caption: How a lion was removed from house in LagosHow a lion was removed from house in Lagos
A lion, which was reportedly being used to guard a house in Lagos, Nigeria has been removed.
Exiled Niger presidential rival returns to jail
AFPCopyright: AFP
Hima Amadou plans to run for president, his lawyer saysImage caption: Hima Amadou plans to run for president, his lawyer says
Niger's opposition leader is back in jail after returning from exile in France, as part of his plans for political comeback, his lawyer says.
Hima Amadou was detained during Niger's 2016 elections on charges of baby trafficking, which he dismissed as a politically motivated attempt to prevent him from challenging President Mahamadou Issoufou.
The leader of the opposition Nigerien Democratic Movement was allowed to leave prison in 2016 for medical treatment in France, where he stayed in exile for three years.
Now back in Niger, Mr Amadou intends to serve the remainder of his jail sentence so that he can run in next year's presidential election, his lawyer has told reporters.
Stop killing our children - Guinea's all-women protest
Alhassan Sillah
BBC News, Conakry
Dozens of women have taken to the streets of Guinea's capital Conakry to protest against the deaths of young people at the hands of security forces.
At least 21 young people have been killed since demonstrations began last month against possible plans by President Alpha Condé to seek a third term in office.
"Stop killing our children. Justice for the dead," read some of the banners at the protest.
Many held placards with photos of their loved ones:
Armed group 'launch attack on Burundi from Rwanda’
Samba Cyuzuzo
BBC Great Lakes
Burundi's military says an armed group from Rwanda attacked its army position on Sunday in the north-west of the country.
Maj Emmanuel Gahongano, the army's director of information, said the attack in Cibitoke province, near the border, took place on Sunday at 02:00 local time (00:00 GMT).
Rwanda’s Minister of State for Regional Cooperation Olivier
Nduhungirehe told the BBC that “it is not the first time we have this kind of
baseless allegations”.
Burundi's army did not give details about the attack but people in the area have told the BBC there had been intense military activity in the region following the
violence.
Two weeks ago, an armed group attacked Rwandan army positions just over the border from Sunday's violence. The Rwandan authorities said those attackers came from Burundi.
There have been tense relations between the neighbours since Burundi's political crisis in 2015. Following a failed coup against President Pierre Nkurunziza in May of that year, some of its organisers fled to Rwanda.
Annual Mogadishu tech summit opens
Farah Yussuf
BBC Monitoring
The second edition of the Mogadishu Tech Summit (MTS) has kicked off in Somalia's capital. Organisers say it is the biggest such gathering in the country, which more than 1,000 people attended last year.
Participants this year include government officials, entrepreneurs and academics who will discuss the role of technology in rebuilding the country.
Twenty-four suspected militants have
been killed in Burkina Faso and Mali by regional counter-insurgency forces, the French military says.
G5 Sahel troops, supported by France, also destroyed a bomb-making workshop and seized more than 100 phones and weapons in an operation lasting two weeks.
AFPCopyright: AFP
Troops from Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad are serving in the G5 Sahel forceImage caption: Troops from Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad are serving in the G5 Sahel force
The identities and affiliations of the militants have not been made public, but al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group are known to operate in the Mali-Niger-Burkina Faso border zone where this operation happened.
It comes as defence and foreign ministers from across Africa meet in Senegal to discuss security, in particular in the Sahel region, where security forces are struggling to contain the spread of Islamist militant groups.
This group of clandestine night workers, who are predominantly men, earned their nickname from the tactics they use removing human waste from latrines across the city.
Their hazardous work is the focus of the joint report by the International Labour Organisation, the World Bank and WaterAid.
"Frogmen" dive into pit latrines with buckets and a shovel - then dig out fecal sludge by hand.
They use no equipment or protection which exposes them to a wide variety of health hazards and diseases, and sometimes even death. There are no available figures to give a picture of just how prevalent health problems arising from their work is because it is illegal.
Organisations such as WaterAid are working with frogmen to help them build legal businesses and carry out their essential work more safely.
Meanwhile the government points to the risk of latrine collapse and disease which arises from poor construction in the city’s slums. But for many residents, the frogmen offer an affordable alternative to the legal waste removal trucks.
University students in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, have launched a campaign to end sexual harassment in the country's
higher learning institutions.
A recent survey in Nairobi by the campaign
group ActionAid suggests that half of all female students and a quarter of all
male students have experienced a form of sexual harassment from a staff member
at their university or college.
Under the hashtag #CampusMeToo students are gathering signatures for a petition that
will be handed to the education ministry.
Among their demands are
mandatory induction sessions for newly enrolled students, regular training
sessions for university staff and the appointment of an investigation committee
on all campuses to handle sexual harassment cases.
UN Women Kenya has been tweeting about the campaign:
Ugandan Mbazira Moses and his friends are trying to rebuild their lives after fleeing anti-gay discrimination.
They ended up in a safe house in Kenya earlier this year, after being attacked in the Kakuma refugee camp where they were staying after applying for asylum.
Watch this film following them in the months leading up to a landmark ruling in Kenya in May, where the country's High Court was reviewing a colonial-era law banning gay sex:
Video content
Video caption: LGBT refugees: Life in Kenya after fleeing UgandaLGBT refugees: Life in Kenya after fleeing Uganda
In response to allegations about attacks at the Kakuma refugee camp, the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) told the BBC:
"Efforts by UNHCR continue to make sure LGBTI persons in Kakuma are able to live with a degree of physical safety and security... Security for refugees is provided by the state authorities, not UNHCR."
Merkel hosts African leaders for business summit
BBC World Service
AFPCopyright: AFP
Rwanda's President Paul Kagame (L), German Chancellor Angela Merkel (M) and President of the Republic of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa at last year's G20 Investment SummitImage caption: Rwanda's President Paul Kagame (L), German Chancellor Angela Merkel (M) and President of the Republic of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa at last year's G20 Investment Summit
The leaders of 12 African countries will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Tuesday for discussions on boosting business investment in Africa.
They will take part in the Compact for Africa Conference, an initiative set up during the German presidency of the G20 in 2017 to promote private sector investment in Africa.
It aims to create jobs, improve lives, and reduce the number of asylum seekers coming to Europe.
Since the 2015 refugee crisis in Germany, the government has launched various projects to help improve African economies but German businesses have been slow to respond.
US slaps travel ban on Kenya's ex-attorney general
Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images
Amos Wako was Kenya's attorney general from 1991 to 2011Image caption: Amos Wako was Kenya's attorney general from 1991 to 2011
The US State Department has barred Amos Wako, Kenya's former attorney general, from entering the US because of his "involvement in significant corruption".
Mr Wako's wife and son have also been barred.
"Today's action sends a strong signal that the United States is a valuable partner in Kenya's fight against corruption," said a statement from the US State Department.
Mr Wako has yet to react to the US ban - the
second one targeting him.
In 2009,
the US banned him after accusing him of blocking political reforms in the country
following the 2007 post-election violence.
At the time
Mr Wako denied the allegations and threatened to sue the US.
The BBC sought
comment from the US embassy in Nairobi about the link between Monday’s
announcement and the 2009 travel ban, but an embassy official said: “Stick to
the text of the released statement."
Mr Wako,
73, served as Kenya's attorney general from 1991-2011.
He is currently a senator as well as a member of the Building
Bridges Initiative - a 14-member team put together by President Uhuru Kenyatta
and opposition leader Raila Odinga aimed at addressing issues that could spark
political violence in Kenya.
Uganda orders recall of faulty condoms
Marie Stopes UgandaCopyright: Marie Stopes Uganda
The affected batches are labelled 19040205 and 19050105Image caption: The affected batches are labelled 19040205 and 19050105
The authorities in Uganda have ordered the recall of two batches of condoms distributed by Marie Stopes Uganda, a non-government organisation that offers reproductive health services.
Tests had found "holes and burst properties" in the Life Guard brand, Uganda's National Drug Authority (NDA) said in a recall letter sent at the end of last month, according to images of the memo circulating on social media.
"We have given you two weeks to submit a recall status report indicating the details of distribution and the clients that have been notified of the recall," Victoria Nambasa, NDA's product safety officer, wrote.
According to data from Uganda's ministry of health, an estimated 800 million condoms are needed to protect Ugandans from unplanned pregnancies, HIV/Aids and other sexually transmitted diseases, the Daily Monitor says.
Live Reporting
All times stated are UK
Get involved
Nigerians remember colonial mine massacre
Chris Okereke
BBC Igbo
An event to remember 21 protesting coal miners killed 70 years ago by colonial troops has been held in Nigeria.
Workers at the Iva Valley Coalmine in Ogbete, a suburb of the south-eastern city of Enugu, had been demanding a salary increase at the time.
But the authorities accused them of organising a rebellion against British colonial rule.
"I was on duty when I saw the colonial military as they approached the mining site - and I sensed trouble," survivor Ogbonnaya Eze, who is now 110, told the BBC.
"I alerted the other miners around me to escape from another direction. We fled to a nearby bush and hid ourselves and from our hiding place, we heard the cackling of gunshots."
Godwin Aniagbo, an 85-year-old retired miner who was at secondary school in Ogbete on that day in November 1949, told the BBC he remembered hearing the sound of gunfire.
Some people say the victims' families were never compensated, but Mr Aniagbo says the colonial government gave them £400 each and says some of their children were offered scholarships.
Apart from a monument to the miners in Enugu, very little is left to remember them.
It is believed they were the forerunners of the labour union movement in Nigeria, which gained independence from the UK in 1960.
A seminar to educate secondary schoolchildren and others about the incident was held in Enugu on Monday - the date of the 70th anniversary.
And a local non-government organisation, the Centre for Memories, published the names of the 21 coal miners who had died - along with the jobs they had been assigned at the mine.
'Faeces-throwing' cargo ship stowaways guilty
The men, from Nigeria and Liberia, armed themselves with metal poles and demanded to be taken to Britain.
Read moreProsecutor dies after gun goes off in SA court
Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Johannesburg
A lawyer has died after an exhibit gun brought into the court as evidence went off and hit her in KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa, police say.
Adelaide Ferreira-Watt succumbed to her wounds just hours after the shotgun hit her in the hip inside Ixopo regional court.
The gun went off as it was being presented to the court as evidence in a house robbery case.
Police say they are investigating Ms Ferreira-Watt's death as a case of manslaughter.
They will also look into why the gun was loaded and whether appropriate steps had been taken to ensure the gun was safe to carry in a public space.
A million faulty condoms recalled in Uganda
Some of the male contraceptives supplied by charity Marie Stopes contained holes or risked bursting.
Read moreEthiopia shock Ivory Coast in 2021 Afcon qualifiers
Ethiopia come from behind to upset visiting Ivory Coast 2-1 as Morocco ease past Burundi in 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying.
Read moreProject targets toxic masculinity in Ghana
Thomas Naadi
BBC News, Accra
Ghanaians are being encouraged to rethink what it means to be a man by a campaign called #IAmUNLEARNING.
"Violence in our country is a major issue. Too many boys who become men learn ideas, lessons and witness experiences that make violence normal," says one of the organisers, Esther Armah.
Free workshops and summits will be offered to help men "unlearn what doesn’t serve them, their families, their community, society".
The project is co-funded by EAA Media Productions, academic Eli Tetteh and organisations White Ribbon Ghana and The Safe Space Foundation.
Warning, this house is home to a lion!
Video content
A lion, which was reportedly being used to guard a house in Lagos, Nigeria has been removed.
Exiled Niger presidential rival returns to jail
Niger's opposition leader is back in jail after returning from exile in France, as part of his plans for political comeback, his lawyer says.
Hima Amadou was detained during Niger's 2016 elections on charges of baby trafficking, which he dismissed as a politically motivated attempt to prevent him from challenging President Mahamadou Issoufou.
The leader of the opposition Nigerien Democratic Movement was allowed to leave prison in 2016 for medical treatment in France, where he stayed in exile for three years.
Now back in Niger, Mr Amadou intends to serve the remainder of his jail sentence so that he can run in next year's presidential election, his lawyer has told reporters.
Stop killing our children - Guinea's all-women protest
Alhassan Sillah
BBC News, Conakry
Dozens of women have taken to the streets of Guinea's capital Conakry to protest against the deaths of young people at the hands of security forces.
At least 21 young people have been killed since demonstrations began last month against possible plans by President Alpha Condé to seek a third term in office.
"Stop killing our children. Justice for the dead," read some of the banners at the protest.
Many held placards with photos of their loved ones:
Nigeria's Edo State to pay women and men teams equally
By Oluwashina Okeleji
Football Writer, France
The Edo State government in Nigeria announces it will now pay its women's team the Edo Queens the same as its men's side Bendel Insurance.
Read moreArmed group 'launch attack on Burundi from Rwanda’
Samba Cyuzuzo
BBC Great Lakes
Burundi's military says an armed group from Rwanda attacked its army position on Sunday in the north-west of the country.
Maj Emmanuel Gahongano, the army's director of information, said the attack in Cibitoke province, near the border, took place on Sunday at 02:00 local time (00:00 GMT).
Rwanda’s Minister of State for Regional Cooperation Olivier Nduhungirehe told the BBC that “it is not the first time we have this kind of baseless allegations”.
Burundi's army did not give details about the attack but people in the area have told the BBC there had been intense military activity in the region following the violence.
Two weeks ago, an armed group attacked Rwandan army positions just over the border from Sunday's violence. The Rwandan authorities said those attackers came from Burundi.
There have been tense relations between the neighbours since Burundi's political crisis in 2015. Following a failed coup against President Pierre Nkurunziza in May of that year, some of its organisers fled to Rwanda.
Annual Mogadishu tech summit opens
Farah Yussuf
BBC Monitoring
The second edition of the Mogadishu Tech Summit (MTS) has kicked off in Somalia's capital. Organisers say it is the biggest such gathering in the country, which more than 1,000 people attended last year.
Participants this year include government officials, entrepreneurs and academics who will discuss the role of technology in rebuilding the country.
'Militants killed' in Burkina Faso and Mali raid
Louise Dewast
BBC News
Twenty-four suspected militants have been killed in Burkina Faso and Mali by regional counter-insurgency forces, the French military says.
G5 Sahel troops, supported by France, also destroyed a bomb-making workshop and seized more than 100 phones and weapons in an operation lasting two weeks.
The identities and affiliations of the militants have not been made public, but al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group are known to operate in the Mali-Niger-Burkina Faso border zone where this operation happened.
It comes as defence and foreign ministers from across Africa meet in Senegal to discuss security, in particular in the Sahel region, where security forces are struggling to contain the spread of Islamist militant groups.
On Monday, militants killed 24 Malian soldiers and injured another 29.
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Poor sewage forces 'frogmen' to dig out faeces by hand
Sammy Awami
BBC Africa, Dar es Salaam
Up to 90% of Tanzania's biggest city is not connected to the sewage system, a joint report released on World Toilet Day has found.
It says Dar es Salaam's four million residents largely rely on the services of a band of illegal workers known as "frogmen" to deal with human waste.
This group of clandestine night workers, who are predominantly men, earned their nickname from the tactics they use removing human waste from latrines across the city.
Their hazardous work is the focus of the joint report by the International Labour Organisation, the World Bank and WaterAid.
"Frogmen" dive into pit latrines with buckets and a shovel - then dig out fecal sludge by hand.
They use no equipment or protection which exposes them to a wide variety of health hazards and diseases, and sometimes even death. There are no available figures to give a picture of just how prevalent health problems arising from their work is because it is illegal.
Organisations such as WaterAid are working with frogmen to help them build legal businesses and carry out their essential work more safely.
Meanwhile the government points to the risk of latrine collapse and disease which arises from poor construction in the city’s slums. But for many residents, the frogmen offer an affordable alternative to the legal waste removal trucks.
Comoros hold Egypt as Ghana and Algeria edge to wins
Comoros hold visiting Egypt goalless as Ghana and Algeria edge to narrow victories in Monday's 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Read moreKenyan students launch #CampusMeToo campaign
Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service
University students in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, have launched a campaign to end sexual harassment in the country's higher learning institutions.
A recent survey in Nairobi by the campaign group ActionAid suggests that half of all female students and a quarter of all male students have experienced a form of sexual harassment from a staff member at their university or college.
Under the hashtag #CampusMeToo students are gathering signatures for a petition that will be handed to the education ministry.
Among their demands are mandatory induction sessions for newly enrolled students, regular training sessions for university staff and the appointment of an investigation committee on all campuses to handle sexual harassment cases.
UN Women Kenya has been tweeting about the campaign:
Inside the lives of LGBTQ refugees in Kenya
Ugandan Mbazira Moses and his friends are trying to rebuild their lives after fleeing anti-gay discrimination.
They ended up in a safe house in Kenya earlier this year, after being attacked in the Kakuma refugee camp where they were staying after applying for asylum.
Watch this film following them in the months leading up to a landmark ruling in Kenya in May, where the country's High Court was reviewing a colonial-era law banning gay sex:
Video content
In response to allegations about attacks at the Kakuma refugee camp, the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) told the BBC:
"Efforts by UNHCR continue to make sure LGBTI persons in Kakuma are able to live with a degree of physical safety and security... Security for refugees is provided by the state authorities, not UNHCR."
Merkel hosts African leaders for business summit
BBC World Service
The leaders of 12 African countries will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Tuesday for discussions on boosting business investment in Africa.
They will take part in the Compact for Africa Conference, an initiative set up during the German presidency of the G20 in 2017 to promote private sector investment in Africa.
It aims to create jobs, improve lives, and reduce the number of asylum seekers coming to Europe.
Since the 2015 refugee crisis in Germany, the government has launched various projects to help improve African economies but German businesses have been slow to respond.
US slaps travel ban on Kenya's ex-attorney general
The US State Department has barred Amos Wako, Kenya's former attorney general, from entering the US because of his "involvement in significant corruption".
Mr Wako's wife and son have also been barred.
"Today's action sends a strong signal that the United States is a valuable partner in Kenya's fight against corruption," said a statement from the US State Department.
Mr Wako has yet to react to the US ban - the second one targeting him.
In 2009, the US banned him after accusing him of blocking political reforms in the country following the 2007 post-election violence.
At the time Mr Wako denied the allegations and threatened to sue the US.
The BBC sought comment from the US embassy in Nairobi about the link between Monday’s announcement and the 2009 travel ban, but an embassy official said: “Stick to the text of the released statement."
Mr Wako, 73, served as Kenya's attorney general from 1991-2011.
He is currently a senator as well as a member of the Building Bridges Initiative - a 14-member team put together by President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga aimed at addressing issues that could spark political violence in Kenya.
Uganda orders recall of faulty condoms
The authorities in Uganda have ordered the recall of two batches of condoms distributed by Marie Stopes Uganda, a non-government organisation that offers reproductive health services.
"While the Life Guard brand follows strict quality controls, unfortunately two recent batches have fallen short from the quality we demand," Dr Carole Sekimpi, Country Director at Marie Stopes, said in a statement.
She stressed that the problems only affected these two batches. The Daily Monitor newspaper reports that this amounts to four million condoms.
Tests had found "holes and burst properties" in the Life Guard brand, Uganda's National Drug Authority (NDA) said in a recall letter sent at the end of last month, according to images of the memo circulating on social media.
"We have given you two weeks to submit a recall status report indicating the details of distribution and the clients that have been notified of the recall," Victoria Nambasa, NDA's product safety officer, wrote.
According to data from Uganda's ministry of health, an estimated 800 million condoms are needed to protect Ugandans from unplanned pregnancies, HIV/Aids and other sexually transmitted diseases, the Daily Monitor says.