African news : breaking news, features, analysis

More than 30 foreign-owned shops were looted last night in two neighbourhoods in South Africa's capital, Pretoria, a police spokesman was quoted by the local Times Live news site as saying.

As many as seven suicide bombers, six of them women, have blown themselves up while trying to attack the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, according to emergency services officials.

Initial reports from Maiduguri had suggested a number of people were killed in the blasts near the Muna camp for displaced people shortly before 11:30pm (22:30 GMT) on Thursday.

But Mohammed Kanar, from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said on Friday there were no civilian or military casualties, as the would-be bombers arrived after the 10pm (21:00 GMT) curfew.

"People were indoors. There was no one on the streets," Kanar, who is NEMA's northeast coordinator, told AFP news agency.

"None of the six female bombers succeeded in their attacks. They ended up being killed in the explosions."

A man who dropped them off in his car then tried to ram a military checkpoint was also unsuccessful.

"He died in the process," said Kanar, referring to the man.

Similar account

Hamed Satomi, from the Borno state emergency management agency, gave a similar account, although he said there were only six bombers.

Both organisations were involved in the recovery of the bodies, they said.

The Borno state police had earlier said only one bomber was involved and that he had detonated his explosives among 13 trucks waiting to travel to the east of the state near the Cameroon border.

Victor Isuku, police spokesman, attributed the multiple explosions heard in Maiduguri to soldiers shelling suspected Boko Haram fighters outside the city limits.

The attempted attacks came after the departure of a high-ranking delegation of foreign officials to Maiduguri as part of efforts to secure greater funding to help those made homeless by the conflict.

Reports from the city also said a number of Nigerian air force aircraft were shot at in the remote region on Thursday.

'Technically defeated'

The incidents underline the continued threat from Boko Haram, which Nigeria's military maintains is in disarray after nearly eight years of fighting and at least 20,000 deaths.

Despite the insistence that Boko Haram is "technically defeated", there have been multiple suicide bombings against civilian targets, as well as attacks on police and soldiers.

The thousands of people living at the Muna Garage camp are especially vulnerable, given the lack of security and easy access to the site.

A multinational force of troops from Nigeria and its neighbours last year drove Boko Haram out of towns and villages in northeast Nigeria, but isolated attacks and suicide bombings continue.

In December, President Muhammadu Buhari said the capture of a key camp marked the "final crushing" of Boko Haram in its last enclave in Sambisa Forest, once the group's stronghold.

But since then, the group, which split into two factions last year, has stepped up its attacks.

One Boko Haram faction is led by Abubakar Shekau from the Sambisa Forest. Abu Musab al-Barnawi leads the other faction, based in the Lake Chad region, which allies itself to Islamic State or Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

Boko Haram's seven-year armed campaign has killed 15,000 people and forced up to two million from their homes.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has said his ruling ZANU-PF party and the people of Zimbabwe see no viable successor to him for next year's general elections.

The dark street corner would have been silent if not for the grumble of a motorbike. It was nearing midnight, but for Ibrahim Sesay - a 27-year-old motorbike taxi driver in Freetown - the evening had just begun. He pulled four small pills from his breast pocket, gulped them down without water and set off into the night.

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is not ill and will be back in Abuja in a matter of days, his media adviser has told the BBC’s Newsday programme.

Femi Adesina said the president was on holiday in the UK and having what he called routine medical tests.

Pirates have abducted seven Russian sailors and one Ukrainian in the territorial waters of Nigeria, the Russian embassy has said. Russian Embassy in Nigeria reported on Wednesday that, “the BBC Caribbean ship came under a pirate attack in the territorial waters of Nigeria.”

Zimbabwe's Constitutional Court has rejected a case filed by an activist that challenged President Robert Mugabe's ability rule saying proper court procedures weren't followed.

Hundreds of refugees and migrants attempting to reach Europe have been intercepted in recent days by Libyan authorities, according to a coastguard spokesman.

The Gambia's new president has scrapped the four-day week introduced by his predecessor Yahya Jammeh.

In a statement Adama Barrow said that public sector employees would now have to work a half-day on Fridays too.

A Zimbabwean pastor, accused last year of trying to overthrow President Robert Mugabe's government after calling for protests, has been arrested on his arrival  from the United States, his lawyer has said.

Evan Mawarire was previously arrested and charged last July, but was freed by a magistrate's court which said police had not followed procedure.

The African Union (AU) has called for the mass withdrawal of member states from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

However, the resolution is non-binding, with Nigeria and Senegal opposing a withdrawal.

A former Muslim preacher in Nigeria who had at least 86 wives has died aged 93.

Mohammed Bello Abubakar, known as Baba Masaba, died at his home in central Niger state on Saturday after an undisclosed illness.

Adama Barrow, The Gambia's new president, has vowed to reform the country's notorious intelligence agency and promised to ensure media freedom in the country.

Speaking at his first news conference since returning to take office on Thursday, Barrow announced plans to rename the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), a dreaded secret police accused by rights groups of forced disappearances and torture under the control of former leader Yahya Jammeh.

The Gambia's Parliament has revoked a state of emergency imposed last week by former President Yahya Jammeh shortly before he fled into exile, as the country slowly recovers from its political crisis.

Female suicide bombers in Nigeria are now carrying babies to avoid detection in their attacks, authorities warn.

An attack in the town of Madagali on 13 January saw two women detonate their devices, killing themselves, two babies, and four others.

The grandmother of the former US President Barack Obama will continue enjoying state protection, Kenya's Standard newspaper reports, quoting government sources. 

The Gambia's incoming president said he favours launching a "truth and reconciliation commission" to investigate possible crimes committed by the outgoing leader of 22 years.

The Gambia's ex-leader Yahya Jammeh has flown out of the country he ruled for 22 years and into exile, bringing an end to a protracted political crisis following presidential elections last month.