African news : breaking news, features, analysis

Gabon's constitutional court has upheld President Ali Bongo's re-election victory, rejecting an appeal by rival Jean Ping who had called for a recount over widespread allegations of fraud.

The disputed leader of Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram has released a video message denying a claim by the military that he was killed or badly wounded in air strike last month.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has said that students who destroy property during protests against a rise in tuition fees will go to court.

Nigeria's lower house of parliament is planning to set up a committee to look into allegations that $17bn (£13bn) worth of crude oil had been stolen during the last administration, the Reuters news agency reports.

A Tanzanian lecturer has been charged with insulting President John Magufuli in a WhatsApp message, reports Reuters news agency.

Survivors from a boat which capsized off the Egyptian coast last Wednesday have told the BBC that hundreds of people may have drowned.

Nigeria's president has called for the UN to mediate with militant Islamist group Boko Haram to secure the release of schoolgirls it is holding captive.

At least 29 people have drowned after a migrant boat capsized off the Egyptian coast, officials say.

Zimbabweans risk imprisonment for abusing the national flag, the authorities have warned in the wake of anti-government protests.

South African police have fired stun grenades and arrested 31 students in Johannesburg, as a wave of protests hit universities across the country.

Rows of sick people queue up one afternoon in downtown Lagos. There are people with crutches, mothers with crying babies, a couple of wheelchair-bound people and several with bad coughs. This is not a hospital; it’s a sports center. And they are not waiting to see a doctor; they are here to see a priest.  

Former First Lady, Mrs. Patience Ibifaka Jonathan, has threatened to drag the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before the African  Commission on Human and Peoples Rights in The Gambia if her bank accounts are not de-freezed and a public apology tendered to boot.

Niger, one of the world’s poorest countries, is shelling out more than 4.5 million euros every month for “non-existent” teachers, the state anti-corruption agency said Tuesday.

The headquarters of three opposition parties in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been torched in the capital and two charred bodies have been found at one on of them, a BBC reporter says.

At least 17 people have been killed during clashes between police and anti-government protesters in Democratic Republic of Congo's capital of Kinshasa.

 Eighteen Nigerians died in Saudi Arabia during the just concluded 2016 Hajj attended by Muslims, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) says.

Growth in Africa has slowed considerably since 2009, notwithstanding continued demographic growth. 

Johannesburg's new Mayor has halted the construction of the South African city's ambitious cycle lanes project.