Author: BBC

At least 130 civilians were killed by Burkina Faso government forces and allied militia in March near the western town of Solenzo, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says in a new report. It says the “massacre”, following an operation led by Burkinabè special forces, resulted in widespread civilian deaths and displacement of ethnic Fulanis. The Fulani […]

Malawian cricket is in mourning after the death of top official Arjun Menon on Saturday night. A statement from the Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS) said that the 48-year-old had been “brutally murdered” at his residence in Blantyre. Local police in the Southern African nation are yet to issue a statement following Menon’s death. […]

A group of 59 white South Africans has arrived in the US, where they are to be granted refugee status. President Donald Trump has said the refugee applications for the country’s Afrikaner minority had been expedited as they were victims of “racial discrimination”. The South African government said the group were not suffering any such […]

Football has long been the dominant sport in West Africa, with a well-established pipeline of talent feeding the world’s top clubs, but one nation is hoping to help road cycling become the region’s second sport. While cycling programmes exist in Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast, the country where an evolution on two wheels is really […]

A major conservation charity linked to Prince Harry has admitted that human rights abuses were committed by its rangers in Congo-Brazzaville, following an independent review into allegations made by members of the Baka community against African Parks rangers. In a report published last year by the British newspaper the Mail on Sunday, community members accused […]

The US has announced that it is cutting $50m (£37m) in aid to Zambia’s health sector, due to the country’s failure to address the “systematic theft” of donated drugs and medical supplies. This “difficult” decision was taken after repeated warnings to the Zambian government to safeguard vital drugs meant for the country’s most vulnerable patients, […]

The bodies of a journalist and his partner have been found in South Africa in an advanced stage of decomposition, more than two months after they went missing, local media groups have said. Police said they had found human remains, but DNA tests still needed to be conducted to confirm they were those of radio […]

A Kenyan court has sentenced four men to one year in prison or pay a fine of $7,700 (£5,800) for trying to smuggle thousands of live queen ants out of the country. The four suspects – two Belgians, a Vietnamese and a Kenyan – were arrested last month with live ants suspected to have been […]

A US judge in Boston ordered a temporary block on the Trump administration’s plan to deport migrants to Libya, saying it would “clearly violate” a prior order he made that ensures their right to due process. The order came after two US officials told BBC partner CBS News that the US may soon start deporting […]

South African firebrand opposition politician Julius Malema says he has been denied a visa to attend a conference in the UK on 10 May. Malema said the UK had no “substantial justification” for its decision, and he saw it as an “attempt to silence a dissenting political perspective”. In a leaked letter to Malema’s deputy, […]