For the Ogiek, this is history in the making. The issue of Ogiek land rights has finally been heard and the case has empowered them to feel relevant. I know that the case also gives hope to other indigenous peoples: it has made the issues seem real."
Muthoni Wanyekin from Amnesty International said:
In this one ruling, the court has both affirmed the Ogiek’s right to live freely on their ancestral land, and proved to the continent that regional justice mechanisms work.
But a ruling is not enough, it must be respected. The Kenyan government must now implement the ruling and let the Ogiek live freely on their ancestral land.”
As a signatory to the court, which is based in Tanzania, Kenya is obliged to abide by the ruling.
Tanzanian fashion week focuses on modesty
As Muslims around the world prepare for Ramadan, one way some women in Tanzania are getting ready is by considering if clothes can be modest and stylish at the same time.
This was the theme of Stara Fashion week:
One of the organisers, Latifa Makau, told me that the aim of the event was to challenge the idea that women who cover up are unfashionable.
"A lot of people have
this wrong perception that you can't be modest and stylish at the same time. So
they'd abandon modesty just so they wouldn't look outdated," she said.
One of the audience
members, Fatma Sosthenes, told me the show inspired her.
"From now on I will try and be a modest but classy
'Heavy fighting' in Libya's capital
There have been clashes in Libya's capital, Tripoli, with heavy gunfire heard since the morning, the Reuters news agency reports.
It says that the violence was a result of forces backing the self-declared "national salvation government" battling with those of the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA).
The GNA is struggling to assert its authority over the country.
Libya has been riven by factional fighting since the overthrow of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Zambian treason case sent to judicial review
BBC Africa, Lusaka
The Lusaka Magistrates Court has told opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema to seek a judicial review to decide whether his treason case will be tried in the High Court.
Mr Hichilema was charged with treason after his convoy allegedly refused to make way for President Edgar Lungu's convoy:
Mr Hichilema's lawyers argued in court today that there was a problem with the way the case was first put forward.
The court gave the opposition leader 15 days to apply for the judicial review.
More details: Landmark ruling goes against Kenya
Wanyama wa Chebusiri
African Court on Human and People’s rights based in Tanzania has made a
landmark ruling allowing an indigenous Kenyan group known as the Ogiek to keep their ancestral land.
The court, sitting in the northern Tanzanian
city of Arusha, said that the Kenyan government should never have tried to evict members of the Ogiek community from the Mau Forest because it is their ancestral
The court dismissed the government allegations that they had to evict them them to conserve the forest, saying the Kenyan authorities had failed to
demonstrate that the Ogiek harmed the forest.
The court further said
the government had violated a series of rights of the Ogiek
community, including the right to culture and right to property.
Ogiek people win land case against Kenyan government
There was singing at the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights in Arusha, Tanzania, today as the court found in favour of Kenya's Ogiek people who challenged the plan by the Kenyan government to move them from their ancestral home in the Mau Forest:
We reported earlier that South Africa's main opposition leader Mmusi Maimane has been expelled from Zambia to prevent him from attending the treason hearing of his detained counterpart, Hakainde Hichilema.
Mr Maimane has now told a crowd in Johannesburg: “All I simply wanted was to stand side-by-side with someone
who has been fighting for the rule of law, HH, a fellow
African,” he said.
There have been mixed reactions in South Africa to Zambia's decision to bar Mr
Maimane from entering the country.
While some have
questioned why he would involve himself in the issues of a sovereign
state, many have applauded him for trying to bring awareness to the Zambian opposition leader’s plight.
Mr Maimane has accused the Zambian government of
dictatorship, adding that he was compelled to act because of South Africa’s own
fight against oppression.
He’s been calling for support on social media using the
thread #iCantBeSilent. Authorities in South Africa have said they will look
into the matter. They probably want to avoid a diplomatic row with Zambia.
Breaking the taboo around menstruation
Ethiopian photographer Martha Tadesse has published the latest in her series of portraits of women with quotes of the subjects talking about their first periods.
This one is of Meheret Gebreeyesus who says: "I was too scared when I first had my period, I felt like an older woman because I only heard my older friends talk about it. We have to be open that's all.''
She has also photographed Mekhon Afework who said: ''Even though, my dad believes in open discussions and taught me about menstruation, I didn't tell my family about my period for over a year, I was 12 years old.
"I would just steal my mom's pads, but my mom caught me in the bathroom one time and I had to pretend that it was just my first time. You can't open up about it because the society makes it such a taboo.''
The auctioneer was the US actor Will Smith and you can hear him saying (at 44 seconds) "he looks way too young to have 500,000 euros" as Danilo dos Santos gets to the stage.
The Angolan news and gossip site Club-K says the auction at Cannes Film Festival was for the Foudation For Aids research.
The site went on to say the video has left Angolans "feeling indignant about the extravagance of Danilo dos Santos”.
One comment picked out by K-club complained the son of the president should be “a little more discreet”.
Cutting HIV and Aids treatments costs
India is among the fastest growing pharmaceutical markets in the world, establishing itself as a global manufacturing and research hub.
About 15% of their pharmaceutical exports are to in Africa, and in South Africa the availability of generic anti-retrovirals (ARVs) from India has led to a significant drop in the cost of treatment for millions of people with HIV.
The active ingredients are made into tablets in South Africa.
The BBC's Taurai Maduna has more for Africa Business Report.
ANC veterans renew call for Zuma to go
BBC Africa, Johannesburg
In South Africa, governing African National Congress (ANC) stalwarts are calling for
the party's National Executive Committee (NEC) to remove President Jacob
Zuma this weekend.
The NEC is the governing party’s highest decision making body
between party conferences which are held every five years.
The group of veterans which describes itself as "101 plus" wrote an open letter appealing to their party’s leadership.
One of the signatories Wally Serote said “the ANC, dear comrades,
is falling apart as you meet and the country, supporters and members of the ANC
are looking for leadership that must and should take us out of this
While the NEC has the power to recall the president, as they did
when they removed President Thabo Mbeki in dramatic fashion back in 2008, it is
unlikely that they will do so this weekend.
President Zuma still commands a high degree of support among
some of his comrades inside the NEC.
Somali police 'get first drones to combat bombings'
A former US intelligence specialist has donated five surveillance drones to
police in Somalia to help investigate bomb sites, reports Reuters news agency.
Brett Velicovich is in the capital, Mogadishu, to train Somali police in how to use the drones, which have
infra-red or night vision capabilities.
He told Reuters that drones could have helped find last year's Lido beach attacker "in minutes". Police were unable to find the last attacker for several hours.
Death toll rises in attack on Egyptian Coptic Christians
BBC News, Cairo
We reported earlier that 15 people have been killed in an attack on a bus
Coptic Christians in southern Egypt.
The local provincial
governor now says at least 20 people have been killed and 25 injured.
There are unconfirmed reports that that multiple gunmen were involved.
Initial reports say the dead were on their way to visit an ancient
monastery today when their bus came under attack.
There has been no claim of
responsibility but the so-called Islamic state has targeted Egypt's Coptic
Christians several times in recent months, and vowed to do so again.
Last month it bombed two churches in northern Egypt.
A nationwide state of
emergency was declared after those attacks and many Christians here complain
that the state has done enough to protect them.
Kenya's Ogiek people wait for court ruling
We reported earlier that the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights in Arusha, Tanzania, is due to rule on the case brought by Kenya's Ogiek people.
They're challenging the plan by the Kenyan government to move them from their ancestral home in the Mau Forest.
A BBC reporter in Arusha has snapped some of those who are waiting for the ruling:
South Africa's Maimane 'threatened Zambian court process'
In South Africa, the Zambian High Commissioner has said in a press conference that the reason South African opposition leader Mmusi Maimane was stopped from entering the Zambia was because of concerns that he would interfere with the treason case against his Zambian counterpart leader Hakainde Hichilema
“It was imperative that the due process of the law was
respected without undue pressure or interference,” he told journalists.
Emmanuel Mwamba said the government was concerned by a statement he made before he travelled where he stated he would put pressure Zambian courts to release Mr Hichilema.
Mr Maimane wanted to be in Zambia for Mr Hichilema's court appearance today, but was unable to leave his plane after it landed in Lusaka.
A magistrate's court is due to decide whether a treason trial should go ahead.
Court to rule on Kenya tribe complaint
The Tanzania-based African Court of Human Rights is expected to deliver a ruling today which may force the hunter-gatherer Ogiek people to leave their ancestral lands in Kenya's Rift valley.
The government in Nairobi has long campaigned for the tribespeople's removal.
Officials argue the step is necessary to protect the Mau Forest.
It's the largest forest of indigenous trees in East Africa.
Thirty-five thousand complainants sued the Kenyan authorities over systematic rights violations and denial of land rights.
One community member, 96-year-old Debola Rashamba, told the BBC's David Wafula:
I have lived here since I was born, I grew up here, married traditionally, had my family here, buried my husband in this forest, I don't know anywhere else, for now I live here with my great grandchildren, I would love to see them carry on our traditions."
Zambia court to decide on opposition leader treason charges
Zambia's opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema is due in a magistrate's court in Zambia's capital, Lusaka, to hear whether a treason case against him will go ahead in the High Court.
His party is tweeting pictures from outside the court:
Gunmen have abducted six
school pupils in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, police say.
The kidnappers stormed Igbonla Model
College on Thursday and took 10 pupils.
Local reports say they then released four after
profiling their parents.
Police say the kidnappers got into the grounds by going through a swampy forest bordering the school, and cutting a
hole in part of the school fence.
The search for the gunmen and the children is ongoing.
Six people were
kidnapped from the same school in October.
Kidnappings for ransom is not uncommon in Nigeria.
SA president 'not opposed' to anti-corruption inquiry
South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has issued a statement to clarify that he is not opposed to setting up an inquiry into corruption in his government, despite going to court to challenge the report that recommended the commission.
Last year, a report from South Africa's anti-corruption body, the Public Protector's office, into the influence of wealthy businnessmen on the president found evidence of possible corruption.
It recommended a judicial commission of inquiry within 30 days, which has not happened.
A statement from the president's office says that what Mr Zuma is challenging is not the idea of inquiry but rather the fact that under the constitution he cannot be ordered to set it up.
It says it "undermines the separation of powers doctrine".
SA opposition leader barred from Zambia
South Africa's opposition
leader has been expelled from Zambia, blocking him from attending the treason
case of his detained counterpart, his party says.
Police boarded Mmusi Maimane's
flight, and "forcefully prevented" him from entering Zambia, his
Mr Maimane had planned to show
solidarity with Zambia's main opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema when he
appears in court on Friday.
A court is due to rule whether
he should be tried for treason.·
Zambia's government has not
yet commented on the statement by South Africa's main opposition Democratic
Alliance (DA) that its leader was deported.
Mr Maimane is due to give a statement about the issue at 09.30 GMT.
Last night, he tweeted pictures from the airport in Lusaka saying that he was assaulted.