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The Africa Center for International Law and Accountability (ACILA) has urged the government of Burundi to allow African Union (AU) peacekeepers into the country to forestall further deaths and displacement of citizens.

A statement issued by Mr. William Nyarko, Executive Director of ACILA, a research and education think tank, said that Burundi's refusal to allow AU peacekeeping forces on humanitarian grounds pursuant to Article 4(h) and Article (O) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union 2001, to which Burundi is a party, will further aggravate the situation and lead to avoidable deaths and displacement of persons.

Polls have opened in the Central African Republic in delayed presidential and parliamentary elections aimed at restoring stable government after years of turmoil.

Thirty candidates are vying to replace interim leader Catherine Samba-Panza.

UN peacekeepers are patrolling to stop a repeat of the clashes during a recent referendum on a new constitution.

CAR has been torn by sectarian violence since a largely Muslim Seleka rebel group seized power in March 2013.

A band of mostly Christian militias, called the anti-Balaka, then took up arms against the Seleka.

In January 2014, a transitional government was formed but elections have been postponed four times since February 2015 due to insecurity and logistical challenges.

The Africa Center for International Law and Accountability (ACILA) has expressed concern about the decision of the government of Somalia to prohibit public celebrations of Christmas and New Year by the Christian minority in Somalia.

West Africa has paid glowing tribute to 15 former Heads of State, including the late General I.K. Acheampong of Ghana, who led the formation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) four decades ago.

At a gathering in Abuja, Nigeria, yestersday to mark 40 years of the formation of the regional bloc, speaker after another hailed the vision of the founding fathers for spearheading the birth of the progressive regional body.

The other founders included Lt Col Mathieu Kereku, former head of state of Dahomey (now Benin); Gen. Sangoula Lamizana, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso); Mr Felix Houghet Boigny, Cote d'Ivoire: Sir Dauda Jawara, The Gambia; Mr Ahmed Sekou Toure, Guinea; Dr Luis De Alimeides Cabral, Guinea Bissau, and Dr William R. Tolbert, Liberia.

The rest were Mr Moctar Ould Daddah, Mauritania; Moussa Traore, Mali; Lt Col Senyi Kountche, Niger; Gen. Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria; Mr Leopold Senghor, Senegal; Dr Siaka Stephens, Sierra Leone and Gen.

Late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son Hannibal has been freed after being briefly kidnapped by an armed group in Lebanon, security sources say.

In a video shown on Lebanese TV, the captive businessman was seen appealing for more information concerning the 1978 disappearance of the prominent Lebanese Shia cleric Musa al-Sadr.

He was freed in the city of Baalbek and dispatched to Beirut, police told AP.

The 40-year-old former playboy was given sanctuary in Oman in 2012.

One key message which participants at the Ministerial Dialogue on Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) in Africa may have taken with them is the fact that Africa was not at the climate change negotiations in Paris to beg but instead ensure that agreements reached are fair, within historical considerations and was binding.

"We need a binding agreement or we will be back to square one", the President of the African Development Group, Dr Anthony Akinwumi Adesina remarked.

Dr Adesina was addressing ministers from Niger, Gabon, Uganda, Egypt, Namibia and also heads of delegation from other African countries including Ghana during the Ministerial Dialogue on Africa Day on Tuesday.

Three people have been killed in a rocket attack on a UN peacekeepers' base in northern Mali, the UN says.

Two UN peacekeepers and a civilian contractor were killed in the attack in Kidal, officials said.

Another UN source was quoted as saying 14 people were injured.

Malian officials say suspected Islamist gunmen who stormed a hotel in the capital, Bamako, have "no more hostages".

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the arrest of his predecessor's security adviser, for allegedly stealing some $2bn (£1.3bn).

Sambo Dasuki is accused of awarding phantom contracts to buy 12 helicopters, four fighter jets and ammunition. He denies the allegations. The equipment was meant for the fight against Boko Haram Islamist militants.

Soldiers have complained that despite the military's huge budget, they were ill-equipped to fight. Mr Dasuki reacted to the order by saying he had never been invited to appear before the weapon procurement investigative panel, which made the allegations.

A Severe fuel crisis has hit Nigeria with long queues of angry motorists waiting for hours outside petrol stations in major cities to fill up. Importers are accused of withholding petrol because of a payment dispute with the government, which they deny.

This is the biggest fuel shortage in Nigeria since President Muhammadu Buhari took office in May. Nigeria is Africa's main oil exporter but imports most of its petrol because it lacks the capacity to refine it.

The fuel is imported at a subsidised price under a scheme operated by the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Earlier this month, the government approved the payment of $2.1bn (£1.4bn) to the importers, or wholesale fuel sellers, to settle subsidy claims.

Senegal plans to ban women from wearing the full-face Islamic veil in public in an attempt to curb jihadi activity, the interior minister has said. The move should not be seen as anti-Islamic, as Senegal was a mainly Muslim state, Abdoulaye Daouda added.

If the plan becomes law, Senegal will be the fifth African state to restrict the wearing of the full-face veil. In another move to target militants, all unregistered Sim cards are to be deactivated by the end of November.

Last week, its President Macky Sall, a Muslim, called for a courageous fight against militant Islamists. Chad, Gabon and Congo-Brazzaville have announced similar bans, while Cameroun introduced it in July in its Far North region.

 Government and commercial online services could become the next frontier for illegal activity in Africa, security experts are warning.

As more people get access to the internet across Africa, governments and businesses are increasing their online presence but there are questions about how secure these websites are.

Egyptian police have found the bodies of 15 African migrants who appear to have been shot dead in the northern Sinai Peninsula, officials say.

Unconfirmed reports say most of the victims were Sudanese. It is not yet clear who attacked the group, near the town of Rafah on the border with Gaza.

Kenyan and Ugandan security forces have stepped up patrols in the wake of the attacks on Paris.

Uganda's army spokesperson Lt Col Paddy Ankunda said that the "threat of terrorism is real".

The head of Kenya's police, Joseph Boinnet, echoed those comments on Twitter and called for the public to be alert.

At least 22 people were killed in a string of raids on villages in Central African Republic (CAR) this week, a local official and state radio said at the weekend.

This happened as an escalation of violence threatened to derail a visit by the pope and crucial elections.

A US air strike has targeted the leader of the Islamic State (IS) group in Libya and probably killed him, the Pentagon says.

Iraqi national Abu Nabil, also known as Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al-Zubaydi, was a "long-time al-Qaeda operative", it said.

The strike took place last Friday and targeted a compound in Derna.

Belgium has advised its citizens to leave Burundi, and the EU is cutting staff levels in the country because of the "rising risk of violence".

Belgium says those among about 500 Belgians in the country "whose presence is not essential" should leave.

Souleiman is a Darfuri young man who had to leave for Khartoum in 2004. Sheltering in the outskirts of the capital, he did not have the opportunity to receive proper education. He was unemployed for most of the time because he lacked vocational skills.