African news : breaking news, features, analysis

South Sudan's rebel leader has accused the government of violating a ceasefire hours after it came into effect.Riek Machar said the army attacked his forces in two northern states, allegations which the military denies.President Salva Kiir, under the threat of sanctions from the UN, signed a peace agreement on Wednesday, despite "serious reservations".Several ceasefires to end the brutal 20-month conflict in the world's youngest nation have failed to hold.

Boko Haram is trying to expand its activities beyond Nigeria's mainly Muslim north, to include the commercial capital Lagos, as well as other parts of the country, officials say.

Burkina Faso's Constitutional Council has rejected the chosen nominee of the ousted President Blaise Compaore's party prompting threats of a boycott of the presidential elections slated to be held in October.Eddie Constance Konboigo, head of Compaore's Congress for Democracy and Progress party, was among six candidates barred from running on Saturday, along with Gilbert Noel Ouedraogo of the ADF/RDA grouping that was allied to the former leader's administration.

Al Jazeera has described the verdict of an Egyptian court a deliberate attack on press freedom after it sentenced three of its journalists to three years in prison.Egyptian Baher Mohamed and Canadian Mohamed Fahmy are heading back to jail after a retrial found them guilty of "broadcasting false news".Australian Peter Greste - who was sentenced in absentia - said Saturday's verdict was clearly political.

Nigeria's intelligence agency has warned of a possible attack on the airport in its capital after disrupting what it said was a Boko Haram cell.Authorities said on Friday that a boy, 14, had been arrested for spying on security procedures at Abuja's airport.

Ten members of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram have been executed by firing squad in Chad.It comes a day after they were found guilty of terror charges at a trial in the capital N'Djamena.Security sources said they were shot at a firing range north of the capital.

Authorities in Nigeria's financial capital Lagos have shut down churches across the city after a glut of complaints over noisy worship.

The chaotic megacity's environmental protection department said it had sealed off 22 premises on Wednesday after receiving dozens of calls a day, according to local newspaper reports.

Neighbours of one church, Jesus Our Lord Divine Catholic Prayer Ministry, said they were constantly disturbed by a congregation of mainly pregnant women, young mothers and their children.

Fourteen people have been detained in Morocco and Spain on suspicion of recruiting people to fight for ISIS in Syria and Iraq, the Spanish Interior Ministry said.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was jeered by opposition MPs as he delivered his state of the nation address in parliament.The president was repeatedly drowned out as he delivered one of shortest ever state of the nation speeches, lasting less than 30 minutes.

A South African court has convicted eight policemen of murdering a Mozambican taxi driver who was tied and dragged behind a police van in 2013.The judge said there was no doubt that the police could have foreseen that their actions would cause the death of 27-year-old Mido Macia.

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir will sign a peace deal with rebels despite his "reservations" about it, his spokesman has assured the BBC.Rebel leader Riek Machar signed the deal last week but Mr Kiir refused.The deal is meant to end months of brutal civil war and would see Mr Machar return as vice-president.Fighting between forces loyal to the two men has displaced over 2.2 million people and the UN has warned it will "act immediately" unless Mr Kiir signs.

The Chief Matron, Lagos State House of Assembly, Mrs. Caroline Oriola, has reportedly died in her office within the assembly premises.

It was gathered that Oriola had gone to the office on Saturday, August 22, but that her corpse was discovered yesterday by a cleaner, who had gone to clean the clinic.

Sources in the assembly revealed that the woman had gone to her office on Saturday to take some drugs and was said to have put on the air conditioning unit in the office and locked the door.

ABUJA — Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has set up a 13-member panel to probe two of his predecessors, late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, on procurement of arms and ammunition for the Armed Forces.

The investigative committee’s mandate is to identify irregularities and make recommendations for streamlining the procurement process in the Armed Forces.

The committee, which was constituted by the the National Security Adviser, Major-General Babagana Monguno (retd), on the directive of the President, is headed by AVM J.O.N. Ode (retd.) while Brig-Gen. Y.I. Shalangwa is secretary.

Suspected Boko Haram militants ambushed a convoy carrying the new head of the Nigerian army, the military says.

The ambush, which took place on Saturday in north-eastern Borno state, led to a clash in which one soldier and at least five militants were killed.

Army chief Gen Tukur Buratai took up his post in July after the president sacked the heads of the military for failing to end Boko Haram's insurgency.

Boko Haram began fighting for an Islamic state in the north in 2009.

The presidency has said that official portfolio was yet to be assigned to Aisha, the wife of president Muhammadu Buhari, overruling what hitherto was known as “First Lady’s office”. Apparently renaming it “Office of the Wife of the President”, the presidency however stated that Mrs. Buhari would, for now, be saddled with women and youth related issues in the country.

The Presidency was reacting to allegations in some Nigerian media that the wife of President Muhammadu Buhari has moved into the First Lady’s office in the Aso Villa.

United Nations (CNN)Three females, including a minor, have accused U.N. peacekeepers working in the Central African Republic of rape, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Their families reported the alleged abuse to the U.N. mission there, spokeswoman Vannina Maestracci told reporters. It was not immediately clear how many troops were allegedly involved.

News of the allegations comes one week after the head of the U.N. peacekeepers in the Central African Republic was fired over previous sex abuse accusations.

A Tunisian police officer has been shot dead in the beach resort of Sousse, where 38 people, mainly British tourists, were killed in June.

Officials said three officers were attacked by two men on a motorcycle.

South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu is to spend the next two weeks in hospital, according to a family statement.

The Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation said he was on a new course of antibiotics to treat an inflammation.