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A Malawi court has ruled that 11 prostitutes who were forced to take HIV tests by police six years ago will be awarded damages, a court official said Thursday citing a judgement.

The sex workers were rounded up in 2009 in the southern city of Mwanza, hauled to a government hospital for HIV testing without their consent and the results were disclosed in an open court. High court judge Dorothy Kamanga ordered that the prostitutes "should be compensated and file for compensation within 14 days," according to the ruling handed down on Wednesday and read out to AFP by a court clerk.

The judge said actions by both police and health workers in subjecting the women to forced HIV tests, and disclosing their sta

More than 70 Chinese vessels have been found fishing illegally off the coast of West Africa, Greenpeace says.

Using information gathered from 2000 to 2014, Greenpeace said Chinese companies had fished in prohibited grounds or under-declared their catches. Boats either turned off their identification systems or transmitted false location data, it added. One company's fishing capacity off the coast of Guinea Bissau is said to have exceeded its authorised limit by 61%. The absence of efficient fisheries management in some West African states allows rogue companies to plunder marine resources, the BBC's Thomas Fessy reports from Dakar in Senegal.

In less than a month, Greenpeace documented an average of one new case of illegal practice by a Chinese-

The Nigerian army has relocated at least 260 women and children recently rescued from the militant Islamist group Boko Haram, officials say.

They were taken from a camp in the north-eastern city of Yola and flown to an unspecified military facility.

The women will receive medical help and support as part of their rehabilitation process, the BBC has learnt. The government is said to be worried that some women may have been radicalised while in captivity. Camp officials said there were suspicions some of the women had been communicating with militants.They will be housed at the military facility under the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Programme which is part of the government's so-called "soft approach" to combating terrorism.

Backed by soldiers from Chad, Cameroon and Niger, the Nigerian army has managed to liberate a number of towns from the militants since they launched a military operation in February. However, sporadic attacks and violence have contin

At least 33 people die amid worsening medical conditions while tens sof thousands stranded on Tanzania Kangunga Island.

Militants from the Islamist group al-Shabab briefly took over a mosque in the Kenyan town Garissa, local leaders say.

West African leaders converged on Accra yesterday for the 47th Ordinary Session of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, with a key member, Goodluck Jonathan, making an emotional last appearance at the sub-regional meeting as the President of Nigeria.

Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza has appeared in public in his own country for the first time since a failed coup d'etat last week.

Islamic State (IS) fighters are being smuggled into Europe by gangs in the Mediterranean, an adviser to the Libyan government has told the BBC.

Three leaders of a failed coup against Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza have been arrested, his spokesman says.

Rival groups of soldiers are fighting each other in Burundi's capital amid confusion over the success of an attempted coup against the president.

A Burundi army general says senior officers are "dismissing" President Pierre Nkurunziza, amid unrest over his bid to be re-elected for a third term.

Outgoing Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said Sunday that some of his friends deserted him shortly after he conceded defeat to his rival General Muhammadu Buhari in the March election.

An eight-year-old boy has been smuggled into Spain from Morocco inside a suitcase, Spanish police say.

A gunman opened fire on students after walking into a high school in Potiskum in northeast Nigeria, critically injuring six, witnesses and a humanitarian aid worker said.

Cote d’Ivoire has banned skin-whitening creams because of health concerns, the health ministry says.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have named their daughter Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, Kensington Palace has said.

Togo's constitutional court on Sunday confirmed the victory of incumbent president Faure Gnassingbe in last week's elections, declaring that he beat rival Jean-Pierre Fabre with just over 58 per cent of the vote.

A group of nearly 300 women and girls, which the Nigerian army says were freed from Boko Haram militants earlier this week have been taken to a refugee camp in north-eastern Nigeria.