Tanzanian President John Magufuli, who died Wednesday aged 61, came to power in 2015 as a blunt-talking man of the people, attacking corruption as promised, but triggering accusations of a slide into authoritarianism.

Tanzania's President John Magufuli, admired by followers for his hostility to corruption and waste but regarded by foes as an irascible authoritarian intolerant of dissent and sceptical about Covid-19, has died aged 61.

Tanzanian President Magufuli was one of the world's most prominent Covid-deniers. His death was announced on state TV.

Tunisia has repatriated at least 16 women and children accused of links to extremist jihadi fighters imprisoned in war-ravaged neighbouring Libya, rights groups said on Wednesday.

Security forces in the Republic of Congo were casting their ballots on Wednesday ahead of presidential elections in which veteran leader Denis Sassou Nguesso is frontrunner.

Abdenour Ait Said and Mohamed Chabti both helped topple Algeria's veteran president nearly two years ago by taking part in mass street demonstrations against the ruling elite but they no longer agree on the protests.

Egypt is racing to prepare a grandiose new capital city in the desert east of Cairo before the first civil servants move in this summer and ahead of the delayed official opening of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's flagship project.

At least 11 soldiers were killed and 11 more are missing after an attack in northeastern Mali blamed on jihadists, the army said, updating a previous toll.

UN panel of experts says violations of arms embargo are ‘extensive, blatant and with complete disregard for sanctions’.

Children as young as 11 have been targeted by violence and beheaded in northeast Mozambique during an jihadist insurgency in the region, the charity Save the Children says.

Prosecutors in Algeria are seeking an 18-month prison sentence for a journalist on charges including defamation, a penalty Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has slammed as "disproportionate".

Two Malian soldiers have been killed in an attack in a northeastern region where jihadist groups are rampant, the army said.

American military personnel will spend two months training soldiers in Mozambique to help the country fight a jihadist insurgency in its northeast, US embassy officials said.

The oil producer surpassed South Africa on a list of 82 countries whose unemployment rates are tracked by Bloomberg. Namibia still leads the list with 33.4%

Gunmen have seized an unspecified number of primary school pupils and teachers in the northwestern Nigerian state of Kaduna, the government said, in a region wracked by banditry and kidnapping.

Uganda's opposition leader Bobi Wine was briefly detained on Monday as he led an anti-government demonstration in the capital, his latest effort to reject the results of a January presidential election he says he won.

At least 15 civilians were massacred overnight in eastern DR Congo, a monitoring group in the region said Monday, saying the notorious ADF militia were suspected.

Somalia on Monday received its first shipment of 300 000 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, destined for frontline workers and those most at risk from Covid-19, the government said in a statement.

Armed men attempted to kidnap more students in Nigeria's Kaduna state overnight, a state government official said, as 39 others from an earlier attack remain missing.

Ethiopia gave out its first coronavirus vaccine doses on Saturday, as the health ministry warned of an "alarming" increase in cases.