Zimbabwe has detected the first cases of the new coronavirus variant that emerged in India, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga said, adding that all travellers from the Asian nation would be required to undergo mandatory quarantine.

The destruction of 19 610 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine was a publicised event.

Unidentified assailants killed 15 people who were gathered for a baptism at a village in northern Burkina Faso, the government said.

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 3 406 803 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP.

French President Emmanuel Macron touted a "new deal" for Africa at a Paris summit attended by about 30 African heads of state.

A Muslim leader has been shot dead after evening prayers in Beni, in the troubled east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, local community leaders have said, the second such killing this month.

Namibia issued emergency travel documents to the twin daughters of a gay couple who have been battling to take them home following their birth to a surrogate in South Africa, one of the fathers told Reuters.

Nigeria has received 4.2 million pounds ($5.9 million) looted by a former governor, who was jailed in Britain for money laundering and fraud, the justice minister said Tuesday.

Drugs with a street value of nearly €100 million have been seized in operations in Africa and the Middle East, including two major busts that show how traffickers are packing larger loads into their shipments, according to Interpol.

Egypt is seeking to restore its regional clout by mediating between Israel and Hamas to douse the week-long conflict in Gaza that has cost more than 200 lives.

Lesotho faces having €50 million of its assets seized around the world after breaching the terms of a contract with Frazer Solar GmBH.

Zimbabwe needs a "broader reform and stabilization agenda" to sustain an almost yearlong effort by authorities to support the local currency and lower inflation, according to the IMF

The situation in Mozambique is one of the issues expected to be on the agenda during a summit on the financing of African economies organised by French President Emmanuel Macron with African leaders on Tuesday.

Uganda says it had agreed with neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to share intelligence and coordinate a new push by Kinshasa to combat Islamist rebels blamed for worsening violence in Congo's east.

Service to social media platforms Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram has been restored in Ethiopia after they were restricted earlier on Monday, internet blockage observatory NetBlocks has said.

The Republic of Congo's President Denis Sassou Nguesso has chosen a new government that includes his son as well as an opposition leader, according to a statement read on public television.

Egypt has opened the Rafah border crossing a day earlier than planned to allow the passage from Gaza of students, people needing medical treatment and other humanitarian cases, two sources at the border told Reuters on Sunday.

Cocoa farmers across Ivory Coast, the world's biggest producer of the key ingredient for chocolate, are down in the dumps after prices for their commodity have fallen for the second year running.

Zimbabwe's High Court on Saturday ruled that President Emmerson Mnangagwa's controversial extension of tenure of the country's top judge is illegal.

Thirty people have been sentenced to death in the Democratic Republic of Congo for their role in anti-police violence marking the end of Ramadan in the capital Kinshasa.