Southern Africa's leaders are meeting in the Mozambican capital to discuss the insurgency in the north of the country, which could spill over regional borders.

Three people were killed when an illegal gold mine collapsed in southern Ghana and rescuers were trying to reach at least a dozen more trapped inside.

News24 has appointed seasoned journalist Lynsey Chutel to head up its Africa desk.

Leaders of the southern African regional bloc SADC will hold an extraordinary summit in Maputo to discuss the violence engulfing northern Mozambique.

More than 20 000 people are homeless and 40 still missing in the aftermath of a volcanic eruption in eastern Congo.

Dozens of people are missing in northwest Nigeria after an overloaded boat ferrying around 160 passengers sank in the Niger River, a local official said.

Zambian President Edgar Lungu has banned campaign rallies ahead of elections scheduled for 12 August, saying large gatherings risked spreading the Covid-19 virus.

Mali's interim president and prime minister have resigned, two days after they were arrested by the military, an aide to the vice president said.

The eastern Democratic Republic of Congo city of Goma has been shaken by a flurry of shocks from the nearby Mount Nyiragongo volcano, four days after its eruption, badly damaging several buildings.

While delivering the Thabo Mbeki lecture, Professor 'Funmi Olonisakin said the war in Ethiopia's Tigray region was evidence of the shortcomings of the African Union.

Which customs do you keep, which ones do you let go? Masanda Peter looks at baby traditions.

South Sudan will return 72 000 doses of donated Covid-19 vaccines after concluding it cannot administer the jabs before they expire, a health ministry official told AFP.

A cholera outbreak in northern Nigeria has killed at least 20 people in the past two weeks with more than 300 hospitalised from the disease, a health official said.

A deal "in principle" has been reached in Somalia to organise new elections, its foreign minister told the UN Security Council.

In South Africa, the day is largely a reminder of the country's relationship with the continent from which it was largely cut off during the apartheid era.

Sudan has declared a state of emergency and imposed a night curfew in some parts of the coastal Red Sea state, after tribal violence that killed at least five people, according to state media.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for civilian leaders in Mali to be released, after military officers upset with a government reshuffle detained the president and prime minister at an army camp.

Malian officers upset with a government reshuffle have detained the president and prime minister at an army camp outside the capital, triggering broad international condemnation and demands for their immediate release.

Niger began distributing more than four million mosquito nets to fight malaria, which killed more than 5 000 people last year.

A chief in Zimbabwe has ordered the exhumation and reburial of Robert Mugabe's remains at the national heroes' shrine in Harare.