Hakainde Hichilema, who describes himself as an ordinary "cattle boy," is a wealthy businessman who is running for the Zambian presidency for the sixth time.

Health authorities in Guinea have confirmed one death from Marburg virus, a highly infectious hemorrhagic fever similar to Ebola, the World Health Organisation said on Monday.

A cholera outbreak in southern Niger has killed 12 people and infected 201 others across three regions, with heavy rains helping to further spread the disease, the country's health minister said on Monday.

Markets and businesses closed down on Monday and streets were mostly deserted in cities across southeast Nigeria, residents said, after a separatist group called for a protest over the arrest of its leader.

Suspected jihadists massacred 51 civilians in northern Mali and killed 12 troops in an ambush in neighbouring Burkina Faso, the authorities said Monday, highlighting the security crisis gripping the two fragile states.

A politician was abducted from his home in northern Nigeria on Monday, authorities said, and a Swiss national was kidnapped in a separate incident in the southwest over the weekend, according to security sources.

Troops from Mozambique and Rwanda retook a port town at the heart of a four-year insurgency that led to the suspension of a $20 billion project by TotalEnergies.

Zambia's President Edgar Lungu will seek to fend off a perennial opposition challenger in a vote on Thursday that may be decided by frustrated young voters amid economic turmoil and a pending bailout for one of Africa's most indebted

\More than half a million Tunisians received vaccinations on Sunday as part of a national campaign to control the outbreak of Covid-19 after the country received more than 6 million vaccine doses from Western and Arab countries.

Tunisia on Sunday launched a Covid-19 vaccination drive for the over-40s, after receiving more than six million doses from abroad to combat surging infections.

Nigerian gunmen have kidnapped a Swiss national after opening fire on his police escort in a southwestern state, police said on Sunday.

Rwandan forces deployed last month to help Mozambique's army battle jihadists said Sunday they had recaptured control of the key northern port of Mocimboa da Praia from the extremist militants.

Sudan has recalled its ambassador to neighbouring Ethiopia, the foreign ministry said Sunday, reporting Addis Ababa had spurned its efforts at trying to broker a ceasefire in war-torn Tigray.

The United Nations has condemned the practise of child marriage in Zimbabwe following the death of a 14-year-old girl after she gave birth at a church shrine, an incident that caused outrage among citizens and rights activists.

Thousands of homes have been damaged in Sudan after torrential rains caused heavy flooding, with many streets in the capital Khartoum deep in water, AFP correspondents said Sunday.

One of the Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram militants more than seven years ago is free and has been reunited with her family, a state governor's office said on Saturday.

Two Algerian soldiers were killed and a third was wounded when a landmine exploded during a military operation in Ain Defla province, the defence ministry said.

Deadly fighting has erupted between rival factions of South Sudan Vice President Riek Machar's SPLA-IO, his military spokesman said in a statement.

Zambia's main opposition leader on Saturday said he was blocked from flying into the central Copperbelt Province, a region that could swing next week's election where he was due to campaign.

The US State Department on Friday added five alleged senior members of jihadist groups in Africa to its terror blacklist, blocking access to any property or interests they may have in the United States.