Africa Live this week: 22-26 October 2018, as it happened

BBC HausaCopyright: BBC Hausa

Protesters have marched through the streets of Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, to the Saudi embassy carrying placards condemning the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

He was murdered in the Saudi consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul three weeks ago, investigators say.

The small group of demonstrators, wearing black T-shirts, were mainly journalists and human rights activists, including staff from Amnesty International in Nigeria.

They called on the UN to launch an independent investigation into the murder and ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice.

There is now more incentive for the eight teams at the Women's Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana next month as the top three sides will qualify for the 2019 World Cup in France.

The decision was taken by the Fifa Council, which has been meeting in the Rwandan capital, Kigali.

The council has also approved a 100% increase in funding for the women's World Cup .

Prize money is to double from $15m (£12m) to $30m and the extra cash will also be used to help qualified teams prepare and compensate clubs.

BBC Focus on Africa's satirical Resident Presidents get hot under the collar as they discuss the contentious issue of land and the tensions between herders and farmers.

Morocco has decided to keep its clocks on summer time all year round, abandoning winter time which would have come into effect this weekend, Map, the country’s official news agency, reports.

So on Sunday the North African nation's time will remain at GMT+1, meaning it will stay lighter in the evening rather than the morning.

The decision was taken after an evaluation study, which found that changing the time had caused confusion, the news site Le 360 said.

Mohammed Ben Abdelkader, the administrative reform minister, was quoted as saying it would also reduce electricity consumption.

The European Union said at the end of August that it would recommend that the bloc's member countries abolish the twice-yearly clock change but it is not clear if national governments will implement the suggestion.

Preparations for the mock wedding in Uganda are under way, as a celebrity gets ready to pretend to tie the knot to raise money for a student to stay at Oxford University (see earlier post).

The BBC’s Patricia Oyella in Kampala has snapped shots from the venue, including one of a wedding cake iced with the titles of literary classics:

BBCCopyright: BBC

BBCCopyright: BBC

BBCCopyright: BBC

Radio show host Siima K K Sabiti organised the fake wedding party with her friend Bernard Mukasa after hearing about Lulu Jemimah, a Ugandan writer who wanted to do a Master's degree in creative writing.

She decided to marry herself in August – to make the point that in her mind it was preferable to further her education rather than settle down into married life.

Guests attending the wedding on Friday afternoon must pay to attend and the money will go towards paying for Ms Jemimah’s university fees.

A rumour circulating on social media that the paper results of Cameroon's recent presidential election had gone up in flames has been dismissed as fake news by a government spokesperson.

"It's a gross fake!" said Information Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary in a tweet, urging people not to share what he said was a fake document announcing the destruction of election paperwork in a supposed fire at the Yaoundé Conference Centre, known in French as the Palais des Congrès.

It appears that the plume of smoke seen on Thursday above the hills of the Cameroonian capital was indeed from the Yaoundé Conference Centre, but what was inside it at the time was an exhibition promoting studying abroad in France - not electional materials.

The news was confirmed by France's Ambassador to Cameroon Gilles Thibault, who added that no-one was hurt in the fire that was started by a burnt fuse and thanked the fire services for their "quick and efficient response".

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

The academic qualifications of Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari are again making headlines because the 76-year-old is seeking re-election in February.

According to the constitution, to run for president a candidate must show that they at least have a school-leaving certificate that must be submitted to the electoral commission.

In 2015, Mr Buhari, a former military head of state, failed to present the relevant documents.

He said that if the electoral authorities needed the documentation, they should contact the military, where he had spent most of his career.

This time round he has again referred the election commission to the military - something that is causing an uproar on social media, and the acronym Waec - which stands for West African Examination Council - is trending in Nigeria.

Here are some of the memes doing the rounds:

Last month, the police tried to stop a candidate for running for governor of Osun state, saying he had forged his qualifications, but the president stepped in and the vote went ahead.

Mr Buhari's main rival in the upcoming elections, Atiku Abubakar, has presented his credentials, which include a diploma in law from Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Gabon’s President Ali Bongo was admitted to hospital on Thursday in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, suffering from “mild fatigue”, a source in the presidency told the magazine Jeune Afrique.

The 59-year-old had been due to appear on a panel at a controversial investment conference in Riyadh on Wednesday, but failed to make an appearance, AFP news agency reports.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited Mr Bongo in hospital on Thursday, AFP quoted the official Saudi Press Agency as saying.

Mr Bongo was sworn in for a second seven-year term in September 2016, after a bitterly disputed election in the oil-rich nation. He took over from his late father Omar Bongo, who had ruled Gabon for 41 years until his death in 2009.

Nigerian face model Adetutu Alabi is using social media to create awareness and change the narrative of people with tribal marking in Africa.

Adetutu, who was recently followed on social media by Rihanna, started a campaign called #tribalmarkschallenge.

She advocates a ban on facial scarring in Africa and wants permission to be sought before it is carried out:

Police in Ghana have arrested five women suspected of operating a human-trafficking ring.

They allegedly took young women from Nigeria to Ghana, promising them lucrative jobs.

They told the parents of the trafficked women that they operated businesses in Ghana and needed people to work in sales, police said.

But when the women arrived in Ghana they were forced into prostitution and warned never to alert the Ghanaian authorities.

They were also forced to pay the traffickers, believed to be Nigerian, $60 (£46) a day until they had covered the cost of bringing them into the country.

The police are currently searching for other suspects and also making efforts to find the trafficked women.

Seven young women, between the ages of 22 to 26 who were allegedly forced into prostitution in Tarkwa - a mining town in southern Ghana, have already been rescued.

Models will be sashaying in Nigeria’s main city for the next few days for Lagos Fashion Week, which opened on Thursday night.

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BBCCopyright: BBC

For the first time in eight years, the fashion show has expanded the number of designers from across Africa and will be featuring more than 50 of them.

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BBCCopyright: BBC

BBCCopyright: BBC

This year the show is also focusing on a campaign about mental health awareness in Nigeria.

One collection on Thursday, curated by the magazine publisher Betty Irabor, was about showcasing strength and confidence on the runway.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

The UN refugee agency has warned that Angola's deportation of more than 300,000 nationals from the Democratic Republic of Congo this month has left them in an extremely precarious situation.

The UNHCR said there were many allegations that migrants had been killed, reportedly by the Angolan security forces, with six deaths confirmed.

It urged the Congolese government to help the returnees, saying that many had insufficient access to food, water, healthcare and proper sanitation.

The mass expulsions coincide with the Angolan government's plan to reform its diamond industry; large numbers of Congolese had worked in informal mining operations.

Bala Dauran familyCopyright: Bala Dauran family

Twin sisters who were about to get married were kidnapped over the weekend in Nigeria’s northern-western state of Zamfara, a local leader has confirmed to the BBC.

Abubakar Muhammad, vice-chairman of the Zurmi area, said the twins, Hassana and Hussaina Bala Dauran, were among seven people kidnapped in Dauran town.

"The seven people, four male and three females were kidnapped between Saturday and Sunday,” he said.

"Another two people - one male, one female - were also kidnapped in Birnin Tsaba village, while three more were abducted in Moriki town, including a local government councillor.”

The twins, who are 18 years old, were visiting a cousin to show her the dress code for their joint wedding in December when they were all abducted.

Mr Muhammad told the BBC that the kidnappers had contacted the twins’ parents to demand a ransom.

Zamfara has recently been facing numerous security challenges – about 400 people have been killed in the state this year amid an increase in robbery, killings, and kidnappings for ransom.

Read more: Why is no-one talking about Zamfara's conflict?

Opposition supporters in the Democratic Republic of Congo are marching to demand the withdrawal of electronic voting machines that are to be used in elections due to be held in December.

The BBC’s Poly Muzalia in Kinshasa has been snapping photos of the protesters in the capital, Kinshasa:

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BBCCopyright: BBC

The AFP news agency reports that in a rare gesture, the authorities gave permission for the marches, but it reports that the security forces are deployed in strength in major cities nationwide.

President Joseph Kabila was supposed to have stepped down nearly two years ago when his second term in office ended, but as elections were postponed, his time in power has been extended.

Ahead of December’s long-delayed vote, two key opposition candidates, Jean Pierre Bemba and Moise Katumbi, have been barred from running.

They have both asked their supporters to turn out in force to protest against the South Korean voting machines.

The AFP quoted Mr Bemba as saying they should march against "the greatest electoral fraud ever with electronic machines that have not been tested anywhere in the world”.

The great and the good of world football are in Rwanda's capital, Kigali, for a Fifa Council meeting.

The council is the body that has replaced the old executive committee for football’s world governing body.

It is the main decision making body for Fifa and is made up of 37 members including Gianni Infantino, the president, and other members elected from the different continental confederations, this includes a minimum of one female representative per confederation.

The council meets three or four times a year around the world – the first one of 2018 was in Colombia and the next coincided with the World Cup in Russia.

When it comes to African issues, on the agenda are the recent problems with the football associations of Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and Sierra Leone.

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame is a passionate Arsenal fan - the English Premier League side is also sponsored by Rwanda's national tourist board.

The president tweeted photos of his meeting with Infantino ahead of the Fifa gathering:

Read the BBC Sport story for more on what is up for discussion.

Adara PalaceCopyright: Adara Palace

A 24-hour curfew has been reinstated in the Nigerian state of Kaduna from 11:00 local time on Friday following the death of a prominent traditional chief, who was abducted amid communal violence last week.

Maiwada Raphael Galadima, the Agom Adara (the traditional leader of the Adara people), was abducted last Friday after visiting the town of Kasuwan Magani, which had just witnessed clashes between Muslim and Christian youths at its market.

The unrest in Kasuwan Magani led to deadly violence elsewhere in the state, which is why a curfew was initially imposed

An official from a local Adara group who went to identify the chief's body at a hospital in Kaduna said kidnappers had collected a ransom and then killed him, local media reports.

BBC HausaCopyright: BBC Hausa

The Kaduna state government said the “criminal elements who perpetrated this crime should not be allowed to divide us”.

Its statement about the new curfew continued:

Quote Message: This is a struggle between good, decent, law-abiding people trying to uphold the peace and criminals who want to divide and destroy.

This is a struggle between good, decent, law-abiding people trying to uphold the peace and criminals who want to divide and destroy.

Quote Message: It is not a struggle between religious or ethnic groups. Let no criminal find succour in faith or tribe."

It is not a struggle between religious or ethnic groups. Let no criminal find succour in faith or tribe."

BBCCopyright: BBC

African champions Cameroon are set to play five-time World Cup winners Brazil in a friendly on 20 November in the UK.

The Brazil Football Association has tweeted confirmation of the match:

The Indomitable Lions are preparing to host the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations and the Brazil game will come just four days after they play Morocco in a qualifier.

Read the BBC Sports story for more.

One person has died and at least 15 others have been rescued from the building that collapsed at around dawn in Kenya's coastal town of Malindi.

The eight-storey building fell on to several nearby houses and a petrol station.

Soldiers, police, firemen and Red Cross workers are amongst those helping at the scene.

"We are still searching for more people although we are cautious to avoid further disaster bearing in mind there are explosive substances such as petrol, kerosene and gas at the petrol station,” Hassan Musa, from the Red Cross, is quoted by Kenya's Daily Nation as saying.

A journalist has tweeted a picture from the scene:

Police had to spray crowds with water to disperse those coming to witness the rescue operation, the Daily Nation reports.

According to Kenya's Standard newspaper, some people have blamed heavy rains over the past two days for the collapse.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Opposition parties from the Democratic Republic of Congo say that they will decide on one joint candidate for December's presidential elections.

After meeting in South Africa, seven parties agreed to name the candidate by the 15 November.

Correspondents say it would be surprising if all the opposition candidates stick to the agreement.

The election should result in DR Congo’s first democratic transition of power.

President Joseph Kabila is due to step down after serving the maximum two terms and the governing party has chosen the former Interior Minister Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary as its candidate.

Mr Kabila was supposed to have relinquished power nearly two years ago when his second term in office ended, but the postponement of elections meant he has stayed on as president.

Two key opposition candidates, Jean Pierre Bemba and Moise Katumbi, were barred from running.

The Congolese authorities have given permission for an opposition demonstration to go ahead in the capital, Kinshasa, on Friday.

The protest is against the use of controversial new voting machines, which some fear will be used to rig the election.