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{UAH} Africa Live: Nigeria officers cleared of war crimes, chaos as SA hit by taxi strike

Summary

  1. Special inquiry exonerates Nigerian officers accused of war crimes
  2. South Africa's economic hub paralysed by strike
  3. Estranged wife of Lesotho's prime minister shot dead
  4. India mocked over Morocco border photo
  5. Email stories and comments to africalive@bbc.co.uk - Thursday 15 June 2017

Live Reporting

By Paul Bakibinga and Farouk Chothia

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SHAREDNiger hit by deadly floods

At least nine children have been killed in Niger after torrential rains lasting over several days led to the collapse of houses in the capital Niamey, officials have told AFP news agency.

"The children were killed as buildings gave way in different parts of the city," Zourkaleini Maiga, the secretary general of the local authority, said.

One mother told a local TV station that three of her four children had been killed as they sheltered from the heavy rains by the wall of a neighbouring house

One of the main markets in the city centre has also been destroyed and two television channels wereunable to transmit after their studios flooded.

Flooding last year claimed 50 lives, affecting over 140,000 people, AFP says.

AFP
Niamey is often hit by floods

Secret Nigerian Facebook group

It is one of Facebook's fastest growing communities and has become such a phenomenon that last week, Mark Zuckerberg asked to meet its founder. But what is Fin?

The BBC's Stephanie Hegarty has been finding out

Lola Omolola

Niger hit by deadly floods

At least nine children have been killed in Niger after torrential rains lasting over several days led to the collapse of houses in the capital Niamey, officials have told AFP news agency.

"The children were killed as buildings gave way in different parts of the city," Zourkaleini Maiga, the secretary general of the local authority, said.

One mother told a local TV station that three of her four children had been killed as they sheltered from the heavy rains by the wall of a neighbouring house

One of the main markets in the city centre has also been destroyed and two television channels wereunable to transmit after their studios flooded.

Flooding last year claimed 50 lives, affecting over 140,000 people, AFP says.

AFP
Niamey is often hit by floods

Uganda national theatre not for demolishing

The Uganda National Cultural Centre (UNCC) has denied reports carried in the local Observer newspaper that the country's national theatre is to be demolished

The report said that the iconic 60-year-old piano-shaped building was going to be demolished to make way for a 36-storey shopping mall.

In a statement via its Facebook page the UNCC says that the national theatre will be renovated.

The earlier reports of plans to demolish the national theatre generated complaints via social media

Report
Report
Report

Nigeria officers 'cleared' of war crimes

Nigeria's army has exonerated retired senior officers accused by rights group Amnesty International of committing war crimes during the campaign to defeat militant Islamist group Boko Haram in the north-east.

A special board of inquiry had cleared the group of retired officers, including Maj-Gen John Ewansiha who spearheaded the operation against the militants, an army statement said.

In a 2015 report, Amnesty called for nine commanders to be investigated for "horrific war crimes" committed by the military.

This included "participating, sanctioning or failing to prevent the deaths of more than 8,000 people murdered, starved, suffocated, and tortured to death", Amnesty said.

AFP
Nigerian troops have been battling militants since 2009

Lesotho PM 'devastated' by shooting

Lesotho's incoming Prime Minister Thabane is devastated by the murder of his estranged wife, a senior member of his All Basotho Convention (ABC) party has said, AFP news agency reports.

"Yes it is true that Mrs Lipolelo was shot dead last night... Everyone is traumatised by these developments," Samonyane Ntsekele, the secretary general of the ABC, was quoted as saying.

See earlier post for more details

Al-Shabab attack 'kills 18'

A combined suicide bomb and gun attack at a hotel and restaurant in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, has killed at least 18 people.

The attack started on Wednesday evening, as Muslims were breaking their daily fast during Ramadan.

A chef at the Pizza House restaurant, a modern venue popular with young Somalis, was among the victims.

Militants from the al-Shabab group held about 20 hostages during a shoot-out with police, which has now ended.

Reuters
Thursday scene of attack on Mogadishu hotel

India ministry mocked for 'appropriating' border

BBC
Alt News website reported that this picture was taken by Spanish photographer Javier Moyano in 2006

Twitter users are ridiculing India's home ministry for appropriating a picture from the Spain-Morocco border to highlight its work.

Alt News website reported on Wednesday that the ministry used the picture in its annual report to show that it had installed floodlights in border areas.

But the website added that the picture was taken in 2006 by Spanish photographer Javier Moyano.

The ministry has reportedly ordered an inquiry into the "embarrassing gaffe".

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has faced similar online mockery in the past for using wrong or photo-shopped pictures in official press releases and reports.

India's state-run Press Information Bureau in 2015 tweeted an obviously edited image of Mr Modi surveying deadly Chennai floods.

In the latest gaffe, the home ministry included the picture in its report which was published on its website.

After Alt News reported the error, Indians took to Twitter to mock the ministry.

Report

South Africa hit by taxi strike

Taxi drivers have blockaded major highways in South Africa's economic heartland of Gauteng, leaving thousands of commuters stranded.

The protest is aimed at bringing down the cost of buying Toyota Quantum taxis - the main mode of transport for workers, the public broadcaster SABC reports.

The strike - which affects residents of the main city, Johannesburg, and the capital, Pretoria - is dominating Twitter coverage in South Africa:

Report
Report

Lesotho PM's wife killed ahead of inauguration

The estranged wife of Lesotho's incoming Prime Minister Tom Thabane has been shot dead - ahead of his inauguration on Friday following his party's victory in parliamentary elections.

Lipolelo Thabane, 58, was killed by an unknown gunman while travelling home in the town of Masana, just outside the capital, Maseru, police spokeman Clifford Molefe said, Reuters news agency reports.

A woman who was with her was wounded in the attack, and taken to a nearby hospital, he added.

AFP
The incoming prime minister won electios by a comfortable margin

Mr Molefe said the motive of the shooting was still unclear and investigations were ongoing.

Mr Thabane and his wife had been living separately since 2012, Reuters reports.

The incoming prime minister had filed for divorce, but it had not yet been granted by the courts, it added.

Mr Thabane's All Basotho Convention won 48 parliamentary seats, compared with the 30 of outgoing Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili's Democratic Congress in las week's election.

South Africa's Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa is due to attend his inauguration after mediating an end to the political crisis which erupted after an attempted coup in 2014,

Good morning

Welcome to BBC Africa Live where we will bring you the latest news from around the continent.

And here is our proverb of the day:

An elder's words are sweeter the following day."

A Chewa proverb sent by Remmy Shawa in Lusaka, Zambia

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