LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigerian police have released 259 people held captive at an Islamic rehabilitation centre in the southwestern city of Ibadan, a police spokesman said on Tuesday.

KIGALI (Reuters) - Rwanda's President Paul Kagame has appointed a new foreign affairs minister in a cabinet reshuffle, a statement read on state broadcaster Radio Rwanda late on Monday said.

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Eight Ugandan journalists were detained on Monday as they marched in the capital Kampala to protest what they said were police abuses, including beatings and detentions, during coverage of student protests last month, a rights group official said.

EL-FASHER, Sudan (Reuters) - Sudan is discussing several scenarios such as cash transfers for poor people to accompany planned subsidies for food and other basic goods, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said on Monday.

CONAKRY (Reuters) - Two people were killed in Guinea on Monday, authorities said, as protesters and police clashed during a funeral procession for those killed in earlier protests over a suspected effort by President Alpha Conde to extend his mandate.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday and voiced support for negotiations between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan over a giant hydroelectric dam on Ethiopia's Blue Nile, the White House said.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's chief justice lashed out on Monday at budget cuts that he said were intended to undermine the court system and would hamper an anti-corruption drive.

LAGOS (Reuters) - An artist who was born in Britain and raised in Nigeria has announced plans for a programme to get painters, sculptors and other creatives living and working together in the West African nation's commercial capital Lagos.

HARARE (Reuters) - The Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) on Monday detained and charged a cabinet minister and long-time ally of President Emmerson Mnangagwa for abuse of office alleged to have cost the government $3.7 million, the second high-profile graft case this year.

RAS LANUF, Libya (Reuters) - The reopening of a plastics factory in the Libyan oil port of Ras Lanuf has provided a rare boost to an economy ravaged by war and political divisions.

COTONOU, Benin (Reuters) - Benin authorities have opened an investigation after pirates abducted nine people from a Norwegian-flagged boat off the coast of the West African nation, the port of Cotonou said.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian security forces have killed 83 suspected Islamist militants in operations in central and North Sinai over the past month, the military said on Monday.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe police have given public sector workers permission to march for better pay on Wednesday in what is widely seen as a test of President Emmerson Mnangagwa's willingness to tolerate dissent.

PORT LOUIS (Reuters) - Mauritius' leader Pravind Kumar Jugnauth is banking on accomplishments like a minimum wage law to win a general election on Thursday but could face a tough challenge from two opponents promising to end graft and higher retirement benefits.

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria will keep its land borders closed to trade until at least January 31, 2020, the customs spokesman told Reuters on Sunday.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Sunday the death toll from protests last month had risen to 86 and urged citizens to resist forces threatening to impede the country's progress.

OSLO (Reuters) - A vessel owned by Norwegian shipping firm J.J. Ugland was boarded by pirates while at anchor off the coast of Benin on Saturday, and nine crew members were kidnapped, the company said on Sunday.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Solani Rivele, a single mother of four, earns about 800 rand ($55) a week but owes 100 times that amount in loans. Millions of South Africans like her rely on credit to feed their families.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's Islamic State affiliate, Sinai Province, has sworn allegiance to the new leader named by the group following the death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the affiliate said on Telegram on Saturday.

BAMAKO (Reuters) - At least 53 soldiers and one civilian have been killed in an attack on an army post in northern Mali, the government said, in one of the deadliest strikes against the West African country's military in recent memory.