BBC Africa

Import restrictions in Zimbabwe have seen traders resort to smuggling in goods over the border.

Photos of street vendors from across Africa who it is thought account for more than half of the continent's work force.

South African students refuse to end their protests against the proposed increase of up to 8% for tuition fees.

The US announces plans to build a military air base in Niger that will be capable of deploying drones, as part of anti-Islamist efforts.

Columnist Farai Sevenzo considers why the authorities in Zimbabwe are making efforts to protect the country's flag - and from what it needs protecting.

To mark 50 years of Botswana's independence, Alexander McCall Smith writes an exclusive short story featuring his lady detectives.

A Somali regional government official has demanded an explanation from the US after 22 civilians and Somali soldiers were allegedly killed in an airstrike.

A new database suggests a dramatic under-reporting of the live, illegal trade in great apes including orangutans, chimpanzees and gorilllas.

Armed groups in the Central African Republic (CAR) are told to leave the schools they are occupying or face forceful eviction by UN troops.

The authorities in Nigeria's main city of Lagos are cracking down on street hawkers, blaming them for traffic jams.

Kenyan plans to build a railway across a national park, but could it be a new version of the so-called "lunatic line" to nowhere, asks Alastair Leithhead.

Abubakar Shekau, leader of Islamist group Boko Haram has once more released a video to reject reports that he had been killed. He has been reported dead five times already.

Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi has pleaded guilty to destroying sacred sites in Timbuktu, Mali, in the first case concerning cultural artefacts at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The lucrative counterfeit drugs trade causes hundreds of thousands of deaths every year. Technology can help fight it, but are big pharma and governments doing enough?

Former West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland midfielder Stephane Sessegnon signs for Montpellier on a two-year contract.

Fifa defends its decision to scrap an anti-racism taskforce with critics branding the move "shameful" and "perplexing".

Nigeria's international players say they understand their federations financial woes and understand they may have to wait for their playing bonuses.

Prominent Ethiopian actor Znah-Bzu Tsegaye says that he has has sought asylum in the US after leaving the country about two months ago.

Ivory Coast footballer Serge Aurier, who plays for Paris St-Germain, is sentenced to two months in jail for assaulting a police officer.

As the Cites conference on endangered species meets in Johannesburg, Matt McGrath travelled to Zambia to hear the voices of people with first-hand experience of conflicts between humans and wildlife.