He says the dam will double electricity production in a country where a third of the people have no power.

The Selous game reserve is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The $3-billion deal with two Egyptian firms to build a dam across the Rufiji River in the middle of it is bound to be legally challenged by conservation activists. 

Tanzania’s opposition is not up to the task.

Environmentalists say 200 000 people downriver of the dam will lose their livelihoods.

The project also threatens mangrove swamps and the wildlife they shelter.

They believe the dam will silt up in a matter of years, nullifying its hydro-electric capability.

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Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza has described the gunning down of his former minister Hafsa Mossi as a barbaric assassination. Mossi once worked for the BBC Swahili service.

UNESCO says a world heritage site in central Mali that features elaborate pre-Islamic mud houses is in danger of deteriorating  because cannot be adequately protected in face of insecurity.

A senior advisor to Congolese president Joseph Kabila says the president’s entitled to stay in power past the end of his mandate if elections are not held on time at the end of this year.

Opposition parties have mounted deadly riots accusing the president of disrespecting the constitution.

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