African leaders are hitting back against travel bans imposed over the Omicron variant, accusing wealthy countries of being hypocrites for delivering new restrictions instead of the vaccine doses the continent desperately needs.

South Africa's Covid-19 cases have nearly quadrupled in the last four days, underscoring concerns around how contagious the new coronavirus Omicron variant might be as the country enters its fourth wave of the pandemic.

Polls opened in Gambia on Saturday with voters using a unique voting system, marbles dropped in each candidate's ballot drum, in a tightly fought presidential election that will test stability and democratic progress.

Militants killed at least 31 people in central Mali on Friday when they fired on a bus ferrying people to a local market, local authorities said -- the latest deadly attack in a region racked by violent insurgency.