South Africa polls close

Twenty five years since the end of apartheid and the first free and fair elections, millions of South Africans head to the polls to elect fresh members of the National Assembly. Focus on Africa is on the ground reporting from the queues outside the polling stations, as well as talking to those people who decided not to vote. Six million young people did not register to vote. What future for Africa's biggest democracy?

The UN has issued a crisis warning for the Sahel region. It says increasing violence in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger has surpassed available resources and risks spilling over elsewhere in West Africa. We speak to Sofie Garde Thomle - Head of the Un's Regional Office for West and Central Africa.

(Photo: A woman cast her vote in Johannesburg. Credit: BBC)