Congo minister sacked after row with opposition leader

Congo-Brazzaville's president Denis Sassou Nguesso has sacked his women's minister after a row over a recording in which she questioned the integrity of the opposition leader.

The presidential decree, signed on Tuesday, fired Ines Nefer Bertille Ingani, without giving any reason. Ingani, 47, had been in post since April 2016.

But opposition leader Pascal Tsaty Mabiala had accused her of having defamed him in an audio recording leaked to social media.

In the recording she can be heard making allegations against Mabiala after he asked questions in parliament about the income of the president's son, Denis Christel Sassou Nguesso.

The president's son, who is a deputy in parliament, was the subject of a recent investigation published last month by the British campaigning group Global Witness.

It accuses him of having embezzled more than $50 million (30 billion CFA francs) from Congo's treasury back in 2014.