Africa highlights: Tuesday 11 August

As part of our fashion series, we have been asking colleagues the question: What is African fashion and what does it mean to you? Here's what they told us:

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Bilkisu Babangida from Nigeria (Producer, BBC Hausa):

"It means natural beauty and African culture. Wherever you go in the world Africans like to standout in the crowd when they are out in society as if to say: 'I am African and I am proud'".

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Tulanana Bohela from Tanzania (BBC Journalist):

"African Fashion is personal to me. I always wear African jewellery and attire I think what concerns me is how African prints and accessories have become a fad. Some wear certain jewellery or clothes without truly understanding the meaning behind it and wear some outfits because it's fashionable. I feel if we trace back what they mean, we can then wear them with pride."

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Veronique Edwards from Cameroon, (Journalist at BBC Focus on Africa radio):

"African fashion means 'dignity'."

See the full photo album on the BBC Africa Facebook page.

I'm told by a source at the Libya talks in Geneva that the mood is "mixed".

So far today the Libyan representatives at the UN-led dialogue have been holding separate meetings with negotiators.

Representatives from the parliament in Tripoli - which is not recognised by the international community - said they were only at the talks to amend the last agreement that was signed by other groups in July.

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This is unlikely to happen and suggests this latest round of talks is the beginning of yet another protracted process where opposing blocs still prefer sitting in different rooms.

Burundi must re-establish the political dialogue in order to reduce the tension in the country, a UN official has told the BBC.

The UN's Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic told Focus on Africa radio that this was important because "during periods when dialogue was going we had a decrease of killings and human rights violations".

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Also Mr Simonovic wants to see greater protection for civil society activists and journalists as "currently independent media has been destroyed".

He added that "there needs to be an international message that there will be accountability for violations that are taking place".

As part of BBC Africa's fashion series, we're asking what is African fashion and what does it mean to you? Send us your comments on the hashtag #dressAfricaBBC.

Uwa Nnachi and Genevieve Sagno have been to visit Petticoat Lane in the heart of London, the home of African fashion in the capital for over five decades. Watch the video here.

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Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta has appointed the first ever woman to the rank of brigadier, the fourth highest rank in the country's armed forces. 

Fatimah Ahmed was already the highest ranked woman in Kenya's Defence Forces, having previously held the post of colonel in the Kenyan Navy. 

A year has passed in Africa without there being a new polio case, and though the continent needs to experience two further years without a case before being declared officially polio free, today's news has been welcomed.

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Clinton Wairema has lived with a disability after being infected with polio as a toddler, and has been speaking to the BBC about today's milestone.

"It's quite amazing... what I would like to see happening now is that Africa has to campaign to sensitise people about how dangerous polio is and how important it is to prevent it before it attacks people."

The hashtag #SomeoneTellKagame is still trending on Twitter in Kenya after the Rwandan President hit back at criticism of his third-term ambitions from a Kenyan user.

Lots of you have been getting in touch on this story. 

Cyubahiro Robert Mckenna on the BBC Africa Facebook page said:

"#SomeoneTellKagame, As a young Rwandan I don't care about term limits as long as he gives me security and peace, free education, almost free health insurance,water and electricity. I want him to stay in 2017."

Many have also been commenting on Twitter:

Nigeria's National Hospital in Abuja has been live tweeting a heart operation on an eight-year-old patient to repair a hole in her heart:

Half an hour later the hospital tweeted:

In the next hour the operation was still going on:

And in its most recent tweet the hospital says:

Today marks a year since the continent saw its last case of polio - which was in Somalia.

But we need to see two further years before we can say the continent is polio free.

"[It] is extremely encouraging and demonstrates real progress. However, it must also be taken...with caution," said Dr Hamid Jafari, who heads the World Health Organization's (WHO) polio eradication initiative.

"The focus remains on continuing to vaccinate children, no matter where they live, and to strengthen surveillance everywhere."

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Angola will destroy 11 million eggs, after they were imported illegally into the country without an official health certificate, the agriculture minister has said.

About 25 million eggs are laid each month in Angola and the government has said it wants this to increase by 10-15 million, as part of a drive to boost production of domestic food and drink.

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Three soldiers died and four were wounded on Monday when their patrol vehicle hit an explosive device in central Mali, the government said.

No group has said it planted the device at Diabozo, near Tenenkou in the Mopti region.

It's the latest deadly incident to take place in central of Mali, which has become a new operating area for suspected militant Islamists.

Nine Malian soldiers have died since the beginning of August in attacks in the centre of the country.

UN-sponsored talks aimed at ending the crisis in Libya are getting underway in Geneva.

It hasn't been easy for the UN to persuade Libya's rival factions to attend the talks, but most, if not all, have sent representatives here.

They may not in the end meet face to face, but even proximity talks, with UN diplomats shuttling between the different groups, could yield agreement on ways to form a unity government.

The problem is that Libya's political factions may have lost influence over the armed groups on the ground, so even if there is an agreement, it may not bring an end to the violence.

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Since the overthrow of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi 4 years ago, Libya has descended into violence and lawlessness, and the country now has two rival governments, both claiming to be legitimate.

Uganda's boda-bodas or motorbike taxis are thought to be a major cause of road accidents in the country - they're known for not respecting any traffic rules, but are a necessary means of public transport.

Now an organisation called Safe Boda is trying to change that.

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It trains riders in first aid and traffic rules, and then gives them two helmets (one for them and one for the passenger) and a hi-viz jacket.

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Over 100 riders have been trained so far and many passengers prefer them to ordinary boda-bodas.

And Safe Boda has now released a smartphone app which shows where the trained riders are stationed.

Rwanda's government has welcomed the dropping of the extradition case in London against intelligence chief Gen Karenzi Karake.

He was arrested in the UK in June under a European arrest warrant issued by Spain, which wants to try him for war crimes related to events after the 1994 genocide.

"Rwanda regards the discredited arrest warrant as just a tactic in a political campaign by those who deny the genocide of 1994," the government says in a statement quoted by the AFP news agency.

It added that the Spanish indictment "is an affront to a whole nation, its people and government".

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South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has said that the current power shortages has restricted economic growth in the country:

Mr Zuma is giving an update on the state of the nation (SONA) in an address in the capital, Pretoria.

He says plans are being made to improve the energy situation:

The second group stage began at the Netball World Cup in Australia this morning with Africa's top-ranked side Malawi beating Uganda 59-53 in Pool E.

South Africa got off to a winning start in Pool F with a 68-40 win over Wales.

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Zambia are still playing at the tournament to decide their final position at the event - they lost their first game 66-39 to Trinidad and Tobago.

Republic of Congo's President Denis Sassou Nguesso has dismissed two minsters who opposed a change to the constitution that would allow him to to seek a third term in the 2016 elections, AFP news agency reports.

If he wins he would join only five other African presidents who have led their countries uncontested for over three decades.

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"The retrospective traces the wealth of the region’s artistic productions from the 1920s to present day through painting, photography, sculpture, music, film, comics and performance art," reports Okay Africa. 

Southampton midfielder Victor Wanyama says his side can improve on last season's impressive seventh-place Premier League finish, and is confident he will take another step forward personally, Reuters news agency reports.

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The Kenya international, who joined the club in the summer of 2013, played an integral part in the team that secured European football for the club last term.

"I know our fans will demand even more [this season], so we are ready to show what we can do, and personally also improve my game from last season," the 24-year-old was quoted as saying to the Daily Echo.

Rwanda's President Kagame took on a Kenyan citizen on Twitter after his third-term ambitions were questioned:

@levikones was not cowed and answered back.

And now #SomeoneTellKagame is trending in Kenya. Some are critical of President Kagame:

But some say Kenyans should not get involved:

How many people in Rwanda oppose the idea of President Paul Kagame running for a third term?

Only 10, according to a group of MPs who have been carrying out nationwide consultations on changes in the constitution, which currently sets a limit of two terms for a president, according to a Rwandan newspaper.

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"Of millions of Rwandans consulted by lawmakers on the need to amend Article 101 of the constitution in the past few weeks, only 10 were against the idea," the pro-government New Times newspaper reports.

Rights groups have accused the Rwandan authorities of silencing the opposition and stifling the media.

The change will now be put to a referendum, after MPs approved a petition signed by more than 3.7 million Rwandans asking parliament to abandon the two-term limit.

The UN Security Council has backed a plan by the secretary general to send an urgent mission to Burundi.

It also called for the political dialogue to resume "in order to achieve a lasting peace".

There have been six politically motivated killings in the weeks following President Pierre Nkurunziza's election to a third term in power.

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Representatives from Libya's two rival governments are expected to hold UN-brokered talks in Geneva today.

They were postponed from Monday as the government sitting in Tripoli made a late decision to attend.

UN Special Representative to Libya Bernardino Leon told the BBC's Newsday radio programme that the talks are aimed at forming a unity government.

"Libya urgently needs a unity government... [as]the country is falling apart," he said.

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He suggested that a preliminary deal could be made in "two to three weeks, but (and here's the important caveat) only "if there is the political will" amongst the Libyans.

Angola is planning to destroy 11 million chicken eggs that were imported illegally into the country.

Agriculture Minister Afonso Pedro Canga told local press that importers of the eggs will be held accountable.

"We are aware that those eggs entered Angola without an official health certificate from their country of origin," he is quoted as saying by the Angolan News Agency.

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African players scored 10 out of the 30 goals in the first weekend of English Premier League action. It took 120 goals last season to reach that landmark. See the full list below.

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Yaya Toure, Manchester City (2) - Ivory Coast

Riyad Mahrez, Leicester (2) - Algeria

Odion Ighalo, Watford - Nigeria

Papiss Cisse, Newcastle - Senegal

Andre Ayew, Swansea - Ghana

Arouna Kone, Everton - Ivory Coast

Rudy Gestede, Aston Villa - Benin

Cheikhou Kouyate, West Ham - Senegal

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Nigeria's immigration service said it stopped thousands of Nigerians from travelling between January 2014 and March this year.

They were suspected of being involved in "terrorism, prostitution, slavery and other untoward activities", according to a press statement issued on behalf of Nigeria's security agencies.

Some may have been on their way to join so-called Islamic State and the Taliban, it says.

Ivory Coast and Manchester City star jokes on Twitter about whether he or David Silva scored the first goal against West Brom, after the ball appeared to take a slight deflection off the Spaniard on the way in:

The newspapers in Uganda this morning lead on the state visit of Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta and the press conference with President Yoweri Museveni.

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The independent Daily Monitor focuses on Mr Kenyatta's comment that in Kenya the opposition is not treated as the enemy but as part of the political process.

The partly state-owned New Vision headlines the comments on term limits. Mr Museveni, hoping to run for a fifth term, dismissed US President Barack Obama's concerns about African presidents ignoring term limits.

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The UN's children's agency welcomes today's polio news, but warns that there are still two years to go before polio is eradicated from Africa:

Africa marks a year today without a case of wild polio virus.

It is a significant step towards eradicating the debilitating and incurable disease, but there needs to be two more years without another case before the continent is declared polio-free.

Health experts are elated, but cautious.

The World Health Organization says the biggest danger now is complacency.

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Yaya Toure inspired Manchester City to a dominant victory at West Brom as $75m (£49m) summer signing Raheem Sterling made his debut for the visitors. Read the full story here.

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A Toure shot appeared to take a slight deflection off David Silva before going through defender Craig Dawson's legs and trickling over the line.

City then extended their lead when Toure curled a shot into the top corner.

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed a committee to advise him on how best to tackle corruption and reform the legal system.

The seven-member Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption is mostly made up of academics. Mr Buhari was elected in May, largely on a promise to tackle corruption. Read the full story here.

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He has said he believes government officials have stolen about $150bn (£96bn) from the public purse over the past decade.

Today's African proverb: "A millipede will not limp because of one missing leg." A Somali proverb sent by Abdishukri Mohamed, Wajir, Kenya.

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Click here to send us your African proverbs.

Welcome to the BBC Africa Live page where we'll be keeping you up-to-date with news stories on the continent. Send us your story suggestions and comments on #BBCAfricaLive.