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Live Reporting

Naziru Mikailu and Farouk Chothia

All times stated are UK

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  1. Scroll down for Wednesday's stories

    We'll be back on Thursday

    That's all for today from the BBC Africa Live page. Listen to the Africa Today podcast and keep up-to-date with developments across the continent on the BBC News website.  

    A reminder of today’s African proverb:

    Quote Message: The death of a neighbour should not scare you from living from An ‪‎Ateso‬ proverb sent by Prince Emro Matano, Nairobi, Kenya
    An ‪‎Ateso‬ proverb sent by Prince Emro Matano, Nairobi, Kenya

    And we leave you with this picture of a man reading a newspaper in front of a map of Africa in Senegal's capital, Dakar:

    man reads his newspaper in front a map of Africa at the Place du Souvenir Africain, in Dakar, on January 27, 2016
  2. Gbagbo 'confident' for ICC trial

    upporters of Ivory Coast's presidential candidate Alassane Ouattara throw tyres onto a fire in the streets of Abidjan on December 3, 2010
    Image caption: Mr Gbagbo is accused of fuelling conflict in Ivory Coast

    Ivory Coast's former President Laurent Gbagbo, 70, is "confidently" approaching his crime against humanity trial at the International Criminal Court, his lawyer has said, AFP news agency reports. 

    Mr Gbagbo "wants the truth, the entire truth, the whole truth to be told, so that the people of the Ivory Coast can take ownership of their own history", Emmanuel Altit is quoted as saying. 

    Mr Gbagbo, who is due in court tomorrow, will be the first former head of state to be tried at the ICC. 

    He faces four charges of crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, and persecution arising out of the political upheavals which wracked the West African nation in 2010-2011. 

    The former president is expected to plead not guilty to the charges. 

    Chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said Mr Gbagbo would be tried fairly and impartially. 

    "Our case is based on the law... and on the strength of the evidence our investigators have gathered," she said. 

    Watch: Why is Gbagbo standing trial? 

    Video content

    Video caption: Laurent Gbagbo on trial: Former Ivory Coast leader at ICC
  3. Explosion 'kills' Egypt's troops

    At least four Egyptian soldiers have been killed after an armoured personnel carrier exploded on the outskirts of the city of Arish in the Sinai Peninsula, security and medical sources say, Reuters news agency reports.

    An improvised explosive device was planted on the road and remotely detonated as the vehicle conducted a search operation, the sources said.

    Twelve others were also injured in the incident.

    Egypt's official military spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment, Reuters reports.

    A scene of car bomb attack in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on 24 July 2015
    Image caption: Miitants have carried out a spate of attacks in Egypt

    Egypt has been battling a growing number of insurgents since the 2013 overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi. 

    The insurgency, mounted by militants affiliated to the Islamic State group, has killed hundreds of soldiers and police and started to attack Western targets within the country.

  4. Why are teenage pregnancies rising in Africa?

    Africa has the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the world. Eighteen African countries appear on a United Nations list of 20 countries with the highest teenage pregnancies reported. 

    South Africa's education ministry is now considering policies to introduce long-term contraception to school-going teenagers. 

    The BBC's Ann Soy reports:

    Video content

    Video caption: Why are teenage pregnancies rising in Africa?
  5. Campaign for gay rights moving in 'right direction'

    Southern Africa is moving towards greater acceptance of sexual and gender minorities, though there is still a long way to go, the United States' special envoy for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people has said, Reuters news agency reports. 

    Randy Berry, an openly gay US diplomat, was speaking at the end of a 10-day visit to Malawi, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. 

    "I believe in all of these countries, there are seeds of hope," Mr Berry said, in a phone-in with journalists from South Africa.

    "With government representatives, I found them to be sensitive to the issues, wanting to engage very clearly... After these consultations, I am quite hopeful," he added, Reuters reports.

    Gay rights activists participate in a demonstration rally marking the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT) at the North Beach in Durban, on May 17, 2014
    Image caption: Activists say gay people face abuse even in countries where it is legal

    Homosexuality or acts of gay sex are outlawed in most of Africa's 54 states. 

    Many people in Africa are socially conservative, and say homosexuality is against their religious and cultural beliefs.

  6. Kenya in 'just war' against al-Shabab

    Uhuru Kenyatta (C) prepares to lay a wreath to pay respects to the Kenyan soldiers serving in the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), who were killed in El Adde during an attack, at a memorial mass at the Moi Barracks in Eldoret, January 27, 2016
    Image caption: Mr Kenyatta attended the memorial with the leaders of Nigeria and Somalia

    Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta has said the government will not "waiver" in its commitment to fight militant Islamist group al-Shabab, despite the deadly assault on government troops in neighbouring Somalia. 

    The main opposition party in Kenya has called for the withdrawal of troops, but Mr Kenyatta ruled out the possibility at a memorial for the killed soldiers in the town of Eldoret.   

    "This is not the time to waiver or to listen to the voices of defeat and despair," Mr Kenyatta said in a televised address. 

    "We fight because our cause is just, because we want to restore a productive peace in Somalia and we also wish to protect ourselves from an enemy that would seek to destroy us."   

    Family and comrades of slain Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers wait to be addressed by Kenya"s President Uhuru Kenyatta, Somalia"s Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud and Nigeria"s Muhamadu Buhari who arrived to pay their respects at a memorial, on January 27, 2016
    Image caption: Relatives and comrades of the killed soldiers attended the memorial

    The al-Qaeda-linked militants said they killed more than 100 soldiers in the attack on an army base in south-western Somalia on 15 January. 

    Kenya has refused to say how many of its troops were killed or wounded. 

  7. Chibok was 'packed' when bombers struck

    The remote north-eastern Nigerian town of Chibok was packed with traders from surrounding villages for the weekly market when suicide bombers detonated themselves, killing 13 people, town elder Ayuba Chibok has told the AFP news agency. 

    The blasts, at about midday (11:00 GMT), bore the hallmarks of militant Islamist group Boko Haram, AFP reports. 

    "Ten died on the spot and another one died on the way to hospital," health worker Dazzban Buba is quoted as saying. 

     "A woman and a child died as they were being admitted (to hospital), so now the death toll stands at 13. Thirty others were injured, 21 critically," the health worker added. 

    Chibok came to prominence in April 2014 when the militants stormed a boarding school and kidnapped 276 girls, causing global outrage.

    Former Nigerian Education Minister and Vice-President of the World Bank's Africa division (3rd L) Obiageli Ezekwesilieze speaks as she leads a march of Nigeria women and mothers of the kidnapped girls of Chibok, calling for their freedom in Abuja on April 30, 2014
    Image caption: A global campaign was launched to attention to the kidnappings

    Fifty-seven girls managed to escape in the immediate aftermath but 219 are still being held and have not been seen since they appeared in a Boko Haram video in May that year. 

    Chibok was briefly overrun by the Islamic State group-allied insurgents in November 2014 but recaptured by the military after several days.

    Read: Surviving Boko Haram

  8. Morocco bloggers trial postponed

    Rana Jawad

    BBC North Africa correspondent, Tunis

    The trial of the seven Moroccan bloggers accused of undermining state security has been postponed to 23 March, a lawyer of one of the defendants has told me. 

    Abdel-Aziz Nouaydi said one of the defendants had failed to show up resulting in the postponement.

    The six men and a woman have denied all the charges and said they were politically motivated. 

  9. Al-Jazeera sues Egypt government

    Al-Jazeera is suing Egypt over its crackdown its activities and journalists following the 2013 overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi, the Associated Press news agency reports. 

    The Qatari-owned broadcaster says it incur losses of $150m (£110m) and has "no other option" but taking legal action through the Washington-based International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

    The move came months after Cairo declined to respond to the network's complaints, it said in a statement.

    Egyptian government spokesman Hossam Qawish told AP that the authorities have not seen the report. 

    Staff members at Al Jazeera America attend 'Journalism Is Not A Crime', a campaign calling for the release of journalists imprisomed in Egypt, at Al Jazeera in New York city, 25 September 2014
    Image caption: The journalists maintained their innocence

    Three al-Jazeera journalists were sentenced to up to 10 years imprisonment in June 2014 on charges of affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood. All three were released last year.  

  10. Buhari: "Take battle to terrorists"

    Here are more tweets from the media adviser to Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari on the speech he has given at the inter-faith memorial in Kenya to honour Kenyan soldiers killed in Somalia by militant Islamist group al-Shabab:

    View more on twitter

    Al-Shabab said its fighters had killed about 100 troops in the 15 January assault on the Kenyan base in Somalia's south-western el-Ade town. 

    Kenyan troops are in Somalia as part of an African Union force trying to defeat the militants.

  11. Huge South Africa march over unemployment

    Milton Nkosi

    BBC Africa, Johannesburg

    Members of the Democratic Alliance display placards during a march for jobs in Johannesburg on January 27, 2016

    Thousands of people have protested in South Africa's main city, Johannesburg, against high levels of unemployment. 

    The march was organised by the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party, whose members turned up in blue T-shirts and caps. 

    DA leader Mmusi Maimane told the crowd that if you asked President Jacob Zuma about jobs, he would laugh.

    Mr Maimane made the comment while mimicking the president who is known to laugh at awkward times, even during parliamentary question time. 

    The DA leader added that the youth were "now saying genoeg is genoeg [an Afrikaans phrase for "enough is enough"] and they are joining the blue brigade.” 

    South Africa is expected to hold crucial local government elections in the next few months and there is no doubt that protest was partly aimed at helping the party boost its standing among voters ahead of the polls. 

    South Africa's unemployment rate stands at around 25%. 

  12. Protests in Sierra Leone over abortion

    Sierra Leone's Muslim and Christian leaders have marched to parliament in the capital, Freetown, to protest against a controversial draft law on abortion.

    The clerics want the Safe Abortion Bill, which allows for pregnancy of up to 12 weeks to be terminated without reason, to be dropped.

    Pro-abortion activists have been staging a rival protest.

    A BBC reporter has been tweeting from the scene: 

    View more on twitter
  13. Kenya judge probed over '$2m bribe'

    judge
    Image caption: Judge Philip Tunoi says the allegations are a smear campaign

    Kenya has begun a judicial inquiry into allegations that a Supreme Court judge accepted a $2m (£1.4m) bribe.

    Phillip Tunoi denies taking money to rule in favour of Evans Kidero, whose election as Nairobi governor was challenged in 2014.

    Mr Kidero, who became governor in March 2013, has also denied that he paid a bribe to influence the ruling.

    Both men deny meeting the person who alleges that he was their intermediary and facilitated the bribe.

    Chief Justice Willy Mutunga said he had ordered the inquiry into Geoffrey Kiplagat's allegations because of their "gravity" and "the public interest this matter has generated".

    "We are committed to running a clean judiciary and any matter that is brought before us is investigated and acted on fairly without prejudice to individual rights or public interest."

    Read the full BBC story here

  14. Chibok death toll 'rises'

    The number of people killed by suicide bombers in Nigeria's north-eastern Chibok town has risen to 13, a witness has said, the Associated Press news agency is reporting. 

    There were three bombers - all of them females, AP reports. 

    Militant Islamist group Boko Haram caused global outrage in 2014 when it abducted more than 200 schoolgirls from the town in  April 2014. 

    Foreign powers - including the US and China - pledged to help find them, but Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari said recently that there was no credible intelligence on the whereabouts of the girls. 

    Special report: Nigeria's missing schoolgirls

  15. Buhari vows to 'fight terrorists'

    A media adviser to Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has been tweeting about his speech at the memorial for Kenyan soldiers killed by Somalia's militant Islamist group al-Shabab: 

    There are reports of at least 10 people killed in suicide bombings in Nigeria's Chibok town, from where militant Islamist group Boko Haram abducted more than 200 schoolgirls in 2014. 

    The Nigerian government has not yet commented on the reports.  

  16. Buhari lays wreath in Kenya

    Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari is at a memorial in Kenya's Eldoret town for Kenyan soldiers killed in Somalia on 15 January by al-Shabab insurgents. 

    The leaders of Kenya and Somalia are also at the memorial, as a BBC reporter tweets from there:

    View more on twitter

    Mr Buhari has not yet commented on reports that multiple bombs have exploded in north-eastern Nigeria's Chibok town. 

  17. Two Chibok 'bombers at large'

    A former resident of Chibok town has told the BBC that five suicide bombers entered the town this morning and three of them managed to detonate their explosives. 

    The other two are still at large, Malam Ayouba said. 

    "People I spoke to are in shock, some of them are still crying," he told the BBC Hausa service.

    Mr Ayouba said the attack took place despite the presence of security forces in the town.   

    Map of Nigeria
  18. 'Suicide bombers' struck in Chibok

    At least 10 people were killed when three suicide bombers blew themselves up in the north-east Nigerian town of Chibok where Boko Haram kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls, a town elder had confirmed to AFP news agency. 

    "The casualty toll is not conclusive but so far at least 10 people have been confirmed dead and over 30 injured," said Ayuba Chibok, adding that the blasts happened on market day.