Africa Live this week: 29 April-5 May 2024

AFPCopyright: AFP

Prosecutors in France have opened an investigation into TotalEnergies to establish whether the energy giant can be charged with involuntary manslaughter linked to an Islamist militant attack on its facilities in Mozambique.

It follows a legal complaint lodged by survivors and relatives of people who died in the attack.

They accuse the company of failing to protect subcontractors and not adequately assisting with evacuations - allegations Total categorically rejects.

A large number of people were killed three years ago, when jihadists attacked the town of Palma in northern Mozambique, where Total had developed a major gas plant.

More on the Palma terror attack:

• 'I had to pay a bribe to flee'
• 'I can't go back'
• How people tried to flee the assault

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team for now.

There will be an automated feed until we return on Monday and you can get the latest news on our homepage.

You can also listen to our podcasts, Africa Daily and Focus on Africa.

A reminder of Friday's wise words:

Quote Message: The hare is small but it begets twins." from A Luo proverb sent by Owino Onyango Mak'Oburu in Kenya

The hare is small but it begets twins."

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

We leave you with this shot of duelling Roman re-enactors in Tunisia. It's one of our favourite photos this week:

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Benzani, a Malawian who is currently working on a farm in southern Israel, has said low salaries are the reason why some Malawians have left their jobs on the farms to look for other work in the country.

The authorities said that a dozen Malawians had been arrested after abandoning their farm work and seeking employment in town, breaching their visa conditions.

Hundreds of Malawians travelled to Israel last year to fill a labour gap on Israel's farms, as thousands of workers had left following the start of the war with Hamas in October.

"The payment is lower, contrary to what we had signed," Benzani tells the BBC.

"The minimum wage in Israel is 32 shekels ($8.60; £6.85) an hour, but some of us are being paid 18 to 20 shekels an hour."

Benzani said many of them had signed contracts which said they would receive $1,500 a month.

We put the allegations to Israel's embassy in Malawi but they have yet to respond.

Benzani tells the BBC he has rarely seen a payslip with the details of his salary since beginning work almost five months ago.

Two of Benzani's co-workers on his farm in Israel also abandoned their jobs last month. While their phone numbers are no longer in service, they have been able to keep in touch on Facebook. He believes they are working in restaurants in the nearest town.

"I think 70% to 80% of us from Malawi are having these problems with payment," he says.

Another farm worker, Alex Machili, said he was also receiving below the minimum wage. "That's why people are looking for other jobs outside their visa requirements."

Benzani and Alex say that have both addressed payment issues with their recruitment agencies, but are yet to receive answers.

"The contract is just a useless [piece of] paper here," says Alex.

Egyptian mediators have told a US newspaper that Israel has given Hamas a week to agree to the current proposal for a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza, or it will begin its long-promised offensive on Rafah.

A senior Hamas official has said the group is studying the proposal in a positive spirit.

But Hossam Badran accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to prevent the possibility of an agreement by repeatedly saying the Rafah operation would go ahead in any case.

The World Health Organization has expressed deep concern that a full-scale attack on Rafah could lead to a bloodbath among the more than one million people sheltering there.

Courtesy of the artistCopyright: Courtesy of the artist

Qing Madi is a Nigerian singer-songwriter who is rising fast and rising high.

The 17-year-old broke on to the music scene in 2022 when she released See Finish on TikTok. That track was a freestyle to express her emotions about a friendship gone wrong.

She was taken by surprise by just how quickly it blew up - and the reaction when listeners found out that she was only 16.

"They threw a fit and were saying: 'No way, why would you write this type of song? What have you seen [of life]?'

"So, everyone starts undermining my experience because it doesn't feel right that I could come from this type of place when I'm this age - so I felt like I was low-key bullied."

In fact, Qing Madi has been ghostwriting songs for other artists since she was 13 - but she always did her best to hide her age.

One of the people who enjoyed See Finish was another Nigerian musician - the Afro-fusion singer, songwriter and record producer, BNXN, formerly known as Buju. He approached Qing Madi to collaborate and in 2023 he featured on her track Ole.

Born Chimamanda Pearl Chukwuma, Qing Madi grew up in Benin City before moving to Lagos.

She started performing at school talent shows and in her church choir when very young. It was her mother who first spotted that she had the potential to go far in music.

"I wouldn’t make friends. I would just sit in a corner and sing to myself. So my mother paid very close attention to this."

Her childhood home was close to a bar that played music all night long, mostly tracks from the 1980s and 1990s.

"The melodies were what basically helped me fall asleep - that was like my lullaby.

"And that’s why I know a lot of old school songs and my people are, like: 'Ain’t no way you 17 girl.'"

Qing Madi is also influenced by the trap and rap music that she was introduced to by university students who came to her mother's shop to buy things. They also played her Kendrick Lamar, who is her favourite artist.

She has been selected by Apple Music as one of their Rising Class of 2024.

To hear the full interview with Qing Madi, listen to This is Africa on BBC World Service radio and partner stations across Africa, and online here: bbcworldservice.com/thisisafrica

A spokesman from the Democratic Republic of Congo's army says M23 rebels are to blame for the deadly bombing of a camp for displaced people.

But the rebel M23 group, which is widely understood to be backed by Rwanda, says the Congolese army is to blame. Rwanda denies links to the rebels.

Most of the nine people killed in Friday's blast were children, officials say.

In recent months, both the rebels and government troops have been accused of abuses against civilians as they vie for territorial control.

Earlier this week, M23 rebels claimed to have seized a key town at the heart of mining coltan, a key ingredient in making mobile phones and batteries for electric vehicles.

On Friday when news of the bombing came, pictures circulating on social media showed bodies lying on the ground at the camp in the eastern city of Goma. Most residents had fled there to escape fighting between rebels and government troops in their home towns and villages.

Congolese army spokesman Col Guillaume N’djike told the BBC that Friday's bombing was an act of retaliation against the national army, after it had destroyed a weapons and ammunition depot belonging to the rebels in the nearby town of Sake.

BBCCopyright: BBC

At least nine people, including seven children, are said to have been killed in an air strike on Friday at a housing camp for internally displaced people in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A local official warned that the number of dead could rise after many more were left injured in the blast in the eastern city of Goma.

Thousands of people from surrounding areas have been fleeing to Goma, as M23 rebels - backed by Rwanda - continued to move closer to the city.

There has been no comment from the Congolese army yet.

AFPCopyright: AFP

"Kenya may face its first-ever cyclone," President William Ruto has told citizens in a national address, as the country reels from deadly flooding and landslides that have affected hundreds of thousands of people.

Officials estimate more than 200 people have died in Kenya since March, with a further 90 missing. A further 155 people have died in Tanzania, and 29 in Burundi.

Speaking on Friday, the Kenyan president said no corner of the country had been spared the "havoc" and warned that the situation was expected to worsen in the coming days with the arrival of more extreme weather.

"This cyclone, named Hidaya, could hit any time and is predicted to cause torrential rain, strong winds and powerful and dangerous waves which could potentially disrupt marine activities in the Indian Ocean and settlements along the Kenyan coast," he said.

"Our country must act decisively and swiftly to mitigate the devastating impacts of the present crisis and protect life and property."

President Ruto has also ordered that all schools be closed indefinitely following the heavy rains.