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Live Reporting

Clare Spencer and Damian Zane

All times stated are UK

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  1. Scroll down for Friday's stories

    We'll be back next week

    That's all from BBC Africa Live today. Keep up-to-date with what's happening across the continent by listening to the Africa Today podcast or checking the BBC News website.

    A reminder of today's wise words:    

    Quote Message: He who has not travelled has no understanding." from A Somali proverb sent by Hussein Mohamud, Nashville, US
    A Somali proverb sent by Hussein Mohamud, Nashville, US

    Click here to send us your African proverbs. 

    And we leave you with one of the most stunning pictures from this week - a mural painted on the walls of houses in Egypt's capital, Cairo, by French-Tunisian artist El Seed:

    Mural on buildings in Cairo
  2. Ethiopian editor lives in a 'perpetual twilight zone'

    It's not easy being a journalist in Ethiopia according to the lobby group Reporters Without Borders - which placed the country 142nd out of 180 on its press freedom index.

    But some journalists there have been trying to cover the recent anti-government protests in the country's Oromia region.

    The English-language Addis Standard magazine published this stark cover in January:

    View more on twitter

    So what motivates the team behind the magazine?

    Its Editor-in-Chief Tsedale Lemma says she lives in a "perpetual twilight zone of taking chances".

    The BBC’s Emmanuel Igunza in Addis Ababa asked her how she managed to cover the protests.  

    Video content

    Video caption: Ethiopia editor speaks out
  3. Were Zambia's prayers answered?

    Lots of people have been commenting on our Facebook post about the Zambian currency, the kwacha, being the world's best-performing currency of 2016 so far.

    Ivan Sang Che Aiyabei from Nairobi in Kenya was among many commenters to suggest one thing might have influenced the change:

    Quote Message: The Zambian government declared days of prayer when the Kwacha plunged low in 2015. Faith in God changes situations.

    President Edgar Lungu asked for a day of forgiveness and reconciliation to be observed to help combat the economic problems facing the country last year on Sunday 18 October.

    Zambia's domestic football fixtures were postponed, bar owners had been asked to close their businesses and thousands gathered in the capital, Lusaka, to pray - in part in an effort to help change the economic situation.

    Praying in Lusaka

    Two weeks later BBC Business reported that an approach more familiar to economists was taken: 

    The central bank has pushed interest rates up to 15.5% to try and curb soaring inflation.

    The kwacha rose around 0.6% against the dollar following the announcement.  

  4. Rwandan man jailed for preaching genocide leaves court for prison

    Leon Mugesera has been pictured leaving the courtroom after being jailed for life for preaching genocide in Rwanda's in 1994:

    Pink pyjamas are Rwandan prison uniform

    We wrote in our 15:05 post that the former politician who described Tutsis as "cockroaches" and called for their extermination has been jailed for life in Rwanda over the 1994 genocide.

    In 1992, then an official in Rwanda's ruling Hutu party, Mugesera told more than 1,000 party members that they should kill Tutsis and dump their bodies in the river. 

    Read the full story on the  BBC News website.

  5. Sudan university denies planning to sell historical building

    Mohanad Hashim

    BBC Africa

    Following a week of student protests at the University of Khartoum the Sudanese government has denied any plan to sell the university’s historical buildings in the centre of the city. 

    The student protests were triggered following a statement made by the minister of tourism where he suggested that there were plans to sell the university’s iconic building to foreign investors to boost tourism. 

    Universoty of Khartoum campus 2012
    Image caption: Khartoum University is one of sub-Saharan Africa’s oldest universities.

    Originally founded in 1902 by the British colonial administration as the Gordon Memorial College, it came to hold a special place in the Sudanese public imagination as a bastion of patriotism and nationalism. 

    Most of Sudan’s leading politicians and elite studied there, and the university’s student union was influential in launching the October 1964 uprising that ousted the government of General Abboud, and the 1985 April uprising that ended the 16-year reign of Marshall Numairi. 

    Hallway of University of Khartoum in 1955
    Image caption: Pictured here in 1955, it has been a hot bed of opposition at times during the rule of President Bashir
  6. Free speech Friday in Nairobi

    The BBC's Michael Kaloki was just passing Kenya's national theatre in the capital, Nairobi, and snapped some young artists taking part in a regular Friday afternoon performance called the Abakisimba Percussion Discussion

    Performers in Nairobi

    Michael spoke to the manager - who goes by the stage name Baby Elephant - who told him that performers are invited to sing, talk and rap about issues that people can go back home and think about.  

    Abakisimba Percussion Discussion.
  7. Former coup leader Assoumani elected Comoros president

    Former coup leader Azali Assoumani has been narrowly elected president of the Comoros islands in the second round of voting, according to official results, AFP news agency reports.

    It was an extremely close race.

    Mr Assoumani won 40.98% of the vote ahead of his rival Vice President Mohamed Ali Soilihi who got 39.87%.

    Azali Assoumani
    Image caption: Mr Assoumani first came to power in 1999 after ousting acting president Tadjidine Ben Said Massounde in a coup
  8. Why are prices still high in Zambia after the kwacha's success?

    Zambian Market
    Image caption: What's the currency rise got to do with the price of eggs?

    A lot of Zambians have been asking on our Facebook page why prices are still high when the kwacha is the best performing currency of 2016.

    The assumption behind this question is that when you get more kwacha for your dollar it makes imports cheaper.

    But why hasn't this happened?  

    Well one explanation is that although the kwacha has risen against the dollar, it started from a very low position.

    According to xe.com one kwacha is equal to 11 US cents today.

    That's quite a jump from November when one kwacha was equal to just seven US cents.

    But that was an all time low.

    Go back a year to last April and one kwacha was equal to 13 US cents. 

    And then it was even on a downward trend.

    Go back to January 2013 and one kwacha would get you 19 US cents.

  9. Kenya activist hopes to end ban on gay sex

    A case has been filed with Kenya's High Court to decriminalise gay sex, the Reuters news agency is reporting.

    It says that Eric Gitari, from the National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, argues that the ban on gay sex violates the constitutional rights to equality, dignity and privacy. 

    His petition said: "Those laws degrade the inherent dignity of affected individuals by outlawing their most private and intimate means of self-expression."

    A gay sex conviction carries a 14 year jail sentence.

    Anti-gay rally
    Image caption: Lat year, a call for gay rights in Kenya was met by protests from a religiously-inspired group
  10. What Drogba's charity is saying about the allegations in UK newspaper

    The charitable foundation set up by Ivory Coast footballer Didier Drogba has come under fire following a report in a UK newspaper that is has misspent donations.

    The BBC's Tamasin Ford explained in the 12:14 post that people at the Drogba Foundation in Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan said they were angry about not being consulted before the story was published.

    Watch her report here inside the foundation here:

    Video content

    Video caption: Inside the Drogba Foundation in Ivory Coast
  11. Warning to West against military intervention in Libya

    Tunisia's President Beji Caid Essebsi has warned against any foreign military intervention in neighbouring Libya. 

    In a BBC interview, Mr Essebsi said such an operation would risk dividing the country. 

    His remarks come against a background of concern in the West at the extent to which the Islamic State group has managed to establish itself in Libya amid the chaos of the civil war there. 

    The Nato military alliance has reportedly been drawing up plans to deploy several thousand troops if invited to do so by a new, UN-backed Libyan government. 

    Spanish ambassador Jose Antonio Bordallo, France"s Antoine Sivan and Peter Millet of Britain
    Image caption: Ambassadors from Spain, France and the UK were in Libya this week to support the new government
  12. Some Uganda cancer patients to be sent to Kenya

    Patience Atuhaire

    BBC Africa, Kampala

    Uganda's permanent secretary at the health ministry, Asuman Lukwago, said that an arrangement has been reached with the Aga Khan Hospital in Kenya, so that an estimated 400 cancer patients - out of 17,000 - can be sent for radiotherapy treatment, at the government's expense.

    This comes after the country's main radiotherapy machine is now broken beyond repair, and the cancer unit in the capital, Kampala, has to upgrade the building before a new machine can be installed.

    He said the patients will be assessed according to their need, and whether other treatments have been exhausted.

    Radiotherapy machine
    Image caption: Uganda's main radiotherapy machine was donated in 1995

    You can read more on BBC News Online about the impact that the failure of the machine is having

  13. Rwandan genocide suspect sentenced to life over inflammatory speech

    Sammy Maina

    BBC Monitoring, Nairobi

    Rwandan genocide suspect Leon Mugesera has been sentenced to life in jail, Rwandan newspaper New Times is reporting in a series of tweets.

    View more on twitter

    Mugesera fled to Canada after the 1994 genocide but was deported in 2012 after a long legal battle to face charges in Rwanda of inciting genocide and crimes against humanity, stemming from an incendiary anti-Tutsi speech he gave in 1992.

    Leon Mugesera
    Image caption: Leon Mugesera's trial began in 2013
  14. 'Gabon wants to join Opec'

    Gabon wants to rejoin the the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) according to The Africa Report magazine.

    The site says it got the information from two Opec officials but that Gabonese officials refused to comment.

    Gabon joined Opec in 1975 and left in 1995 over the group's refusal to grant its request for reduced annual contributions in line with the country's small production, 

    If it returns, Gabon would be the smallest producer in Opec.

  15. What's in a name?

    In Zimbabwe you can meet Laughter, Welcome, Bigboy, Earnmore, Lovemore Kissmore and Tellmore - people there love giving their children descriptive names.

    But what's behind the names?

    As part of the BBC's Identity season Steve Vickers talks to some Zimbabweans about what they're called:

    Video content

    Video caption: What does your name say about you? Steve Vickers explores this theme in Zimbabwe
  16. Remembering Malick Sidibe's work

    We wrote in our 11:17 post that people are paying tribute to the Malian photographer Malick Sidibe yesterday.

    We've been looking through his back catalogue.

    Here are some photographs we'd like to share:

    Malick Sidibe photo

    Mr Sidibe became famous around the world after holding his first exhibition in France.

    Malick Sidibe photo

    In many of his portraits people showed off their prized processions.

    Malick Sidibe photo
  17. Ex-Israeli diplomat's Swahili singing career

    The BBC's Peter Njoroge in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, has alerted us to the most surprising career change we have heard of for a while.

    Gilad Millo is a former Israel diplomat who worked in Kenya and Los Angeles before leaving Israel’s Foreign Ministry in 2008.

    He settled in Nairobi and our reporter says he is now a household name in Kenya as a singer.

    If that is not surprising enough, add the fact that he sings in Swahili. 

    Here are two of his songs: The first, Unajua, means "you know" and the second, Sema Milele, means "say forever".

    View more on youtube
    View more on youtube
  18. Tear gas at Egypt protests over Saudi island gift

    Egyptian police have fired tear gas at dozens of protesters in the capital, Cairo, who rallied against a controversial deal to hand two islands in the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia.

    Outside the Journalists' Syndicate in central Cairo, about 200 protesters chanted "down with military rule", the signature slogan of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings. 

    The deal to hand over two islands in the Straits of Tiran, signed during a visit by Saudi Arabia's King Salman to Cairo last week, has provoked a storm of criticism against Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.   

    Map
    Activists shout slogans against Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi during a protest against the decision to hand over control of two strategic Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia outside the Press Syndicate building, in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, April 13, 2016.
    Image caption: Protests started two days ago
  19. Sub-Saharan migrants crossing from Libya 'on the rise'

    A huge recent surge in migrants arriving in Italy by sea is set to continue, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has warned.

    Nearly 6,000 have arrived since Tuesday alone, it says.

    In the week to 13 April, arrivals in Italy were 173% higher than the previous week, while arrivals in Greece were 76% lower.

    Officials in Libya say they fear the closure of the migrant route through Greece is leading to the surge.

    Migrants who spoke to IOM staff in Italy all said they had crossed from Libya.

    "Many of them were from sub-Saharan Africa, and we have noticed an increase in numbers from the Horn of Africa, particularly Eritreans," the IOM's Federico Soda said in the statement.  

    Migrants arriving in Italy
    Image caption: The IOM says the number of migrants coming from sub-Saharan Africa is increasing

    Read more from BBC News Online.

  20. Mozambican refugees 'to be moved in Malawi'

    The UN's refugee agency is going to move 10,000 Mozambicans who have fled over the border to Malawi, Reuters news agency reports quoting a UN statement.

    They've been trying to escape renewed violence between Renamo rebels and government forces - but the government has denied that it is involved in the fighting.

    The UNHCR says the refugees will be taken to better facilities in Malawi.

    Woman in Malawian refugee camp
    Image caption: Some of the refugees have been living in Kapise camp in Malawi's Mwanza region