Got a TV Licence?

You need one to watch live TV on any channel or device, and BBC programmes on iPlayer. It’s the law.

Find out more
I don’t have a TV Licence.

Live Reporting

Clare Spencer and Damian Zane

All times stated are UK

Get involved

  1. Scroll down for Friday's stories

    We'll be back on Monday

    That's all from the BBC Africa Live page this week. 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: Because the fire has a pot as a shield, it wants to quarrel with the water." from A Luo proverb sent by Odhiambo Okoth in Nairobi, Kenya
    A Luo proverb sent by Odhiambo Okoth in Nairobi, Kenya

    Click here and scroll to the bottom of the page to send your proverb.

    And we leave you with this image from the best pictures across the week of Morocco's Rif mountains, which has been ranked as one of the world's most beautiful cities.

    A woman walks along a small alley in Chefchaouen, Morocco, Sunday 1 May 2016
  2. Global Fund suspends support to Nigeria Aids body over corruption

    The Global Fund, which helps in the fight against Aids, TB and Malaria, says it's suspending support to Nigeria's Aids agency over corruption, the AP news agency is reporting.

    It says that the Fund has evidence that $3.8m (£2.6m) has been stolen by the Nigerian organisation's staff and consultants.

    A corruption investigation found that the money was stolen over five years up to 2014.

    The amount stolen represents only a small fraction of what the Global Fund spends in Nigeria, AP says.

  3. Saharan addax antelope on 'brink of extinction'

    Saharan Addax antelopes

    The Saharan addax antelope has been pushed to the brink of extinction by poaching and loss of habitat to the oil industry, reports the AFP news agency. 

    The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) did an extensive aerial and on-the-ground survey in the antelope's native region in Niger and found only three specimens in the wild.

    Without genetic diversity, the chances of unhealthy offspring rises dramatically. 

    "The species is doomed to extinction in the wild," AFP quotes IUCN's Alessandro Badalotti as saying. 

    Giant lorries and bulldozers for a massive oil-extraction installation have ripped up large swathes of the antelope's habitat.

    And military personnel assigned to protect the oil operation have poached the antelopes for food, AFP adds. 

    Saharan Addax antelope

      Another desert antelope, the scimitar-horned oryx - hunted for its long, curved horns - was classified "extinct in the wild" in 2000.

  4. Amnesty calls for release of imprisoned Ethiopian politician

    Rights group Amnesty International has called on the Ethiopian government to release a top opposition politician Yonatan Tesfaye who is facing what it describes as "trumped-up charges".

    Mr Yonatan was arrested last December but was only charged on Wednesday.

    He is facing 11 charges, among them inciting violence and being a ringleader for violent demonstrations, the AFP news agency reports.

    They relate to comments he made on Facebook when discussing protests in Ethiopia's Oromia region.

    In one post he accused the governing EPRDF party of using "force against the people instead of using peaceful discussion with the public", AFP says.

    Oromo mourners
    Image caption: Rights groups say that more than 200 people have died during the protests in Oromia, a figure the government disputes
  5. Bonfire of the ivory: Six days later

    On Saturday the biggest ever stockpile of ivory was set alight in Nairobi National Park.

    pile of ivory

    It was in an effort to show the country's commitment to saving Africa's elephants.

    But we were curious to see how long it would take for this big pile to burn.

    FWS forensic laboratory found in 2008 that it would take around a week to destroy an average male elephant tusk.

    And sure enough, six days later it looks like the pile has turned to ashes according to a tweet from Kenya Wildlife:

    View more on twitter

    We don't know the state of the other pyres which were set alight.

  6. President Buhari: I feel your pain

    The official Twitter account of Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has been putting out extracts from his comments after he signed the long-awaited 2016 budget.

    He knows times are hard and hopes the budget can address the country's economic problems:

    View more on twitter
    View more on twitter
    View more on twitter
  7. Big crowds expected for Nigerian polo final

    Isa Sanusi

    BBC Africa, Abuja

    Horses at Keffi Polo Ranch, Nigeria

    Tomorrow it’s the finals of a week-long polo tournament that is being held at a ranch just outside Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.

    A scoreboard at Keffi Polo Ranch, Nigeria

    And big crowds are expected to watch some of the country’s best players.

    It’s the second tournament being hosted by the Keffi Polo Ranch, which is about 50km (30 miles) south-west of Abuja, and opened last year.

    Keffi Polo Ranch, Nigeria

    The owner of the ranch, former MP and property developer Aliyu Wadada, has promised that proceeds from such tournaments will be channelled into education charities for the surrounding villages.

    Keffi Polo Ranch, Nigeria

    Polo was introduced to Nigerian emirs by British colonialists - and is still a game dominated by the wealthy elite.

  8. Marriage lessons in Somaliland

    Novelist Nadifa Mohamed has been recalling in the New York Times her experience of going to a marriage class in Hargeisa, Somaliland.

    Quote Message: The young man... would be speaking, on the subjects of confidence and communication. His qualifications for speaking on female confidence were obscure, but he had prepared a PowerPoint presentation, so we readied our notebooks.
    Quote Message: His audience, women studying for their first or second university degrees, seemed to have confidence already; they only wanted to learn how to transfer it into the romantic sphere of their lives.
    Quote Message: After the lecture, the classroom erupted into discussion and laughter. The students complained about their male peers, who they claimed didn't take marriage seriously - who would marry impulsively just because a girl looked good in a selfie."
    Somaliland women
    Image caption: Hands up who wants romantic advice
  9. Residents of demolished Nairobi homes may have nowhere to go

    Our reporter in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, Janet Onyango, has been telling us about the demolition of residential buildings in the same area where the apartment block collapsed last week.

    They were considered to be unsafe for people to live in.

    Building being demolished

    But what's happened to the residents who have been forced to leave?

    Residents piling goods up on a pick-up truck

    Our reporter says that the survivors from the collapsed building are being looked after at a nearby shelter run by Nairobi county government. 

    But the residents of the demolished buildings have had to make their own arrangements and many have not been able to find alternative accommodation.

  10. Kenya opposition leader wants thorough investigation into Juma murder

    Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga has called for a thorough and speedy investigation into the death of high-profile businessman Jacob Juma, the Standard newspaper is reporting.

    Jacob Juma was driving home from a bar to his home in an upmarket suburb on Thursday night when unknown gunmen attacked his car.

    He had been involved in several big legal cases against the government over failed business deals.

    The businessman had also been critical of the governing Jubilee Coalition about corruption and was supportive of Mr Odinga.

    Raila Odinga
    Image caption: Raila Odinga was supported by the murdered businessman
  11. Why the price of rooibos tea has risen?

    Rooibos farmer

    Last year in South Africa there was a 30% shortfall in the supply of redbush tea, known locally as rooibos.

    It was partly due to the drought brought on by the El Nino weather phenomenon.

    The harvest this year was also low because of the drought.

    The managing director of the Rooibos Council Martin Bergh told Africa Business Report that there is no substitute for rooibos so when supply went down, the price just went up.

    The tea is grown in a tiny area of South Africa and has the same protected geographic locator status as champagne and port. 

  12. Libya's domestic football to make a comeback

    The Libyan Football Federation (LFF) has confirmed that the Libyan Soccer League will resume on 15 May.

    The league has been suspended since the 2014 season because of the unrest in the country.

    LFF chairman Anwar Al-Tishani said: "We had meetings with the heads of the clubs, official authorities, security officials, and the conditions look suitable to start the 2015-16 League."

    On Thursday in the capital, Tripoli, the LFF conducted the draw for the season.

    Twenty-one teams have been divided into two groups.

    Al Ahli in action against Ghana's Hearts of Oak in a friendly in December 2015
  13. Why this man probably won't lead a revolution

    Julius Malema

    South African opposition leader Julius Malema recently warned President Jacob Zuma that soldiers were going to "turn their guns" against him.

    But the BBC's Southern Africa correspondent Karen Allen says this is unlikely to happen.

    One reason is because central to today's South African military is the lack of a core political identity. 

    She adds that the South Africa military is credited with a sense of professionalism. That has meant it has kept out of politics.

    Read more on the BBC News website.

  14. Nigeria's 'toughest-ever economic situation'

    Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the 2016 budget that he just signed into law should boost the economy, the AFP news agency quotes him as saying.

    Part of the $30bn (£21bn) budget is to go on investment.

    Mr Buhari told lawmakers who witnessed the signing:

    Quote Message: The budget... will trigger concerted efforts to reflate the Nigerian economy, a key element of which is an immediate injection of 350bn naira ($1.8bn) into the economy by way of capital projects."

    Oil production has been the mainstay of Nigeria's economy for many years, but it has suffered recently with the drop in global oil prices.

    AFP reports that the president admitted the country was "experiencing probably the toughest economic times in the history of our nation".

    The president's spokesman has tweeted pictures from the signing:

    View more on twitter
  15. Cologne sex attack charge dismissed

    The 26-year-old accused Algerian (C) arrives on May 6, 2016 at the District Court in Cologne , western Germany.

    An Algerian man has just been found not guilty of sexual assault in the German city Cologne on New Years Eve.

    We reported in our 11:48 post that it is the first sexual offenses trial after more than 1,000 complaints were filed about the crime spree.

    Women had reported being surrounded by groups of men, of North African and Arab appearance, around Cologne's main station.   

    The judge said witnesses didn't clearly identify the man.

    But he was found guilty of stealing mobile phones and was given a six-month suspended sentence. 

    Read more on the BBC News website.

  16. Kenya government: Hosting refugees has to end

    Kenya's government is closing its department that deals with refugee affairs in a move that it hopes will speed up the closure of two large refugee camps - at Dadab and Kakuma.

    In a statement, the government says that "hosting of refugees has to come to an end".

    It adds that 600,000 refugees, many of whom are from neighbouring Somalia, live in Kenya, and the hosting imposes  a "very heavy economic, security and environmental burden" on the country.

    The government wants international help to send them back to their home countries.

    Dadab refugee camp
    Image caption: The UN refugee agency says Kenya's Dadab refugee camp complex is home to more than 300,000 Somali refugees
  17. Chevron Nigeria shuts down offshore rig after attack

    Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar

    BBC Africa, Abuja

    Oil company Chevron Nigeria Limited says it has shut down its offshore facility in the Niger Delta region following an attack by a little-known militant group. 

    The oil giant said it was assessing the situation and ready to contain any spill resulting from the attack.  

    Chevron said in a terse statement that it has reported the incident to the relevant security and regulatory bodies. 

    The Niger Delta Avengers says it carried out the attack. 

    It is not exactly clear what the group wants but similar groups have in the past complained that their region does not benefit from the oil it produces. 

    They have taken up arms against the state in a bid to have total control of their oil resources. 

    Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer and its economy is currently facing difficulties due to the recent drop in global oil prices. 

    Nigeria Delta militants
    Image caption: Several militant groups in the Niger Delta have attacked oil facilities in the past
  18. Stuck in Somaliland's mud

    BBC Monitoring's Africa security correspondent Tomi Oladipo has just spotted these men trying to pull a car out of the mud after it got stuck in Laasgeel in the self-declared republic of Somaliland:

    car stuck in the flood

    Rains have arrived in the region after months of drought. 

    Here, the rain washed mud across the road so the driver could not see the edge, driving off it and literally stopping the vehicle in its tracks, our correspondent say.

  19. Nigeria's President Buhari signs controverial budget

    Chris Ewokor

    BBC Africa, Abuja

    President Buhari
    Image caption: The president presented the budget in person at the end of last year

    Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has signed this year’s $30.6bn (£21bn) budget into law. 

    The controversial budget, submitted to parliament at the end of December, has caused a series of disagreements between the president and lawmakers. 

    The budget triples capital expenditure and aims to stimulate an economy hit hard by the fall in global crude prices. 

    Read more about Nigeria's budget fiasco

  20. Uganda's losing candidates invited to Museveni's inauguration

    Paul Brown

    BBC Monitoring

    President Yoweri Museveni
    Image caption: President Yoweri Museveni will be inaugurated next week

    The Ugandan government has invited all candidates who challenged President Yoweri Museveni in the recent election to witness him being sworn in for his fifth term next week, reports The Monitor

    Twelve heads of state and five prime ministers will also be in attendance, as well as officials from the Chinese Communist Party and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, according to the Uganda Media Centre.

    Two of Mr Museveni's opponents in the election have mounted legal challenges against his victory. 

    Kizza Besigye, who has denounced the election as a "sham", has called for demonstrations to disrupt the ceremony due to be held on 12 May. 

    Media organisations have been threatened with sanction if they report live on opposition protests, we reported yesterday.