Africa highlights: Ethiopia gets UN seat, dozens killed in South Sudan clash

The winner of this year's Caine Prize for African Writing will be announced next week.

Nigerian writer Lesley Nneka Arimah is among the five shortlisted authors. 

Her short story, What it Means When a Man Falls from the Sky, follows a mathematician called Nneoma who asks if there is any way to calculate the size of human grief.

We're featuring the shortlisted stories here on the Africa Live Page and today the BBC's Kim Chakanetsa reads an excerpt from What it Means When a Man Falls from the Sky:

US first lady Michelle Obama is in Morocco on the latest leg of her African tour to promote girls' education. 

AFPCopyright: AFP

She told a group of young Moroccans:                 

Quote Message: Girls' education is important to all of us... You know, those 62 million girls who are not being educated around the world impact my life in the United States of America. Because if we are empowering and providing the skills and the resources to half of our population, then we're not realising our full potential as a society, as mankind."

Girls' education is important to all of us... You know, those 62 million girls who are not being educated around the world impact my life in the United States of America. Because if we are empowering and providing the skills and the resources to half of our population, then we're not realising our full potential as a society, as mankind."

AFPCopyright: AFP

One participant told her:

Quote Message: I've been growing up in a very patriarchal community... And in this we don't have a lot of chances and opportunities for women. But in my family, my mother made sure we went to school, no matter what people in my community think."

I've been growing up in a very patriarchal community... And in this we don't have a lot of chances and opportunities for women. But in my family, my mother made sure we went to school, no matter what people in my community think."

Mary HarperCopyright: Mary Harper

Eritrea is sometimes treated as a pariah state - described as "The North Korea of Africa", "A giant slave camp", "Africa's fastest emptying country", "The cursed land" and "Africa's most secretive and repressive state".  

But the BBC's Mary Harper found that bizarrely, Western diplomats in Eritrea often have very different view.

One went as far as describing Eritrea to her as a "perfect development partner" due to what was described as its relatively low levels of corruption, strong work ethic and lack of religious extremism in a region where many countries have been affected by Islamist violence.  

Read more on her analysis of if the country could ever come in from the cold on the BBC News website.

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A profile of Tanzania's president John Magufuli in the Financial Times includes a curious rumour about him.

After a few hundred words portraying the man as a no-nonsense boss who "sacks people on the spot" it said "naturally, Mr Magufuli has made enemies".

The Financial Times suggests this build up of opposition has manifested itself in his culinary preferences:

"In State House, as a precaution, he is said to eat only food prepared by his wife."

We have not verified this, nor does the Financial Times say how they have heard this rumour.

The UN has been electing non-permanent members of the Security Council and Ethiopia has been chosen to take the place vacated by Angola at the end of the year.

Ethiopia's ministry of foreign affairs has tweeted:

It seemed inevitable that Ethiopia would be elected as it was unopposed and backed by the African Union.

Bolivia and Sweden were also elected.

Egypt and Senegal have the other two seats reserved for Africa and they will be stepping down at the end of 2017 when their two-year term comes to an end.

The UN Security Council has five permanent members - US, UK, Russia, China and France -  and 10 non-permanent members.

South African tennis player Kevin Anderson has received death threats on social media and been accused of match fixing after a first round loss to Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan at Wimbledon on Monday.

He gave his reaction to BBC Sport:

Quote Message: Seems to be a common trend for a lot of tennis players on social media, when a match doesn’t go your way people who have bet on the match tend to take to social media and say very inappropriate things.

Seems to be a common trend for a lot of tennis players on social media, when a match doesn’t go your way people who have bet on the match tend to take to social media and say very inappropriate things.

Quote Message: Tennis is a big sport when it comes to betting. As a sport we are trying incredibly hard to keep it clean and I think we do a very good job with that. But [there’s a] backlash and being on the receiving end of people frankly with nothing better to do than to take to social media and write unwanted comments, not just to myself but to any tennis player.”

Tennis is a big sport when it comes to betting. As a sport we are trying incredibly hard to keep it clean and I think we do a very good job with that. But [there’s a] backlash and being on the receiving end of people frankly with nothing better to do than to take to social media and write unwanted comments, not just to myself but to any tennis player.”

GettyCopyright: Getty

It is of course true that we don't now how things will pan out when it comes to Britain's departure from the European Union.

Plans appear to be on hold until the British Conservative Party chooses its new leader.

And in the absence of a clear plan analysts have filled the vacuum on what they think the consequences are.

Alex de Waal has made the latest contribution to the debate about about Brexit and Africa in Foreign Policy magazine.

And, according to him, it's not good news:

Quote Message: The rule of thumb for EU policy toward Africa is a three-way divide: one-third Britain, one-third France, and one-third everyone else.

The rule of thumb for EU policy toward Africa is a three-way divide: one-third Britain, one-third France, and one-third everyone else.

Quote Message: For the next two years - or as long as Brexit takes - few Europeans will listen to what British diplomats and aid officials have to say about how the money is spent in Africa."

For the next two years - or as long as Brexit takes - few Europeans will listen to what British diplomats and aid officials have to say about how the money is spent in Africa."

He says this is of concern as the UK has been providing leadership in some key areas including Somalia.

He also sees Brexit as a "body blow to multi-lateralism" which has served the continent well.

AFPCopyright: AFP

There's been close to a 50% drop in new HIV infections in Uganda over the last four years, according to figures announced today.

The Uganda Observer has been tweeting some of the statistics that the outgoing country director of UNAids Musa Bugundu has been speaking about in the capital, Kampala.

"I am positive that by next year, there should be no baby born with HIV,” Mr Bugundu is quoted as saying by the Chimp Reports website.

The final report into the deadly attack on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi in Libya in 2012 has found no new evidence of wrong-doing by US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. 

The lengthy Republican investigation has consistently put the blame on Mrs Clinton, who was Secretary of State at the time. 

Democrats have called it a witch-hunt. 

Four Americans were killed in the attack, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. 

The report says the military acted too slowly, despite orders from President Barack Obama and the Defence Secretary Leon Panetta. 

AFPCopyright: AFP

Voting is now going on in New York for non-permanent members of the UN Security Council.

Africa has three seats and this year Ethiopia is aiming to replace Angola, whose term will finish in December.

Ethiopia's foreign ministry is tweeting pictures from the vote:

Ethiopia is unopposed and received unanimous backing from the African Union during the last AU heads of state summit, the BBC's Emmanuel Igunza reports from Addis Ababa.

It has promised to champion the continent's cause at the security council.

Egypt and Senegal hold the other African seats and will give them up at the end of next year.

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We've reported on the large helium discovery in Tanzania which will go some way towards addressing the global shortage.

But apart from party balloons what is it used for?

The fact that it doesn't react with anything and that it has the lowest boiling point of any element makes it very useful:

• It is used in the space industry to keep satellite instruments cool, to clean out rocket engines and was used to cool the liquid oxygen and hydrogen that powered the Apollo space vehicles
• Helium is used as a cooling medium for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the superconducting magnets in medical MRI scanners
• Helium is often used to fill weather balloons and airships because of its low density
• A mixture of 80% helium and 20% oxygen is used by deep-sea divers and others working under pressurised conditions.
• Helium-neon gas lasers are used to scan barcodes at supermarket checkouts

Read more: Helium discovery a 'game-changer'

A suspected US drone has crashed in southern Somalia, reports Shabelle Media Network.

It says the surveillance aircraft came down on Tuesday morning at Baladul-Amin, an area held by Islamist militant group al-Shabab in Lower Shabelle region.

Reports say al-Shabab militants went to the crash scene and took the remains of the plane.

The South Sudanese government says more than 40 people died in the recent fighting in the town of Wau, but admits that the total could rise. 

Information Minister Michael Makuei said the bodies of 39 civilians had been found, as well as four policemen. 

There was heavy fighting in and around Wau, which is in the north of the country, on Saturday. 

The army spokesmen said his troops had fought against an armed group, as well as what he called tribal fighters. 

Aid workers say they are helping around 26,000 people, but it is thought that there are many others who are currently out of reach of help. 

The UN Mission in South Sudan has come under heavy criticism from aid agencies which say it refused to open the gates for thousands who were fleeing the fighting.  

But it has dismissed those allegations saying it allowed civilians in on Sunday as a last resort. 

The ICRC tweeted pictures of some of those needing medical attention being flown from Wau: 

The distillers of Jack Daniels whiskey have acknowledged for the first time that the recipe came from an African slave, the Daily Telegraph reports.

They used to say that in the 19th Century Jack Daniel got the recipe from a Lutheran preacher.

But it was in fact the preacher's slave, Nearis Green, who had the recipe.

The newspaper reports that in the 19th Century much of the work in distilleries was done by slaves.

"Many slaves relied on techniques brought from Africa and became experts, often making it clandestinely," it adds.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Two men, who pleaded guilty, have been jailed in South Africa for attacking a black petrol pump attendant, reports the Times Live website.

The pair captured on CCTV camera apparently beat-up the worker after he told them that the petrol station had run out of unleaded petrol. 

The videos show Johannes Monyela, 33, being assaulted at a Sasol petrol station in Tzaneen, in Limpopo province. 

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has welcomed the sentences and said it hopes it will “deter other would-be racists”. The Tzaneen District Court sentenced Hermanus van Dyk‚ 36‚ to two years behind bars and Danie le Roux‚ 29, to 18 months for aggravated assault. 

South Africa has seen a spate of racially charged incidents in recent months – prompting calls for special legislation to fight it.     

TimesLiveCopyright: TimesLive

Every day we start off the BBC Africa Live page with a proverb from a reader.

But today we weren't in agreement about what "a white tooth has a bloody root" actually means.

And it seems that commentators on Facebook aren't in agreement either.

Here are a couple of variations:

Quote Message: The person who acquires a lot of money has sacrificed a lot to earn the white tooth." from Yohannes Bekele from British Columbia, Canada

The person who acquires a lot of money has sacrificed a lot to earn the white tooth."

Quote Message: No matter how innocent one can look they have a dirty truth about them." from Louisa Chaiwila from Livingstone in Zambia

No matter how innocent one can look they have a dirty truth about them."

But then a theme started developing:

Quote Message: No pain no gain." from Anyikor Dumbe Disraeli, Delta, Nigeria

No pain no gain."

Quote Message: Every Glory has a story!" from Adias Jessica, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Every Glory has a story!"

Quote Message: Success doesn't not come overnight." from Imran Mohamed Ali, Cape Town

Success doesn't not come overnight."

So the underlying assumption which seems to be in dispute among our Facebook commenters is whether success comes after hard work or bad behaviour.

Maybe you have a proverb which sheds some light on this?

Click here to send us your African proverbs. 

AFPCopyright: AFP

The Nigerian government has launched an unprecedented $1bn (£750m) operation to clean up the environmental damage caused by the oil industry, and it will be paid for by the polluters.

What has happened in a once quiet fishing town Bodo in Niger Delta may shed some light on the difficulties ahead.

Shell paid out almost $80m in compensation for two major oil spills in Bodo.

Part of the deal said Shell must clean up the mess, but that surprisingly is not what many people want.

Fisherman Siitu Emmanuel told the BBC's Stephanie Hegarty that he is not in support of Shell doing the clean-up - instead he wants the money that was going to pay for it to be split amongst the community.

And most people in Bodo agree with him, they would rather have money in their pockets than see the environmental problems sorted out.

Read more about how the oil clean-up pledge divides Nigerians on the BBC News website.

Visual artist Ndidi Emefiele grew up in northern Nigeria which she describes as "not a space that allows a woman to prosper". 

She wasn't pleased with what she says was deemed the ideal woman so she created her own strong women on canvas.

And a lot of her creations have one thing in common: They are wearing glasses.

She explains that the glasses are "a shield, a curtain a veil to protect them".

She showed us her current exhibition at the Gallery of African Art in London:

Liverpool have completed the signing of Sadio Mane for $45m (£34m) from Southampton.

The African football experts here at the BBC are telling us that that makes him the most expensive African football player.

The 24-year-old Senegal striker scored 21 goals in 67 Premier League appearances for Saints after joining for $13m from Salzburg in 2014.

"Today is a big day and I am very happy to sign for one of the biggest clubs in Europe," he told the club's official website.

"It's a club that has won a lot of trophies and has a big history."

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