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Live Reporting

Hugo Williams and Lucy Fleming

All times stated are UK

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  1. Scroll down for Wednesday's stories

    We'll be back tomorrow

    That's all from the BBC Africa Livepage this 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: If you want the best sweet potato you must dig deeper" from A Kikuyu proverb sent by Bella Mwangi in Nairobi, Kenya
    A Kikuyu proverb sent by Bella Mwangi in Nairobi, Kenya

    Click here to send us your African proverbs.

    And today's top image was snapped by the BBC's John Nene on a recent trip to the Kenyan city of Mombasa. Here's another photo of his showing fun and games on the city's Pirates Beach:

    A camel on a Mombasa beach in Kenya
  2. Nigerians' advice to Mark Zuckerberg

    Ishaq Khalid

    BBC Africa, Bauchi

    Nigerians have been using the Facebook founder's visit as an opportunity to express their views on how they think the social network could improve. I asked some people here in the northern city of Bauchi what advice they'd give Mark Zuckerberg:

    Bulak Afsa
    Image caption: Bulak Afsa said:
    Quote Message: My problem with Facebook is that accounts are easily hacked into - someone gets control of your account and posts things that do not belong to you. I also urge Facebook to regulate pornographic posts and to set an age limit for users and come up with a means of detecting the actual age of users to prevent those underage from using the medium."
    Bilyaminu Hassan
    Image caption: Bilyaminu Hassan said:
    Quote Message: Identity theft is a big issue that Facebook should look into. Some people use multiple Facebook accounts using different names and profile pictures. In this manner, they commit crimes such as fraud and posting hate comments. I advise Facebook to use a fingerprint capture device when people intend to create new Facebook account. This will check the problem of one person using multiple accounts and address identity theft."
    Hafsat Adebayo
    Image caption: Hafsat Adebayo said:
    Quote Message: I enjoy using Facebook for connecting with friends but my problem with it is that it sends me unsolicited emails. Sometimes these emails make it difficult to scroll down to find important messages in my inbox and they make my inbox full so quickly."

    But one person couldn't think of anything bad to say:

    Usman Zubairu
    Image caption: Usman Zubairu said:
    Quote Message: I really benefit from Facebook. I use it to connect with friends and loved ones. I also get the latest news through Facebook. As far as I am concerned, Facebook is OK. I welcome Mr Zuckerberg to Nigeria."
  3. Traders close up shop in Kenya's 'Little Mogadishu'

    Abdinoor Aden

    BBC Africa, Nairobi

    The usually bustling district of Eastleigh in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, shut up shop today:

    Mall in Eastleigh, Nairobi, Kenya

    Shopkeepers complain that hawkers are affecting their business by blocking entrances and are able to undercut them because they don't pay tax. 

    People outside a closed mall in Eastleigh, Kenya
    Hawkers in Eastleigh, Nairobi, Kenya

    Eastleigh – known as Little Mogadishu because of its large Somali community – is one of the biggest trading centres in East Africa and has more than 50 shopping malls.

    Traders say the malls will remain closed for three days and a crisis meeting has been ongoing on between hawker representatives, those from Eastleigh’s business community and Nairobi county leaders.

  4. Tear gas fired in Gabon's capital

    Riot police in libreville
    Image caption: Police are out in force in Libreville following the announcement of election results

    A supporter of opposition candidate Jean Ping has told BBC Focus on Africa radio that the military has fired tear gas to disperse a peaceful march on headquarters of the national electoral commission in Libreville. 

    The military stopped supporters of Mr Ping, who lost the presidential poll by fewer than 6,000 votes, from marching forward about an hour ago and they'd been negotiating to be granted passage. 

    She says there are thousands of protesters, including many young people, and that black smoke can be seen rising into the skies from people in the suburbs burning tyres. 

    The BBC cannot independently verify her statement. 

    Protester picks up tear gas cannister in Guinea
    Image caption: Security forces have been firing tear gas to disperse demonstrators
  5. Somali law graduate makes history

    Safiyo Jama Gayre

    Sixty-year-old Safiyo Jama Gayre has graduated from Puntland State University in Somalia – making history as the institution’s oldest female graduate.

    She told the BBC Somali Service she went to study law – and Sharia – in order to help victims of rape and other issues affecting women.

    In divorce settlements, it is usually the man who gets everything - but she says her studies showed that this was wrong:

    Quote Message: I found no place in our religion to hurt or harm women - therefore this culture must end."

    She said that at first she was the butt of friendly jokes from her younger classmates during her four-year course, who fondly called her “grandma”.

    Quote Message: But, guess what, I was the first student to submit my thesis."
  6. Footage 'shows Gabon protests'

    France 24's citizen journalism platform Les Observateurs has posted video on Twitter that it says it has received from the Gabonese capital, Libreville, where opposition protesters are reportedly clashing with security forces. 

    At the end of the clip, the camera zooms in on one protester lying on the ground near to the security forces' frontline. The person taking footage asks whether the man is dead or injured. 

    View more on twitter

    Read more about Gabon

  7. How do you count Africa's elephants?

    The BBC's Christian Parkinson has been doing some number-crunching, looking at the methods and findings of the first pan-African survey of savannah elephants:

    Video content

    Video caption: Counting Africa's elephants from the air
  8. Nigeria airline Aero Contractors suspends operations

    Chris Ewokor

    BBC Africa, Abuja

    Nigeria’s second-largest commercial airline, Aero Contractors, has announced it will suspend “schedule services” from tomorrow.

    It is the third airline to suspend operations in Nigeria: Iberia suspended its route to Africa’s second biggest economy in May, followed by United Airlines the following month.

    According to Aero Contractors, the operating environment in Nigeria has hindered any possible progress especially in the last six months when the local currency, the naira, depreciated against the US dollar.

    The announcement effectively means the company, which has more than 1,000 staff including engineers and pilots, is closing up shop.

    Five years ago Aero Contractors had about 18 aircraft and multiple helicopters, but as of July this year, the fleet comprised only two aircraft.

    It mainly flies from Lagos to the capital, Abuja, and to coastal states.

    The news comes on the day figures showed Nigeria’s economy had officially slipped into recession.

  9. Gabon opposition refused to validate poll results

    An electoral commission member in Gabon holding up a ballot for Ali Bongo

    Delegates representing the opposition in Gabon's national electoral commission (Cenap) walked out of the vote count and refused to sign papers validating President Ali Bongo's victory, according to the BBC Afrique reporter in Libreville Charles .

    There has been no independent statement from the Cenap, with official results announced by the country's interior minister. 

    Read more about the Gabon elections

  10. Algeria's Slimani heading for Leicester medical

    John Bennett

    BBC World Service

    Islam Slimani

    The Algeria Football Federation's Instagram page confirms that they have given Islam Slimani permission to go and have a medical at Leicester City:

    View more on instagram
  11. Should Africa's police recruits be put through the lie detector?

    Quote Message: Whenever I see a policeman, I run away because he sees me as an ATM."

    That's a quote from Tendai Biti, Zimbabwe's finance minister, in an article about whether police recruits in Africa should take lie-detector tests.

    Columnist Farai Sevenzo suggests this very proposal by Nigeria's police chief could be expanded across the continent to ensure "acceptable standards", as he says "force is the default setting for African police".

    Police in Kenya
    Image caption: Kenya police pictured in May this year...
    Police in Zimbabwe
    Image caption: ....These are officers in Zimbabwe earlier this month

    But Farai wonders whether a polygraph test would seek to find out recruits' sympathy for beaten citizens or their loyalty to police chiefs.

    For more read his Letter from Africa: Truth tests

  12. 'Clashes in Gabon' after disputed poll results

    There have been clashes between security forces and protesters shouting "Ali must go" in Gabon's capital Libreville, soon after the announcement of President Ali Bongo's election victory, AFP news agency reports, whose reporter is at the scene. 

    Security forces fired tear gas and smoke grenades to push back protesters who were trying to get close to the headquarters of the national electoral commission, AFP adds. 

  13. Africa's first-ever aerial elephant census

    Alastair Leithead

    BBC Africa correspondent

    The first-ever aerial survey of Africa’s savannah elephants has shown a dramatic reduction in their numbers.

    The Great Elephant Census discovered nearly a third of the continent’s elephants – some 144,000 animals – have been killed, mostly by poachers in just a seven-year period. 

    For two years small planes have been buzzing across 18 African countries, and the scientists on board have been counting elephants. 

    The figures are dramatic: Tanzania lost 60% of its elephants and Mozambique half their elephants in just seven years.

    Poachers have struck in Angola and Zambia and are starting to encroach on Botswana, which is seen as their last sanctuary where 40% now live – aware of the dangers elsewhere.

    View more on twitter

    The census comes to a depressing conclusion: if this continues, half of Africa’s remaining elephants will be gone in just nine years.   

  14. Gabon president wins disputed poll by '5,000 votes'

    According to Gabon's official election results, announced in the past half-hour by Interior Minister Pacome Moubelet-Boubeya, incumbent leader Ali Bongo gained 49,80 % of the vote, defeating his main rival Jean Ping, who had 48.23%. 

    President Bongo received 177,722 versus 172,128 for Mr Ping, making the margin just more than 5,000 votes.

  15. US imposes sanctions on East Africa's IS chief

    The US has imposed sanctions on Abdiqadir Mumin who heads so-called Islamic State (IS) in East Africa, according to a US State Department statement.

    It said he was a former recruiter for the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab group and pledged his allegiance to IS in October.

    He has set up his cell in the north-eastern Somali region of Puntland and has expanded it by “kidnapping young boys aged 10 to 15, indoctrinating them, and forcing them to take up militant activity”, the statement said.

    Quote Message: Today’s action notifies the US public and the international community that Abdiqadir Mumin is actively engaged in terrorism." from US State Department
    US State Department
  16. BreakingGabon interior minister declares Ali Bongo election victory

    Gabon's Presdient Ali Bongo has been declared winner of the presidential election by the country's interior minister, according to the BBC Afrique correspondent in the capital, Libreville. 

    More to follow. 

  17. Sunderland sign Gabonese footballer Ndong

    Twenty-two-year old Gabonese player Didier Ndong has signed for Premier League club Sunderland, moving from French side Lorient for a fee of 16m euros (£13.5m, $17m).

    View more on twitter

    Ndong, who joins the Black Cats on a five-year deal, said it was a "beautiful day":

    Quote Message: I am very proud and happy to sign for Sunderland. This is a new adventure for me and to play in the Premier League is a dream come true.
    Quote Message: Maybe the Sunderland fans don’t know me yet, but I promise that they will quickly discover that I will give everything for them and the club. It will be an honour to wear the Sunderland shirt and I will wear it with a true understanding of what it means."
  18. Nigeria blames oil sector as country slips into recession

    militants in a boat automatic weapons in the air
    Image caption: Militant groups in the Niger Delta are blamed for crippling the oil industry

    The Nigerian government says that it remains "hopeful" about the trajectory of the country's economy, despite the "temporary decline" in GDP growth, which has pushed Nigeria into recession for the first time in more than a decade. 

    Poor growth was "mostly due to a sharp contraction in the oil sector due to huge losses of crude oil production as a result of vandalisation and sabotage", according to a statement from the vice-president's office.

    Crude oil sales account for 70% of government income.  

    The government also pointed to "growth recorded in the agriculture and solid mineral sectors" as a cause for optimism. 

    It added that the forecast for an annual GDP contraction of 1.2% was not as bad as the International Monetary Fund prediction of 1.8%. 

    Read more: Why Nigeria's 'Avengers' are crippling the oil sector