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Live Reporting

Clare Spencer, Damian Zane and Lamine Konkobo

All times stated are UK

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  1. Scroll down for Tuesday's stories

    We'll be back tomorrow

    That's all from the BBC Africa Live page 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: The crocodile may be shy to bite but when it does bite it is shy to let go." from Sent by Emenyi Abang, Lagos, Nigeria
    Sent by Emenyi Abang, Lagos, Nigeria

    Click here and scroll to the bottom to send us your African proverbs.    

    And we leave you with this restful picture from Tanga in Tanzania:  

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  2. South Africa university set to reopen tomorrow despite protests

    South Africa's University of Pretoria is to reopen tomorrow after being shut as a result of student protests against an increase in tuition fees.

    But, in a statement, the university authorities say that it will be arranging "alternative to on-campus lectures... All lecture and study material will be made available by the faculties either online or by other means."

    In other words, students will not be allowed on campus en masse.

    It adds that the campus will only be open for those who have to be there for studies.

    Wits University in Johannesburg has been hit by two days of clashes between police and students after it reopened its campus on Monday.

    A BBC reporter has been tweeting from Wits today:

    View more on twitter
  3. Burna Boy brings Afrobeats to London

    Nigerian singer-songwriter Damini Ogulu - better known as Burna Boy - has performed in the UK for the first time.  

    He was meant to be perform in the UK in 2013 but he told Focus on Africa's Paul Bakibinga that it didn't happen because he didn't get a visa.

    But that wait means that his fans in London get to hear him perform his new album Redemption:

    Video content

    Video caption: Nigerian singer-songwriter Damini Ogulu has performed in the UK for the first time
  4. Behind SA's #FeesMustFall protests

    A new wave of protests by university students demanding free education has spread across South Africa leading to clashes with the police.

    BBC Africa looks at why the demonstrations have escalated.

    Video journalist: Christian Parkinson

    Video content

    Video caption: What is behind South Africa's #FeesMustFall protests?
  5. Weapons imported by Somali government 'end up on black market'

    Western diplomats say weapons imported by the Somali government are being sold on illegally, in violation of a UN arms embargo. 

    The government was exempted from the embargo three years ago in order to arm soldiers fighting the Islamist group al-Shabab. 

    The diplomats told the Reuters news agency that up to 40% of light weapons sold on the black market in the capital, Mogadishu, are government imports. 

    They are sold from private villas or the backs of vehicles. 

    A new rifle sells for around $1,500 (£1,200), about a year's salary for a Somali government soldier.

    Al-Shabab militants
    Image caption: The weapons could end up in the hands of al-Shabab militants
  6. SA finance minister's lawyers respond to fraud charge

    We have been reporting through the day that South Africa's Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has been summoned to court on fraud charges.

    Now, it looks like his lawyers have issued a statement about the summons. 

    A South African legal journalists has tweeted the statement:

    View more on twitter

     It says that originally the lawyers were advised that the finance minister was not charged with fraud but this changed.

    A BBC reporter in South Africa gives his interpretation:

    View more on twitter
  7. Madagascar's lucrative cock-fights

    Cock-fighting is banned in many countries, but its popularity endures in Madagascar where it is still legal.

    It can be lucrative sport and spectators can win substantial amounts betting on the outcome of fights.

    Video content

    Video caption: Madagascar's lucrative cock-fights
  8. Boat full of hashish stopped on its way to Libya

    A composite photo released on 11 October 2016 by Spanish Civil guard of four pictures of the police operation in Mediterranean Sea

    A boat carrying nearly 20 tonnes of hashish heading to Libya from Turkey has been stopped by Spanish police, AFP news agency reports.

    Investigators believe the drugs would have been used to buy weapons, AFP adds. 

    The police sting was part of a multi-national operation which has so far stopped two boats carrying guns and five boats full of hashish, the news agency says. 

    In total, the confiscated boats have been found with 11,400 guns, more than a million cartridges and 10 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, which can be used to make explosives, AFP adds.    

    The news agency reports that the intended recipients are unclear but Misrata is home to powerful militias who were among the forces that seized the capital Tripoli in 2014.

  9. Four presidential candidates for Ghana's election

    Ghana's electoral commission has approved just four candidates out of a list of 17 for December's presidential election.

    These include the flag-bearers of the two main parties:

    • Incumbert President John Mahama for the NDC
    • Nana Akufo-Addo for the NPP

    The other two are Ivor Greenstreet of the CPP and independent candidate Jacob Osei Yeboah.

    The 13 who failed to get on the ballot paper did not meet "the requirements of the electoral laws", according to the electoral commission.

    Nana Akufo-Addo
    Image caption: Nana Akufo-Addo (right) has run for president twice before
  10. Sierra Leone FA keen to restart league

    Other
    Image caption: FC Johansen won the first domestic competition in Sierra Leone since the ebola epidemic

    The Sierra Leone Football Association is hoping to revive the domestic league for the first time since the ebola epidemic forced its postponement.

    The last edition of the Premier League was stopped midway through the season in 2014 because of the threat from the virus.

    Sierra Leone was declared ebola free by the World Health Organization in March.

    And the first domestic football competition - the FA Cup - was completed on Saturday, encouraging the SLFA to restart the league.

    Read more on the BBC Sport website

  11. Analysis: What does finance minister's fraud charge mean for South Africa?

    Farouk Chothia

    BBC News

    Pravin Gordhan

    We reported earlier that South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has received a summons to appear in court on charges of fraud.

    The country's finance ministry once had a reputation for being immune from corruption and the political shenanigans in the governing African National Congress (ANC).

    But that changed last year when South Africa had three finance ministers in a week.

    Analysts saw President Jacob's Zuma attempt to install David van Rooyen - a political lightweight - as finance minister in December as a power grab by an elite perceived to be corrupt. They were defeated, with Mr Zuma forced to appoint Pravin Gordhan.

    The new minister warned of South Africa turning into a kleptocracy, and pointedly distanced himself from Mr Zuma's business allies.

    But now Mr Gordhan faces a charge of fraud - and the courts will decide whether he was masquerading as a champion of good governance or, as he claims, is the victim of political mischief.

    He will probably become the first government minister in South Africa to be tried while in office - unless Mr Zuma fires him before then.

    Either way, it sets the scene for more political and financial turmoil in a country which was a beacon of hope for all of Africa when Nelson Mandela became its first black president in 1994, ending white-minority rule.

  12. Human rights group condemns Mozambique opposition politician's killing

    Human Rights Watch has condemned the killing of an opposition politician in Mozambique, saying it threatened peace talks.

    Renamo politician Jeremias Pondeca was shot dead on Saturday during his morning jog along a beach in the country's capital, Maputo, police reported.   

    He was a member of a team preparing a meeting between the president and opposition to end the current military and political hostilities.  

    The human rights group says that a wave of killings have gone unpunished. 

    It lists at least nine other people who have died across Mozambique since March 2015 in what it says seem to be politically motivated killings.

    Street vendors are seen through a bus windscren bullet hole alongside the Mozambican Main North South road (NH1) on May 27, 2016 at Nhamapaza in the Gorongosa area, Mozambique.
    Image caption: Mozambique's main north-south road has also been hit bit attacks by Renamo
  13. Ethiopia PM: Number of protest deaths 'could be beyond 500'

    Journalists in Ethiopia have been using the opportunity of the joint press conference in Addis Ababa of Ethiopia's Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to probe the country's human rights record.

    Mr Hailemariam was asked about the death toll over the last 11 months of protest, as anti-government protesters have clashed with security forces.

    Rights groups put the figure at more than 500.

    The prime minister said there were at least 170 deaths in the Oromo region and more than 120 in Amhara but admitted that "when you add it up it could be more than 500".

    But, he went on to say, the death toll is not the issue:

    Quote Message: The point is not the number, the point is [that] we should engage with extremist violent groups in a proportionate manner.

    In other words, a robust response was acceptable as long as it didn't cross a line.

    He added:

    Quote Message: This government will do everything in its disposal to investigate any unproportional and excessive use of force by our security operators."
    Angela Merkel and Hailemariam Desalegn
  14. Analysis: Merkel in Africa, a tale of investment and security

    Alex Duval Smith

    BBC News, Abidjan

    Angela Merkel opening a building in Addis Ababa
    Image caption: Angela Merkel arrived in Ethiopia on Tuesday

    At best, the visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Mali, Niger and Ethiopia shows that the most influential politician in Europe has understood that equitable economic development would be a game-changer for countries that are losing their youth to emigration.

    After opening a new African Union building in the Ethiopian, capital, Addis Ababa, today Mrs Merkel said she would use Germany's presidency of the G20 in 2017 to encourage the private sector to invest in transport and energy networks and better vocational training in sub-Saharan Africa.

    Her $88m (£72m) pledge over several years to improve training and infrastructure in the Agadez region of Niger could encourage investment from the private sector.

    On the other hand, Germany's ambitions could be narrower. 

    The focus on security - including $11m she pledged for communications equipment and vehicles for Niger's army - could be intended as a strong-arm tactic to close off the desert to migrants.

    Angela Merkel in Niger
    Image caption: On Monday, the German chancellor met Niger's President Mahamadou Issoufou
  15. The man with banking ambitions in Africa

    Bob Diamond

    If you look at it in a certain way, banking in Africa is ripe for investment.

    According to a World Bank report from 2014 only about a third of African adults had bank accounts.

    One person who is grabbing this opportunity is one-time Barclays CEO Bob Diamond.

    He is buying up banks across Africa. 

    The company he founded, Atlas Mara, most recently acquired the Finance Bank of Zambia.

    And John Vitalo, Atlas Mara’s CEO, told Bloomberg that the company is looking to expand in Nigeria, enter Kenya, and eventually have operations in 12 to 15 African markets.

    But it isn't going too well, according to Bloomberg's profile of Mr Diamond.

    The article calls his recent investments a "misadventure in Africa".  

    Here's a few low points they pick out:

    •  Atlas Mara's share price has tumbled 68% since it went public in December 2013
    • Atlas Mara’s market value has "dwindled" to $244m (£199m) as of late September, down from almost $800 million in 2014

    It says this comes from "a number of missteps or miscalculations" including buying a bank with operations in "economically dysfunctional" Zimbabwe as bad loans mounted.

    Read the whole profile in Bloomberg

  16. WHO backs sugar tax

    The World Health Organization (WHO) has added its support to countries which place a "sugar tax" on soft drinks.

    South Africa is due to introduce one next year.

    A new report from the WHO found that raising prices by 20% or more results in lower consumption and "improved nutrition".

    The global health group has previously advised a lower sugar intake, but stopped short of backing tax measures.

    The WHO said it wants to see lower consumption of "free sugars", which it said will lower incidences of obesity, diabetes and tooth decay.

    "Free sugars" are all the different types of sugar in the diet, except for the sugars that are found naturally in fruit and milk.

    Read more from BBC News Online.

    Bottles of sugary drinks
  17. Nigerian Muslim clerics against gender equality bill

    A Muslim woman is praying at the entrance of the Central Mosque in Lagos on July 5, 2016
    Image caption: In Islam, women receive half of men's share of inheritance

    Muslim clerics in Nigeria have called on members of parliament not to pass a gender equality bill. 

    They say the clause which gives men and women equal inheritance rights is totally against their religion. 

    In Islam, women receive half of men's share of inheritance. 

    Muslim scholars explain that this is so because, in Islam, men are expected to take care of women. That goes as far as that even if a woman earns an income, her husband, or brother, or father is responsible for taking care of her. And since his responsibility is greater, he gets more of the inheritance than she does.

    The senate rejected an earlier version of the bill in March, saying it was incompatible with Nigerian culture and religious beliefs, though some progress has now been achieved on a watered down version of the bill.   

  18. France angry at Burundi's ban of UN investigators

    France's foreign ministry has said that Burundi is losing credibility over promises to respect human rights and has taken the wrong decision in banning UN investigators from its territory.

    The investigators are linked to a report which identified Burundian officials suspected of ordering the torture and killing of political opponents.

    The Reuters news agency quotes France's foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal:

    Quote Message: France deplores the decision by the Burundi authorities to declare personae non gratae the three members of the independent experts mission on the human rights situation in Burundi.
    Quote Message: This decision harms the credibility of Burundi's commitment to respect human rights."
    The President of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza
    Image caption: Burundi has been gripped by political strife since President Pierre Nkurunziza sought and won a controversial third term last year
  19. Morocco's Chamakh to play for Cardiff

    Cardiff City in the English Championship have signed former Morocco and Arsenal forward Marouane Chamakh soon after signing former Ivory Coast defender Sol Bamba. 

    Both were free agents after being released by Crystal Palace and Leeds United respectively.

    View more on twitter
  20. Gordhan 'gets standing ovation' at South Africa business meeting

    South Africa's Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan received a standing ovation at a business seminar he was attending when news broke of the decisionto prosecute him, South Africa's TimeLive news site reports.

    He revealed to the audience that his family had called him‚ saying that a police officer had been to his home to deliver a summons but he was not present.

    Mr Gordhan said the officer then went to the Treasury but he did not know what happened there.

    "Given the fiscal austerity‚ they might not have been given tea‚" he said to the crowd's amusement, TimesLive reports.

    Pravin Gordhan
    Image caption: Pravin Gordhan will appear in court next month