Africa highlights: Kenya deports South Sudan rebel spokesman, Mugabe protest at graduation

Morocco's telecoms regulator says the ban on the use of Skype and WhatsApp to make calls has been lifted, the AFP news agency reports.

It restricted the use of what's called Voice over IP, or VoIP, nearly a year ago.

AFP says that the lifting of the ban comes just before the country hosts major climate talks.

A statement from the regulator, quoted by AFP, says that it hopes users would benefit "from the best technology... in harmony with regulation". 

Tunisia's religious affairs minister has been sacked after he suggested Saudi Arabia's conservative form of Islamic practice had links to terrorism. 

A statement from the government said: "Prime Minister Youssef Chahed decided to dismiss Abdeljalil Salem, minister of religious affairs, from his duties due to the lack of respect for government work and his statements that touched principles of Tunisian diplomacy."

Local media quoted Mr Ben Salem as saying in parliament that: "I told the Saudi ambassador in Tunisia that terrorism and extremism historically came from you ... you should reform your (religious) school," 

Mr Ben Salem has not yet commented on his dismissal.       

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Tanzania's President John Magufuli has been widely praised for his fight against corruption but his critics say that he has "limited the democratic space" in the country. 

He has been accused of closing media organisations that are critical of him and for intimidating opposition groups. 

Addressing journalists today as he marks a year in office he defended himself saying that he has promoted democracy but that it has limits:

Quote Message: I have not suppressed democracy. I promoted it, but democracy has limits. What we are doing is in line with our constitution and tradition... After the elections end we must all focus on work."

I have not suppressed democracy. I promoted it, but democracy has limits. What we are doing is in line with our constitution and tradition... After the elections end we must all focus on work."

AFPCopyright: AFP

To find out what he has achieved in his first year, read Dickens Olewe's piece:Tanzania's social media president.  

South Africans have been having fun with the way one person mentioned in this week's report into alleged corruption responded to claims made against him.

The country's former anti-corruption tsar found in her investigation that Brian Molefe, the boss of the state power company, Eskom, had a close relationship with the wealthy Gupta family.

The problem was that the Gupta family was trying to buy up a coal mine that Eskom was involved with.

On Thursday Mr Molefe gave a tearful press conference denying the allegations.

The report said that mobile phone records showed that he was often in the Saxonwold area near the Gupta family home.

Mr Molefe said: “There’s a shebeen there, two streets away from the Guptas. I will not admit or deny that I’ve gone to the shebeen. But there is a shebeen there."

So, since yesterday South Africans have been wondering where this shebeen is:

And one journalist went on the hunt for the shebeen:

BBCCopyright: BBC

Ethiopia’s legendary athlete Haile Gebrselassie says he is ready to clean up the mismanagement of the country's athletics and wipe away the embarrassment of a poor performance of his country in the last Olympics. 

Haile is running for the presidency of his country’s Athletics Federation in elections to be held on Sunday. 

Speaking to the BBC, Haile said his main aim is to address years of mismanagement of athletics that had culminated in the team winning only one gold. 

He says he wants to focus on talent development for the next generation of Ethiopian athletes. 

Haile announced his retirement from competitive running last year, bringing to an end a 25-year career in which he claimed two Olympic gold medals, eight World Championship victories and set 27 world records.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

The continuing instability in South Sudan could trigger an "unprecedented" famine as people continue to flee their homes and leave their crops to rot in the field, the Reuters news agency reports quoting the World Food Programme (WFP). 

According to WFP up to 4 million people, a third of the population, are "severely food insecure". 

"Malnutrition has crossed the 15% emergency level" in 7 out of 10 states, with Unity and Northern Bahr el Ghazal states mostly affected, Reuters quotes WFP spokeswoman Bettina Luescher as saying. 

Dilapidated infrastructure has made "roads impassable" during the rainy season leading to aid agencies to rely on food drops. 

Over one million refugees have left the country with 4,000 a day crossing into Uganda's Bidibidi refugee settlement that was opened in August and now hosts over 188,000 people, the report adds.

AFPCopyright: AFP

An adviser to the last king of Rwanda, Kigeli V, who died last month in the US aged 80 says the deposed monarch did not want to be buried in Rwanda.

Boniface Benzinge told the BBC's Great Lakes service that he wanted to be laid to rest in the US where he had been living for several decades.

But media reports in Rwanda say that his family in the country want him to be buried there.

The monarchy was abolished in 1961 and Kigeli was forced into exile.

He eventually settled in the US where he set up a charity helping Rwandan refugees and orphans.

Read more: Kigeli V Ndahindurwa, the last king of Rwanda.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Ethiopia's newly-appointed communications minister has been telling the BBC about his commitment to a free press. 

Negeri Lencho, a former journalism lecturer, was appointed following a cabinet reshuffle earlier this week.

Ethiopia has been criticised for its treatment of journalists, but in a BBC interview Mr Negeri says that journalists should be allowed to do their job.

But he added that they should also act responsibly.

AFPCopyright: AFP

A Kenyan government agency is demanding an investigation into the illegal "influx of foreign beggars" in the country.

The head of the National Council for Persons with Disabilities in Kenya, David ole Sankok, said "cartels" have been trafficking beggars into the country to "prey on the kindness of Kenyans", the private Daily Nation newspaper reports.

"There could be more than 10,000 disabled people who had been ferried in to beg on the streets," Mr Sankok added.

The official said the rising number of foreign beggars, especially from Tanzania, is a cause for concern and called on Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to "initiate diplomatic talks" with his Tanzanian counterpart, John Magufuli, over the issue.

This is not the first time an alarm has been raised over the influx of foreign beggars.

In a story in 2010 the Standard newspaper interviewed a beggar from Tanzania, "Kenyan money has a high value, so if you beg and get as little as 200 shillings [about $2], that’s a lot of money when you convert to Tanzanian currency," the beggar said. 

The 2016 World Giving Index published by UK-based Charities Aid Foundation ranks Kenya as Africa's most generous country.

Ghana's High Court has ordered the electoral commission to allow Hassan Ayariga, from the All Peoples Congress (APC) party, to correct mistakes on his nomination forms for the presidential election and resubmit them.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Mr Ayariga was disqualified by the electoral commission from running in next month's election because of errors in his nomination papers.

Eleven other candidates were also excluded from taking part.

He is the second candidate to successfully appeal appeal against the electoral commission.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Tanzania's President John Magufuli is marking a year in office, but celebrations are unlikely to be extravagant. 

Mr Magufuli has campaigned with a strong anti-corruption message and has cut government spending during his first year in office. 

He even cancelled the annual independence day celebrations due to their "shameful" costs.

Watch more:

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has reacted to the apology from his Ivorian player Yaya Toure over comments his agent made about him not being selected for the Champions League.

Dimitri Seluk said Toure had been "humiliated".

Guardiola said after that comment that Toure would not be picked again unless he said sorry. 

Today, he told journalists that Toure's apology was "good news" and "that's the most important thing".

He said he had spoken to the midfielder, but did not divulge the details.

Guardiola was then pressed on whether Toure would now be picked, and he responded: "I don't want to answer any more [questions]. I spoke with him, it was good and that's all."

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Mozambique's health authorities say they will carry out tests on a locally produced soft drink, Frozy, after neighbouring Malawi banned it over "high levels of citric acid".

In a statement on its Facebook page, Malawi's Bureau of Standards also complained that Portuguese is used on the labels, contravening its rules.

Malawi Bureau of StandardsCopyright: Malawi Bureau of Standards

The producer of Frozy in Mozambique has denied that there is a problem with the drink, reports the BBC's Jose Tembe from the capital, Maputo.

But there may be more to this than a row over citric acid, our Malawian colleague Joab Chakhaza says.

He adds that most people in Malawi think this is about a trade war.

Frozy has only recently starting appearing on Malawian supermarket shelves, but has become popular very quickly as it is being sold more cheaply than the locally produced soft drinks.

Algerian winger Riyad Mahrez, who helped Leicester City win the English Premier League title last season, is the only African player to be included in Fifa's 23-man player of the year shortlist.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

He's up against the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The winner will be announced on 9 January.

Mahrez is also on the Ballon D'Or shortlist along with Gabon's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

AFPCopyright: AFP

A Zimbabwean minister says there is a scheme to print counterfeit bond notes ahead of their introduction in a few weeks, the state-run Herald newspaper reports. 

"Fake bond notes have been printed to coincide with our release in order to confuse the situation," it quotes Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa as saying.

The government had initially planned to roll out the bond notes, which will have no value outside Zimbabwe, at the end of October to ease a chronic cash shortage.

But the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe deferred their introduction to "educate the public on the denominations and operations of the bond notes," the Herald says.

The new notes, which will have the same value as the US dollar, will come out in denominations of $2 and $5 with $75m- (£60m-) worth of notes expected to be circulation by the end of the month, it says.

The country has mainly used the US dollar and South African rand since abandoning its own currency in 2009 in order to stem runaway inflation. (See earlier our earlier reports of people sleeping outside banks to get their money.)

With the economy in recession, Nigerians are hoping to laugh at least some of their problems away.

A popular television sitcom - The Johnsons - is proving to be just the thing. It stars some of the country's top actors, who are using satire and humour to highlight some of their country's problems and lighten the mood.

The BBC's Africa Business Report decided to visit the set.

For more than two weeks, my internet has not been working properly. At first I thought it was a problem with my internet provider, which often suffers from slow speeds. But this feels more serious.

Even when you do get online, the connection repeatedly cuts out. I’ve spent the past week trying to upload some photos and audio to send to London, without success.

A woman who runs a computer club for young people in the capital Monrovia tells me that they have been having trouble getting onto Facebook and that their connection has slowed in recent weeks.

The hotel I am staying at in the north-eastern town of Ganta is right next to the network tower of a company that provides my internet service, but the connection is still coming in and out.

See earlier post

AFPCopyright: AFP

On John Magufuli's first day as Tanzania's president - a year ago tomorrow - he created a storm on social media by making an unannounced visit to the finance ministry, catching the workers off-guard. 

He later announced the cancellation of the independence day celebrations with the funds for the lavish celebrations going to cover expenses in public hospitals.

This act boosted his reputation among East Africans, inspiring the hashtag on Twitter #WhatWouldMagufuliDo - which was widely used in neighbouring countries.

Although the hashtag was mostly used to mock Mr Magufuli's austere policies, it unwittingly defined his leadership style, which many have come to admire.

To find out what he has achieved in his first year, read Dickens Olewe's piece: Tanzania's social media president.

South Africans have been devouring the report on alleged corruption prepared by the former Public Prosecutor Thuli Mandosela. She investigated claims that top government officials were involved in graft. 

One of the details that has got people talking since the report was released on Wednesday was the allegation that Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas was offered 600m rand ($44.6m; £36.2m) as a bribe by businessman Ajay Gupta, which he declined. 

Mr Gupta also asked him if he had "a bag which he could use to receive and carry 600,000 rand in cash ($44,400) immediately", Mr Jonas alleged.

Mr Gupta's lawyer has dismissed the allegation.

Africa Check, the fact-checking website, has been musing about how big a bag would need to be to carry 600m rand:

Quote Message: Assuming that the highest denomination of South African rands was used, we worked out how tall a R600,000 stack of R200 notes would be. The answer – 36 cm, or about as tall as a computer screen." from Africa Check

Assuming that the highest denomination of South African rands was used, we worked out how tall a R600,000 stack of R200 notes would be. The answer – 36 cm, or about as tall as a computer screen."

What the video below:

It turns out you can get it into a normal plastic bag.