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Live Reporting

Dickens Olewe and Damian Zane

All times stated are UK

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  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 in The Gambia on the continent by listening to the  Africa Today podcast  or checking the BBC News website

    A reminder of today's wise words:

    Quote Message: Truth and teeth should both be polished." from A Somali proverb sent by Aweis Ahmed Gabow, Somalia
    A Somali proverb sent by Aweis Ahmed Gabow, Somalia

    Click here to send your African proverbs.

    And we leave you with one of our top shots from across the continent this week of a Sudanese girl showing off her face tatoos at a local market 480 km from the capital, Khartoum.

    Young woman
  2. Fifa offers condolences to Nigerian fans

    Tweets about the tragedy in Calabar last night where football fans died after being electrocuted while watching a match at a viewing centre have been trending all day in Nigeria.

    At least seven died in the accident which is believed to have been caused by a live electric cable falling on to the metal roof of the place where the Europa League match between Manchester United and Anderlecht was being screened.

    Manchester United tweeted its condolences this morning. Football's world governing body Fifa has also sent its sympathies:

    View more on twitter
    Still from TV showing cable on the roof
    Image caption: TV pictures show the electric cable that reportedly caused the accident
  3. Fears that SA crash death toll could rise

    Nomsa Maseko

    BBC Africa, Johannesburg

    Another horrific car crash in South Africa. 

    This time, school children were killed when the minibus taxi they were traveling in collided head on with a truck. 

    The taxi then burst into flames and most of the children were trapped inside.

    Emergency service officials believe several others who were found at the scene were pulled out of the vehicle by members of the community. 

    The crash took place in Bronkhorspruit, a town east of Pretoria. 

    Officials fear the number of the dead could rise and cause of the collision is still being investigated. 

    This comes hours after transport minister Joe Maswanganyi announced that Easter weekend road deaths increased by 51% this year and most fatalities were pedestrians. 

    View more on twitter
  4. Motlanthe 'uncertain' over ANC support

    Former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe says he is uncertain about whether he can support the African National Congress at the next election in 2019.

    Speaking to the BBC, he said his vote could not be taken "as given", and spoke of an "avalanche of wrongdoing" in the ANC under his successor, Jacob Zuma.

    Video content

    Video caption: Motlanthe 'uncertain' over ANC support under Jacob Zuma
  5. South Africa's legendary boxing trainer dies in accident

    View more on twitter

    South Africa's legendary boxing trainer Nick Durandt has been killed in a motorbike accident in Clarens town, local media report.

    EWN Reporter quotes his son Damien saying his father collided with a vehicle that was turning. He was then rushed to hospital where he died. 

    Sports media website SuperSport profiled Durandat last year calling him "flamboyant, colourful and even controversial at times". 

    Though not a boxer himself he has trained some of the big names in the game including Pernell Whitaker, Roy Jones Jr, Oscar de la Hoya and Evander Holyfield.

    "He has produced 95 South African champions in all 17 weight divisions, 38 world champions and 27 International champions through the WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO, WBF and IBO organisations." according to SuperSport. 

  6. DR Congo violence threatens children

    The UN says 1.5 million children are at risk because of what it describes as extreme violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

    UN children's agency Unicef says thousands of children are being forcibly recruited to fight in the Greater Kasai region and others raped and killed. 

    Unicef found that 350 schools had been destroyed. 

    It estimates that more than a million people have been displaced since clashes between the army and a militia erupted in August last year. 

    At least 40 mass graves have been found in the area. 

    “Children in Kasai are being forced to endure horrific ordeals,” said Unicef's representative in DR Congo Tajudeen Oyewale following a field visit.

    Congolese soldiers
    Image caption: UN human rights investigators say atrocities are being committed by both sides in the clashes with local militia
  7. What did Cameroonians do when they got the internet back?

    We've been reporting about the return of the internet to Cameroon's English-speaking regions.

    The authorities cut it off following anti-government demonstrations.

    People have been telling us what they did as soon as it came back on:

    And on Facebook Rene Nwabueze wrote:

    Quote Message: Last night the first thing I did was to go to my Facebook page and wrote. And people here were really happy."
  8. Home-made musical instruments in Madagascar

    The BBC's Ken Mungai is in Antananarivo, the capital of the island nation of Madagascar. 

    He came across a group of boys playing homemade music instruments made of water pipes and plastic funnels in a neighborhood called Alasora.

    Watch below and enjoy the sound of ingenuity:  

    Video content

    Video caption: Home-made musical instruments in Madagascar
  9. Survivor of Nigeria's Calabar tragedy says quick reaction saved him

    A survivor of last night's tragedy in Nigeria's city of Calabar where several fans died after being electrocuted while watching a football match, says he ran out of the viewing centre after seeing sparks come out from the electric cable. 

    He says other tried to run out of the building but were not so lucky:

    Video content

    Video caption: Nigeria fans die from electrocution

    Nigeria's Channels TV is reporting that 30 people died, the police have confirmed that seven people died.

  10. Business as usual at France's 'small Africa'

    Our colleagues at BBC Afrique are in France ahead of Sunday's presidential elections to sample views of voters. 

    They have been out and about today in the capital, Paris, and visited Château Rouge, an area where a lot of Africans live. 

    Many there told our team that they feel their voice isn't being heard by the political elite.

    Our colleagues also snapped these pictures at an African butchers: 

    Shops
    Trader
    Trader
  11. Political party nominations in Kenya marred by violence

    Wanyama wa Chebusiri

    BBC Africa

    Ahead of Kenya's general elections on 8 August political parties are conducting nominations to elect their candidates. 

    President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party kicked off the exercise today and it has been marred by chaos and confusion so far.

    In most areas across the country, the nominations were characterised by sporadic skirmishes. A lack of voting materials and massive irregularities has forced the cancellation of the exercise in most parts of the country. 

    View more on twitter

    Last week, a similar exercise in the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga witnessed violence especially in its western Kenya stronghold. 

    This year's vote will take place a decade after disputed poll results fuelled violence that left more than 1,000 dead and a half a million others displaced. 

    Mr Kenyatta will be seeking a second term in office as the candidate for his Jubilee Party. The newly-formed opposition coalition, known as Nasa, hopes to name its presidential flag-bearer next week.

  12. Nigerian pastor charged in South Africa with sexual assault

    Nigerian Pastor Timothy Omotoso has been charged with human trafficking and two counts of sexual assault in South Africa's city of Port Elizabeth. 

    Mr Omotoso was arrested yesterday at the city's airport. 

    The case was postponed to 3 May and he will remain in custody for the next two weeks. 

    The National Prosecution Authority's (NPA) Tshepo Ndwalaza said: “We can confirm as the NPA that indeed Pastor Omotoso has been remanded in custody until 3 May because he wants to apply for bail.”

  13. Pictures of South African accident

    ER24, the South African emergency team dealing with the crash in which at least 17 school children have died, has been tweeting pictures of the crash site.

    View more on twitter

    An earlier post, when it had confirmed 13 dead, showed the scene from a different angle:

    View more on twitter
  14. BreakingSeventeen children killed in SA bus crash

    At least 17 children have been killed in a road accident in South Africa's Mpumalanga province, north of the capital, Pretoria. 

    According to the Reuters news agency the minibus they were travelling in crashed into a truck and exploded into a ball of fire. 

    Russel Meiring, a spokesman for emergency service ER24, told Reuters that 20 children were in the minibus when it collided with the truck. 

    "The number now is at least 17 fatalities," he said.

  15. Kenya 'destroys al-Shabab camp in Somalia'

    Kenya's Ministry of Defence has said its soldiers have raided and destroyed an al-Shabab camp in Somalia.

    Kenyan soldiers are part of the African Union force fighting the Somali Islamist militant group.

    The brief statement said that 52 al-Shabab fighters were killed and others escaped with injuries in the attack on the camp in Somalia's Lower Juba region, which borders Kenya.

    It also said that a small number of weapons were seized.

    The figures cannot be independently verified.

  16. South African artist defends controversial naked Mandela-Zuma work

    South African artist Ayanda Mabulu has defended his depiction of President Jacob Zuma and Nelson Mandela having sex.

    In fact, he says his controversial painting shows Mr Zuma raping the revered anti-apartheid hero, News24 reports.

    "Nelson Mandela is me, Nelson Mandela is you, Nelson Mandela is your neighbour. Nelson Mandela is everyone," Mabulu is quoted as saying.  

    Both the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the governing ANC have said Mabalu has the right to freedom of expression but have condemned the picture.

    The ANC said the work crosses "the bounds of rationality to degradation, exploiting the craft of creative art for nefarious ends".

    South Africa's President Jacob Zuma gestures during celebrations for his 75th birthday on April 12, 2017
    Image caption: President Zuma is coming under increased pressure over his leadership
  17. Dutch weapons smuggler convicted for selling weapons to Liberia

    A Dutch businessman has been sentenced to 19 years by a court in The Netherlands for aiding a war crime over his dealings with Liberia.

    Guus Kouwenhoven was accused of selling weapons to Liberia's former President Charles Taylor during the country's civil war.

    The Dutch News website said he sold the weapons in exchange for lucrative timber contracts.

    The judges wrote that the "weapons were used by Taylor in an armed conflict with rebels, in which over a period of many years countless civilians were victimised", the Reuters news agency reports.

    Kouwenhoven had previously been convicted of weapons smnuggling, but that verdict was overturned. The Dutch Supreme Court then ordered a retrial.

    Taylor himself was convicted of war crimes by the Special Court for Sierra Leone for his role in Sierra Leone's civil war. He is currently serving his sentence in the UK. 

    Former Liberian President Charles Taylor (L) waits on September 26, 2013 in the courtroom of the Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague before the start of his appeal judgement
    Image caption: Charles Taylor was sentenced to 50 years in prison in 2012
  18. Liverpool's Mane on the mend

    West Ham United midfielder Cheikhou Kouyate has shared a picture of his Senegalese international team mate Sadio Mane, who is recovering from a knee injury, and wishing him a quick recovery. 

    Mane, who has been a key player for Liverpool and their top scorer with 13 goals, has been ruled out of the season. 

    He was named in the season's Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) team of the year.

    View more on twitter
  19. Egypt killing video sparks controversy

    BBC World Service

    A video allegedly showing Egyptian soldiers shooting dead unarmed detainees in the northern Sinai has stirred controversy. 

    It apparently shows the soldiers staging the killings to look as if they happened during an armed clash. 

    The video was first broadcast on a television station that supports the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, which the government accuses of involvement in jihadist violence in the Sinai. 

    A pro-government news site has said the video is a fabrication.

    Read: Sinai Province: Egypt's most dangerous group

  20. Buhari ' shocked and saddened' by Calabar tragedy

    Muhammadu Buhari

    Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari says he is shocked and saddened by the death of several football fans last night, at a viewing centre in the port city of Calabar. 

    The fans were watching a Europa League match between Manchester United and Anderlecht when a live electric cable fell onto the building, electrocuting those inside. 

    Police say at least seven people died and 11 injured in the incident, although witnesses say more died. 

    Mr Buhari offered condolences to the victim's families and commended Cross River State authorities for setting up a commission of inquiry into the incident and for offering to help the victims and their families: 

    Quote Message: The President offers his deepest condolences to the family and friends of the mostly young victims, whose sudden demise is a big blow not only to their families, but also to the football-loving nation.
    Quote Message: He prays that God Almighty will grant the souls of the departed eternal rest and comfort all who mourn their irreparable loss."