Africa Live: Gunmen guard Uganda cocoa farms as bean prices soar

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team for now.

There will be an automated feed until we return on Friday and you can get the latest news on our homepage.

You can also listen to our podcasts, Africa Daily and Focus on Africa.

A reminder of Tuesday's wise words:

Quote Message: When the blanket is short you sleep with bended legs." from Sent by Akenji Gibbons in Bamenda, Cameroon

When the blanket is short you sleep with bended legs."

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

We leave you with this image of a tourist taking a selfie at the Giza Pyramids in Egypt.

AFPCopyright: AFP

A UN-sponsored court in the Central African Republic says it has issued an arrest warrant for the former president, Francois Bozizé, in connection with alleged crimes against humanity.

The court said the warrant was for atrocities committed by military personnel under Mr Bozizé's command between 2009 and 2013.

He was overthrown more than a decade ago and lives in exile in Guinea-Bissau, but is the head of the main rebel group fighting in the Central African Republic.

Last year, Mr Bozizé was sentenced in absentia to forced labour for life for conspiracy and rebellion.

South African state broadcaster SABC has denied being "targeted" by the presidency.

According to local reports, a leaked audio recording appeared to feature President Cyril Ramaphosa saying any negative media coverage of the ruling ANC party should be challenged.

After the clip surfaced, news brand City Press said SABC head of news Moshoeshoe Monare had complained about being contacted by the State Security Agency (SSA).

Mr Monare reportedly told SABC "insiders" that the SSA demanded he be vetted for a second time, a process which would involve the news executive taking a lie detector test.

Mr Monare said he refused to engage with the SSA's recent request as a matter of editorial independence, City Press reported.

In a statement released on Monday, the president's office said it must "provide the facts on the matter" "due to the grave nature of the claims that have been made and calls directed to the Presidency".

Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said no one from the SSA had "recently" phoned Mr Monare to ask him to participate in a lie detector test.

Mr Magwenya said Mr Monare had indeed been invited for vetting in 2022 and that this is standard procedure for all SABC executives who are new in their role.

Mr Monare did not completed the vetting process as he did not want to take the required lie detector test, Mr Magwenya said.

In a statement released a day later, SABC broadly echoed the presidency's statement.

"The SABC has no evidence to suggest that it is being targeted by the Presidency, nor any of its Group Executives as reported by the media," the press release said.

Mr Monare was a chairperson at the South African National Editors Forum and worked at privately owned Arena Holdings before taking the top job at SABC News.

French President Emmanuel Macron has urged Rwanda to "halt its support" for the M23 rebels wreaking havoc in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

In a joint press conference with DR Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi, who is on a visit to Paris, Mr Macron said: "Rwanda must halt its support for M23 and withdraw its forces from Congolese territory."

The M23 first began operating in 2012 ostensibly to protect the Tutsi population in eastern DR Congo, which had long complained of persecution and discrimination.

The UN, EU and US have said that Rwanda, which is also led by Tutsis, is backing the M23. The government in Kigali has repeatedly denied this.

Last March, when asked to condemn Rwanda's reported support for the rebels, Mr Macron said he had been "very clear about the condemnation of the M23 and those who support it".

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

The UK has imposed sanctions on the Speaker of Uganda's parliament, as well as two MPs, for alleged corruption.

A statement said they had stolen from the poorest communities in the country and would be subject to travel bans and asset freezes.

The British Foreign Office said the two former ministers, Mary Goretti Kitutu and Agnes Nandutu, had stolen thousands of metal roofing sheets which were meant for vulnerable communities in the Karamoja region.

It said the Speaker, Anita Among, was also involved. She has also been accused of corruption involving parliamentary funds.

Ms Among has described the allegations as rumours that were triggered by her support for Uganda's tough anti-LGBT legislation.

• Read more: Beaten and forced to flee for being LGBT in Uganda

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Some farmers in Uganda have hired gunmen to protect their cocoa as thieves attempt to cash in on the crop's increased value.

Global cocoa prices have reached their highest point in over a decade as dry weather hinders farming in Ghana and Ivory Coast, the biggest producers of cocoa in the world.

According to Mutanga Grace, a Ugandan cocoa farmer and CEO of Mkulima Exports Uganda, roughly 30% of the cocoa beans produced in the East African country is being stolen.

He told BBC Newsday that farmers in the country are forking out armed guards and dogs in an attempt to protect their cocoa, which is a key ingredient in products like chocolate, ice creams and cakes.

"Cocoa in the country right now is like a hotcake, someone takes little but has taken a lot, a lot of money," he said.

Read more:

• Cocoa price hits record high as El Niño hurts crops

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Several African film stars will join Beyoncé and her daughter Blue Ivy in an upcoming Lion King prequel, titled Mufasa: The Lion King.

South African actor John Kani, who voiced Rafiki in the initial 2019 live action remake of The Lion King, will reprise his role.

The younger Rafiki will be voiced by another South African great - actor and comedian Kagiso Lediga.

The film, which will explore Mufasa's origin story and his childhood with brother Scar, will be released across theatres in December.

South African actress Thuso Mbedu, who has starred in African hits and Hollywood ones, such as The Woman King, will also have a role in the Disney film.

Nigerian actress Folake Olowofoyeku, who currently plays an immigrant Nigerian nurse in Emmy-nominated US sitcom Bob Hearts Abishola, will also have a role in the movie.

The Lion King prequel will also feature Ugandan-British actress Sheila Atim, who also starred in the Woman King.

Thandiwe Newton, an Emmy award-winning British actress with Zimbabwean roots, will have a major role voicing Eshe, Mufasa's adoptive mother.

Read more:

• Blue Ivy Carter joins mum Beyoncé in Lion King prequel

BBC NewsCopyright: BBC News

Over the past week my team and I have been reporting on the floods laying waste to parts of Kenya.

On Tuesday, we visted the Mai Mahiu area, where around 50 people were killed when a deluge swept villagers away as they slept.

We followed rescue workers down along the blasted banks of the river, they were carrying shovels, rakes and sticks to poke through the branches of uprooted trees.

We stopped at an enormous mound of broken branches, covering a crushed house, we are told.

A family of six lived in the house and they may be buried under this mound.

Rescue workers called in a bulldozer, which has been removing the debris in an attempt to find the family.

On the far side of the river, corrugated iron roof panels lurch down over the husk of a house still standing.

Veronica Karanja, 17, and her father David have come back to view the damage.

That dreadful night the teenager was swept out by the water but managed to hang on to a tree until it subsided.

When she made it back, she couldn’t find her father, until he called out. He had been hit in the head and lost hold of her 9-year-old brother Paul.

David has just returned from the morgue to view the body, his eyes cast down, his arm in a sling.

The family lived off their livestock but it is all gone now. Nine-hundred hens and 21 pigs whisked away by the water - only five are left.