That's all from the BBC Africa Live page today. Listen to the Africa Today podcast and keep up-to-date with stories from across the continent on our BBC News website. 

A reminder of today's wise words: "A river does not flow through the forest without knocking down trees." Sent by Sallu Kamara from Sierra Leone, and by Nana Efe and Nasiru Tijjani from Nigeria.

Click here to send us your proverbs. 

We leave you with this photo of two asylum-seekers sitting under portraits of three renowned international figures - South Africa's Nelson Mandela, the US's George Washington and Turkey's Kemal Ataturk - at a shelter in Berlin, Germany:

Image source, AFP

Alastair Leithead
BBC Africa correspondent

A third lion has died in Kenya’s famous Maasai Mara nature reserve after the pride, which featured in a BBC programme, was poisoned. 

The lions killed cattle belonging to local Maasai herdsmen which had been brought into the reserve illegally, and it’s thought one of the carcasses was then laced with pesticide. 

Vultures also died after eating the poisoned meat. 

The leader of the only recognised opposition party in Rwanda has criticised the government's decision to hold a referendum next week on whether to lift the two-term presidential limit. 

Green Party leader Frank Habineza says the referendum had been called too quickly, and officials have told him that no campaigning will be allowed, the BBC Kinyarwanda service reports. 

The party is opposed to changing the constitution to allow President Paul Kagame to run for a third term in the 2017 election (see 15:20 post). 

Image source, AFP

The BBC Hausa service team has had rare access to the town of Bama in Nigeria's north-eastern Borno state, the epicentre of militant Islamist group Boko Haram insurgency. 

Bama had been under the control of the militants before they were dislodged by the Nigerian army four months ago.

This short video shows the extent of the damage caused in the town:

Eleven bodies of African migrants have been recorvered after their boats sank as they tried to cross to the Canary Islands in Morocco, officials said, Reuters news agency reports. 

One woman was among the dead but it is not clear how many people were in the boat.

"The boat capsized on Monday afternoon because of bad weather," a statement from local authorities in southern Boujedor city said.   

Morocco is one of the routes migrants from sub-Saharan Africa use to get to the North African coast in an attempt to reach Europe. 

Others pass through southern Algeria and Libya.

Image source, AFP

Image source, Getty Images

Nigeria have clinched one of Africa's three places in the men's football tournament at next year's Olympics in Rio.

They narrowly beat hosts Senegal 1-0 in the first of the semi-finals of the Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations to earn a place in Saturday's final as well.

Captain Peter Etebo (pictured) scored the crucial goal from the penalty spot. 

Read the full BBC story here

Image source, AFP

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has warned his party that it is in danger of splitting as rival factions manoeuvre to secure influential positions, Reuters news agency reports. 

"We go day and night wanting to get information. If we can't get it, we manufacture information that will damage the group that you are opposed to most. We have become liars," he told Zanu-PF's central committee, it reports.    

The 91-year-old Mr Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, is due to address delegates at the party's national conference on Friday. 

Last year, Mr Mugabe sacked his deputy, Joice Mujuru, after accusing her of plotting to oust him. She denied the allegation. 

Milton Nkosi
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

The tragedy of two young people - rapper  Nkululeko ‘Flabba’ Habedi and model Reeva Steenkamp - being murdered by their lovers is bound to shake South Africans to the core. 

Today, a High Court found Sindisiwe Manqele, 26, guilty of murdering Mr Habedi, 38, at his home in March after the couple had a row. 

Just last week, South African Olympiad Oscar Pistorius, 29, was convicted of murdering Ms Steenkamp, who was also 29, at his home on Valentine's Day 2013. 

Image source, AFP

Manqele is an economics student at a university in Ireland and Pistorius was an international sports star. 

Both have now paid the ultimate price for cutting short the lives of their young lovers. 

Manqele will sleep in prison tonight, while Pistorius remains under house arrest in the capital, Pretoria, hoping that South Africa's highest court will overturn his conviction. 

A Lazio football club fan in Italy has set up a team with a group of young refugees and migrants to counter racism and give them something to do.

The club, Liberi Nantes, plays in the Italian amateur league, and most of its 30-strong squad is made up of Africans.

The BBC's Aidan O'Donnell went to see the team in training:

Corruption and mismanagement existed at some of the highest levels of government in the Democratic Republic of Congo, President Joseph Kabila's anti-corruption adviser has said, Reuters news agency reports.

Luzolo Bambi said the country was losing about $15bn (£10bn) annually due to fraud. 

"When you have an evasion, a leak, a fraud evaluated at $10 to $15bn dollars per year... it's up to the head of state to reverse that trend," Mr Bambi told a local radio.

Despite abundant natural resources, DR Congo is ranked among the world's poorest countries largely due to endemic corruption.

Mr Bambi said the prosecutor's office was yet to respond to a criminal complaint he filed against some current and former government officials for fraud, corruption and money laundering, Reuters reports.

Richard Hamilton
BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

Rwanda has announced that a referendum will be held next week on a constitutional amendment allowing President Paul Kagame to stand for a third term (see 09:02 post).  

The amendment makes an exception for Mr Kagame, allowing him to run for a third seven-year term in 2017. 

However, even that is not the end of the story. A new limit of two five-year terms would be introduced after that and Mr Kagame would be eligible to run for those as well. 

This means that in theory he could be in power until 2034 - which is 40 years since the end of the genocide in 1994. 

He's been credited with rebuilding Rwanda since then but, opponents say, he's become increasingly intolerant of dissent.

Milton Nkosi
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

The girlfriend of South African hip-hop star Nkululeko Habedi, known as Flabba, could not contain her emotions when a High Court judge convicted her of murdering him. 

Sindisiwe Manqele sat in the dock covered in a pink headscarf. She sobbed uncontrollably, and buried her face in her hands when the judge read out the verdict.

He convicted her of pre-meditated murder - not just murder. 

Manqele stabbed Habedi to death in March after the couple had a row. 

Image source, AFP

A French judge has dropped his warrant for the arrest of Ivory Coast's speaker of parliament, Guillaume Soro, his lawyers say.

The judge lifted the warrant following proof he is on official business in Paris, giving him diplomatic immunity, they add.

The arrest warrant was for not turning up to a 2012 Paris court case brought by ex-Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo's son.

Michel Gbagbo accuses Mr Soro's forces of kidnapping and torturing him, which he denies.

Read the full BBC story here

In  his verdict, South Africa's Judge Solly Sithole said rapper Nkululeko Habedi, known as Flabba, had been "intentionally" stabbed in the chest by his girlfriend, Sindisiwe Manqele. 

 The judge said Manqele, 26, admitted this under cross-examination, even though she had pleaded not guilty to murder.   

Prosecutors said she was jealous of seeing her boyfriend talking to an ex-lover, and she killed him at his home in March after a heated row. 

Milton Nkosi
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

Image source, AFP

A South African court has found the girlfriend of hip-hop star Nkululeko Habedi, known as Flabba, guilty of murdering him. 

Sindisiwe Manqele, 26, stabbed him in the heart at his home in Alexandra township in South Africa's main city, Johannesburg, in march. 

She said she had killed him in self-defence.  

Mr Habedi died at the age of 38. He became popular after he joined award-winning rap group Skwatta Kamp. 

Alice Muthengi
BBC Africa, Dar es Salaam

People cheered when Tanzania's new President John Magufuli joined the campaign this morning to sweep streets, and collect rubbish in the main city, Dar es Salaam. 

Many Tanzanians support his decision to scrap expensive Independence Day celebrations and spend the day doing something more meaningful. 

Children joined in the campaign to beautify towns and cities.  

The hashtag #UhuruNaKazi is now trending in the regional Swahili language. It means "independence and work", alluding to the slogan of Tanzania's founding leader Julius Nyerere who asked Tanzanians to work hard to develop the nation.

People are now calling on Mr Magufuli - who won elections in October by a comfortable margin - to appoint capable government ministers to implement his vision or risk losing the goodwill of voters.

Mr Magufuli is yet to announce his cabinet.

He is the fifth Tanzanian president since independence from the UK on 9 December 1961.

Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent, BBC News, Paris

Image source, AFP

One of the Catholic Church's most senior prelates, Ghanaian Peter Turkson, has said that birth control could "offer a solution" to the impacts of climate change.

Cardinal Turkson, the Pope's leading adviser on climate issues, told the BBC that the Church had never been against natural family planning.

Speaking in Paris, the cardinal called for a strong agreement that would protect the most vulnerable nations.

He said climate change was a looming ecological disaster.

Cardinal Turkson is believed to have played a significant role in the drafting of "Laudato Si", the Pope's encyclical on climate change.

In a wide-ranging interview with the BBC, Cardinal Turkson suggested that birth control could help alleviate some of the impacts of climate change, particularly the lack of food in a warmer world.

"This has been talked about, and the Holy Father on his trip back from the Philippines also invited people to some form of birth control, because the church has never been against birth control and people spacing out births and all of that. So yes, it can offer a solution," he said.

Image source, AFP

Cardinal Turkson was at pains to stress that artificial birth control methods such as the contraceptive pill were still beyond the pale as far as the Church was concerned.

"You don't deal with one good with another evil: the Church wants people to be fed, so let's do what the Church feels is not right? That is a kind of sophistry that the church would not go for," he said.

Read the full BBC story here

African football champions TP Mazembe have arrived in the Japanese city of Osaka for the Fifa Club World Cup tournament which kicks off tomorrow. 

The DR Congo team - the winner of the Confederation of African Football champions league last month - start their campaign on Sunday against the winner of Thursday's clash between Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Auckland City FC.

Mazembe shocked the world after reaching the final of the competition five years ago when they lost to Inter Milan.

The world football governing body tweeted the news of their arrival:

Sudanese writer Leila Aboulela has been speaking to the BBC's World Book Club radio programme about her award-winning novel Minaret.

This poignant and lyrical tale traces the journey of a young woman, Najwa, who is forced to flee her native Khartoum in Sudan, amidst conflict and political turmoil and exchange it for the anonymity of London.

Drawing on her own experience, Leila Aboulela creates a rich and moving narrative, exploring the fault lines between traditional Islamic culture and the modern, cosmopolitan life of Western Europe.

This beautiful, challenging novel traces Najwa’s struggle with bigotry and faith; isolation and love as she attempts to make sense of her new life and surroundings whilst not losing sight of her roots and heritage.

People in East Africa have been using the  #WhatWouldMagufuliDo, external hashtag to react, with a fair share of humour, to Tanzanian President John Magufuli's decision to cancel today's Independence Day celebrations and lead people into cleaning their neighbourhoods (see our 09:03 post).

Here are some of their tweets: