That's all from BBC Africa Live today. Keep up-to-date with what's happening across the continent by listening to the Africa Today podcast or check the BBC News website.  

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We leave you with this photo of auctioneers and buyers during the first day of the 2016 tobacco marketing season in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare:

Image source, EPA

Rana Jawad
BBC North Africa correspondent, Tunis

Heavy gunfire has been ringing out in Libya's capital, Tripoli, in the past half hour following the arrival of the UN-backed Presidency Council (PC) earlier today.  

It’s still not clear what’s happening but the suspicion is that rival armed groups are behind the latest gunfire.  

 Earlier in the day, the militias which support the PC were seen securing several areas in the on their pickup trucks and the situation in Tripoli were quiet.     

Members of the PC remain in the naval base after arriving by boat. 

The UN Security Council has rejected the Democratic Republic of Congo's request to reduce the number of its peacekeepers in the country.

DR Congo's foreign minister told the council last week that the 20,000-strong Monusco force should be halved.

Image source, AFP

However, the security council unanimously adopted a French-drafted resolution extending the mission by another year.

France's ambassador to the UN, Francois Delattre, said DR Congo "still faces very important challenges and it is the responsibility of the international community to support it at this time." 

DR Congo is due to hold presidential elections in November.

The constitution does allow President Joseph Kabila to run

The International Criminal Court says judges will rule, external on Tuesday on whether to throw out the crimes against humanity case against Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto. 

Mr Ruto, 49, asked for the charges to be dismissed, saying the prosecution's case was in "tatters". 

He has repeatedly denied three charges of crimes against humanity, including murder, forcible deportation and persecution arising out of Kenya's disputed elections in late December 2007 and its violent aftermath in early 2008. 

The court will also rule on the request by Mr Ruto's co-accused, Joshua Arap Sang, that the charges against him be dropped. 

In December 2014, the ICC prosecution's case against Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta collapsed. 

He was also accused of fuelling violence during the disputed 2007 election, which he denied. 

He and Mr Ruto were on opposite sides at the time. They later formed an alliance, and contested the 2013 election on a joint ticket. 

Image source, AFP

Image source, AP

Egypt's state prosecutor has ordered the formation of an investigating team to probe the murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni, AFP news agency reports.

The mutilated body of Regeni, 28, who disappeared in the capital, Cairo, on January 25, was found nine days later on the outskirts of the city.

Last week, Egypt's police said they had identified a criminal gang linked to his murder. 

But Italian officials have questioned this claim amid suspicion that security forces had involvement in the case.  

Milton Nkosi
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

Image source, AFP

South Africa’s Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has answered questions put to him by an elite police squad, the Hawks, about an alleged spy unit he had set up when he ran the tax agency in the 10 years up to 2009.  

The Hawks had threatened to use its "constitutional powers" against Mr Gordhan if he failed to respond to its questions, including allegations that the unit spied on public officials illegally. 

Mr Gordhan said he was not obliged to respond to the questions, but had done so in the public interest. 

He has previously said that the unit played a key role in tackling organised crime and tax evasion in South Africa, and had been legally established when he headed the South African Revenue Service during the rule of ex-President Thabo Mbeki. 

The decision by the Hawks to demand answers from Mr Gordhan fuelled speculation that he lacked the confidence of President Jacob Zuma, and the investigation was part of an attempt to oust him. 

However, Mr Zuma's office denied the allegation, and said there was no "conspiracy" against Mr Gordhan. 

Mr Zuma appointed Mr Gordhan as finance minister in December after being forced to reverse his decision to give the post to the little-known Des van Rooyen, whose appointment led to a public outcry and a run on the currency amid fears that he was not up to the job. 

Read: Zuma's sacking blunder

Libya's rival governments and militias should immediately hand power to the UN-backed Presidency Council after it moved to the capital, Tripoli, the UN representative to the country has said.

The arrival in Tripoli this morning of members of the unity government is a significant step in Libya's democratic transition and restoring peace, Martin Kobler said in a statement.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

The hijacking of an Egyptian airline yesterday has renewed concerns about airport security in Africa. 

Every African capital may become a target, regardless of the religious affiliations of its residents, writes Zimbabwean film-maker Farai Sevenzo in his column on the BBC Africa website.  

Jonathan Paye-Layleh
BBC Africa, Monrovia

Liberia is today marking the second anniversary of the declaration of the Ebola outbreak which devastated the country. 

The virus that was first reported in the country on 30 March 2014 has killed more than 4,000 people. 

About 3,000 of the victims were cremated, using firewood or an incinerator.

Now, people residing near a crematorium outside the capital, Monrovia, want the incinerator removed and the facility broken down  as part of efforts to end the stigmatisation caused by Ebola.

Image source, AFP

 A conservation group says 49 endangered vultures in South Africa were electrocuted by power lines over the past weekend. 

The cape griffons were found at several locations in the Eastern Cape province, near a vulture feeding centre, the Endangered Wildlife Trust said in a statement, external. 

The trust said vultures' wide wingspans, heavy bodies and "gregarious natures'' make them vulnerable to tall man-made structures like power lines and wind turbines that stretch across vast, usually empty landscapes. 

Its spokeswoman Carla van Rooyen said about 200 vultures were killed by electrocutions or collisions each year. 

South Africa's national power supplier, Eskom, has restructured towers in areas with high vulture populations, but towers built before the 1990s remain dangerous to the birds. 

Vulture conservation groups criticize the slow pace of redesigning these structures, the trust said.  

Image source, Getty Images

The world's most famous footballer donates a pair of his boots to a charity auction, what's not to like? Plenty it seems, depending on the cultural context, as Barcelona star Lionel Messi has been discovering after his generous gesture managed to upset some Egyptians.

It was only a few weeks ago that Messi was widely praised for making a young fan's dream come true when he sent a shirt and a football to a young Afghan boy - a story in which BBC Trending played a small role.

However, when the player made a similarly well-intentioned gift on Egyptian TV this week it was regarded by some as a national insult. During a TV interview with the "Yes I am Famous" show, broadcast on MBC's Misr Channel, the Argentine footballer told the presenter he would like to donate his football boots to be auctioned off for charity.

What Messi seems to have failed to appreciate is that in Egypt and other Arab countries in the region shoes can be used as a symbol of disrespect or insult. So some Egyptians took offence and turned to social media to express their anger.

Read the story by BBC Trending here 

Egypt has asked Cyprus to extradite the man accused of hijacking an airliner on Tuesday, state-owned television reports.

Seif a-Din Mustafa - who's described as being mentally disturbed - has been remanded in custody in Cyprus where he faces a range of charges for allegedly forcing the plane to divert to Larnaca airport.

He's accused of boarding the EgyptAir plane in Alexandria with a fake explosives belt. Everyone on board was eventually released unharmed. 

It's thought the hijacking was motivated by a row between Mr Mustafa and his ex-wife who lives in Cyprus.

Cyprus has not yet commented on Egypt's request.

Rana Jawad
BBC North Africa correspondent, Tunis

Members of Libya's UN-backed Presidency Council have arrived at a navy base in the capital, Tripoli, an official has confirmed to me. 

They arrived on a Libyan boat earlier this morning from their temporary base in neighbouring Tunisia after at least two failed attempts to fly into Tripoli.

The rival authorities in charge of the capital and militias loyal to them have repeatedly warned against any attempted move by the Presidency Council.

The UN hopes the new government might stabilise the situation in Libya, and make it easier to confront Islamic State militants who have established themselves amid the chaos of the country's civil war.  

The delegation is said to include the administration's Prime Minister, Fayez Seraj. 

Image source, AFP

Image source, EPA

A Portuguese branch of the Anonymous hacking group says it has shut down about 20 Angolan government websites in retaliation for the jailing of 17 youth activists for plotting a rebellion against President Jose Eduardo dos Santos' government. 

The youth, who include prominent rapper Luaty Beirao, were sentenced on Monday to between two and eight-and-a-half years by a court in the former Portuguese colony. 

Anoymous listed the websites it had targeted in a Facebook post, external. 

Image source, Anonymous

None of the sites were accessible when it checked, AFP news agency reports. 

The government has not yet commented on the alleged cyber-attack. 

Rights groups condemned the sentencing of the 17 as a travesty of justice, and a sign that Mr Dos Santos' government was becoming increasingly repressive. 

The activists were arrested in June after discussing a book about non-violent resistance at their book club.

Mr Dos Santos has ruled oil-rich Angola since 1979.

More than 13,000 migrants have arrived in Italy so far this year by sea, crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa. 

But before they reach Libya, many migrants will have undertaken a perilous journey of up to six days across the Sahara in extreme temperatures. 

The jumping-off point for the desert trek is Agadez, in Niger, through which 100,000 migrants are estimated to have passed in the last year alone.

Image source, Reuters

A former prime minister and maths professor in Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadera, has been sworn in as president at a ceremony held at the national stadium in the capital, Bangui. 

He promised to promote peace and to carry out his duties "without any ethnic bias" following his surprise victory in run-off elections last month.  

Mr Touadera's inauguration marks the last stage of the political transition aimed at ending a brutal conflict which broke out after rebels overthrew the government of Francois Bozize in 2013. 

South Africa's opposition left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party has congratulated its leader, Julius Malema, who is graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of South Africa.

Mr Malema, who the party refers to as commander-in-chief (CIC), is due attend a graduation ceremony later today. 

Here's an EFF tweet about it:

Image source, AFP

Kenya's MPs have approved legislation which will make it mandatory for employers to provide breastfeeding centres for nursing mothers in the workplace, the local Standard newspaper reports, external.

The provision is part of 2015 Health Bill which has now been sent to President Uhuru Kenyatta for his assent.

It requires employers to provide all the necessary facilities, including electric outlets for breast pumps, refrigerators and appropriate cooling facilities.

Nursing mothers should also be allowed to take breaks to breastfeed their babies during working hours, the clause added, Standard reports.

The BBC's Angela Ngendo in the capital, Nairobi, says a similar clause was thrown out eight years ago after some employers threatened to stop hiring young women.

A journalist with AFP news agency has tweeted some photos from the north-eastern Nigerian state of Borno - the birthplace of militant Islamist group Boko Haram:

Image source, AFP

French President Francois Hollande has dropped plans to change the constitution to strip militants convicted of terror attacks of their French nationality.

"A compromise appears out of reach," Mr Hollande said after the two houses of parliament failed to agree the reforms.

The proposal followed November's Paris attacks which killed 130 people.

But it ran into huge opposition and led to Justice Minister Christiane Taubira resigning in February.

Read the full BBC story here