In the meantime, you can keep up-to-date with what is happening across the continent by listening to the Africa Today podcast and checking the BBC News website.

The BBC Africa Live page returns on Tuesday 29 March. Have a lovely Easter break.

A reminder of today's wise words:

And we leave you with a photo of South Africa's Chris Morris (L) and Imran Tahir bowling in the nets during a practice session ahead of their World Twenty20 cricket match against the West Indies tomorrow.

Image source, AP

The suspected Islamist militant Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi who is to stand trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over his alleged role in the destruction of cultural sites in the Malian city of Timbuktu has indicated that he will plead guilty, the prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said.

At a hearing today, the court in The Hague confirmed that the trial would go ahead.

The prosecutor said in a statement: 

It was said in a closed session and the information has only just been made public.

The statement from the prosecutor also says:

Image source, AFP

Anne Soy
BBC Africa, Nairobi

A court in Kenya has ruled as unlawful the jailing of patients who refused to take their medication (see 13:36 entry). 

The precedent-setting ruling comes more than five years after two patients suffering from tuberculosis were imprisoned by a lower court for refusing to follow their treatment. 

When delivering the ruling, Judge Mumbi Ngugi noted that it was a tricky balancing act - safeguarding the right of the public to be protected from infection by people who refuse to take their drugs, while upholding the rights of the patients. 

She concluded however that while it was within existing laws to isolate people with diseases which can spread easily; prisons – crowded as they are in Kenya - are the worst choice of place for such confinement. 

The two men spent two-and-a-half months in prison in 2010. They have now recovered fully from TB.

One of the men Daniel Ng'etich spoke to the BBC:

Ghana's Black Stars have collected all three points against visiting Mozambique in their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier. 

Ivorian musicians have collaborated to release a song carrying the message that they are "not afraid" after Islamist militants killed 19 people on a beach.  

The song was recorded at Grand Bassam, where the al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb attack happened earlier this month.

The artists want people to see this as an act of defiance.

Ivory Coast is to establish new bases for rapid response forces to protect soft targets from attack after militant Islamists killed 19 people in a popular beach resort town earlier this month, Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan told the AP news agency.

It's not clear when the new bases will be set up.

Their creation will allow for easy deployment of troops whenever there is a Grand-Bassam-like incident, he added. 

Earlier this week, authorities said they had detained 15 people in connection with the 13 March attack that was claimed by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Image source, AFP

Kenyan anti-corruption campaigner Boniface Mwangi has been wondering when his country will get a Magufuli.

In an opinion piece for BBC News Online he looks across the border to Tanzania and admires its no-nonsense President John Magufuli.

He writes that a recent survey showed that nearly 75% of the population thought there was a very high level of corruption in the country.

The police, who should be at the forefront of fighting crime, are seen as the most bribe prone institution in Kenya, external.

Recently, the country's chief justice said that Kenya's "bandit economy" is run by mafia-style cartels, external.

Mr Mwangi argues that the president has not lived up to a pledge to fight corruption.

Image source, Brian Inganga

In the latest results from today's Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, Liberia have beaten Djibouti 1-0 away from home, and Comoros beat Botswana by the same scoreline.

Ghana are currently playing Mozambique at home and are leading 3-0.

Earlier Madagascar drew 1-1 at home against the Central African Republic.

Thomas Naadi
BBC Africa, Accra

The three South African ex-policemen arrested in Ghana while training bodyguards of the leaders of the opposition New Patriotic Party (see 12:43 entry) have pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit crime and unlawful training.

They were granted bail after appearing at a court in the capital, Accra.

The Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) picked up the three men the country's Central Region for allegedly engaging in acts that threaten Ghana's security.

According to the BNI, the trio were training 15 young men in various military drills, including unarmed combat, weapons handling, VIP protection techniques and rapid response manoeuvres.

In Somalia, driving a truck is considered to be a man's job, but one woman from a village near Borama close to the border with Djibouti and Ethiopia, is not interested in what's traditional.

Cadar Muumin took up truck driving when she felt the male drivers she employed treated her as inferior.

She takes no nonsense from people who abuse her on the road, and she performs a vital service for everyone in her village.

Somali online media site Dalsoor has been telling her story:

A French court has dismissed a case brought by the family of late Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi against the makers of Call of Duty over his depiction in the best-selling video game, the AFP news agency reports.

Three of Savimbi's children accused Activision Blizzard of defamation by representing him as a "barbarian".

They wanted €1m ($1.1m; £0.75m) in damages. 

Activision said the depiction was "rather favourable".

The magistrates ruled that they did not have jurisdiction in the case, AFP reports.

Savimbi founded the Unita movement, waging a long civil war with the Angolan government.

He was eventually killed in clashes with state forces in 2002.

Image source, AFP/YouTube/Activision

Image source, AFP

Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have ruled that there is enough evidence to press ahead with the war crimes charges against a Malian jihadist accused of destroying cultural sites in Timbuktu, AFP news agency reports.

Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi will be tried for "the war crime of attacking buildings dedicated to religion and historic monuments" in 2012, when many of the ancient shrines were destroyed.

It is the first case of its kind. 

Mr Mahdi first appeared before the court in September. He was handed over by Niger after the ICC issued a warrant for his arrest.

Islamists occupied Timbuktu until they were ousted by French forces in 2013.

  Treasures of Timbuktu  

• Timbuktu was a centre of Islamic learning from the13th to the 17th Centuries
• 700,000 manuscripts had survived in public libraries and private collections
• Books on religion, law, literature and science
• Added to Unesco world heritage list in 1988 for its three mosques and 16 cemeteries and mausoleums
• They played a major role in spreading Islam in West Africa; the oldest dates from 1329
• Islamists destroyed mausoleums after seizing the city in April 2012

A court in Egypt's capital, Cairo, has ordered the release on bail of Mahmoud Mohammed Ahmed after nearly two years in detention without trial, in a case that's attracted attention within and outside the country. 

Mr Ahmed's family believe he was arrested because he was wearing a T-shirt bearing a slogan against torture, and this made his case a cause celebre among human rights activists. 

He was detained, aged 18, after attending a demonstration marking the toppling of Egypt's former ruler, Hosni Mubarak. 

Mr Ahmed has been charged with taking part in an illegal protest, and belonging to a terrorist organisation.

A senior Nigerian military officer says the latest video released by the leader of the Boko Haram militants, Abubakar Shekau, signals the end of the jihadist group. 

An unnamed officer in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri told the AFP news agency that: "Watching Shekau in this video, the message is clear: the game is over. 

"For this arrogant and boastful terrorist to speak in such a meek and subdued tone shows he has been trounced beyond his imagination. 

"It is a farewell video," he added.

Nigeria's military said it was subjecting the video to "thorough forensic investigation".

The video was Mr Shekau's first appearance in more than year.

Read: Who is Abubakar Shekau

The results form Uganda's 2014 census which have just been released have confirmed that the country has a rapidly growing population.

A BBC reporter in the capital, Kampala, has been tweeting some highlights:

The previous census was done in 2002. So in those 12 years the population has risen by 43%.

Our reporter does point out that the country's fertility rate is falling:

She also notes that only a small percentage of the working population are doing professional or technical jobs.

Image source, AFP

Girls as young as 12 are being used by the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram as female suicide bombers.

Anne Soy spoke to one teenager who risked her life to escape after being told she had been chosen for a suicide mission.

She said she could not blow herself up at a camp where her family members were staying.

Watch her story:

The teenager's name and voice have been changed to protect her identity.

Abdullahi Abdi
BBC Africa, Nairobi

The European Union mission in Somalia has denied allegations contained in a damning investigative report by Somali news website Dalsoor saying that the EU is discriminating against Somalis when it comes to employment.

But it acknowledges that security concerns may affect some employment decisions.

Dalsoor says it has seen evidence that the EU has instructed foreign contractors working on a plot near Mogadishu's international airport not to employ Somalis.

EU Ambassador to Somalia Michele Cervone told BBC Somali that discrimination went against the values of the EU.

But he said the EU would take legal measures to ensure the security of its staff.

The EU provides support to Somalia from peace-building projects to security sector improvements, and is one of the key donors to the African Union mission to Somalia that's fighting alongside the government against al-Shabab.  

Madagascar were held to a 1-1 draw by Central African Republic in their 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.

Hosts Madagascar took the lead on 80 minutes through a penalty by Carolus Andriamahitsinoro.

But they were pegged back with only four minutes to go when Limane Moussa scored the equaliser for CAR.

The result means Madagascar remain bottom of Group B on two points, while CAR move to four points to draw level with leaders Angola.

There are three other fixtures today:

• Comoros vs Botswana
• Ghana vs Mozambique
• Djibouti vs Liberia

Image source, AFP

Nigeria's military has responded to the latest video showing the leader of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram by saying that it will be forensically examined to "ascertain its authenticity".

The poorly produced video has none of the bravado that we have seen in previous films of Abubakar Shekau.

The military said in a statement that its campaign against Boko Haram fighters continues.

"We wont take any action that can stop the ongoing offensives against the terrorists in all fronts. Every terrorist is free to surrender," the statement added.

Image source, AFP

Anne Soy
BBC Africa, Nairobi

A high court judge in Kenya has ruled that a magistrates' court decision to imprison two Tuberculosis patients in 2010 was a violation of the law and was unconstitutional.

No damages were awarded "because it is not in the interest of the public and the decision was reached as a last resort," she ruled.

The judge has directed the ministry of health to issue a circular clarifying that public health law does not authorize confinement of patients with infectious diseases in prison.

It should also issue policy guidelines within 90 days on the treatment of patients who fail to adhere to medication.

In 2010, Daniel Ng'etich and Patrick Kipngetich were sent to prison for eight months or until the satisfactory completion of their TB treatment, after originally failing to stick to the drug regime.