That's it for the BBC Africa Live page today - 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.  

A reminder of today's wise words:

To get you into the weekend mood, sit back and listen to BBC Africa's Resident Presidents - Olushambles and Kibarkingmad - and their satirical look at whether banning things works:

And we leave you with this photo from our week in pictures of ballet dancers rehearsing in South Africa:

Image source, EPA

In this week's edition of BBC Africa Business Report presenter Lerato Mbele has been to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to meet fashion entrepreneur Sara Abera. 

Ms Abera's fashion label Muya Ethiopia now sells clothes to Sacks 5th Avenue in New York, but they are still using centuries-old weaving techniques to bring the designs to life.

Lerato sent us in these pictures showing the weavers and seamstresses hard at work: 

Ms Abera's hired villagers who weave and thread indigenous patterns and designs using locally produced cotton, spindle and wooden machines - no electricity only techniques passed on over six generations.

To see the full report, tune in to BBC World News on Saturday at 10:10 or 18:10 GMT. 

Image source, EPA

Italy has recalled its ambassador to Egypt for consultations over the murder of student Giulio Regeni in Cairo.

It comes after Egyptian officials briefed their Italian counterparts on the investigation into the killing.

Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni tweeted, external (in Italian) that Italy wanted "one thing only: The truth about Giulio".

Rights groups have suggested security forces were to blame, but Egypt says a criminal gang was behind his murder.

Mr Regeni, 28, disappeared on his way to meet a friend on 25 January. His body, mutilated and showing signs of torture, was found in a ditch on 3 February.

Read the BBC News story for more.

Ferdinand Omondi
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Eastleigh, the suburb in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, known as Little Mogadishu because it is home to many Somalis and Kenyan-Somalis, is getting the Hollywood treatment. 

Big-budget thriller Eye in the Sky, which had its premiere this week in Los Angeles, uses the suburb as one of its key plot locations. 

The film follows the story of US and UK military forces trying to foil a suicide attack by using drones. 

But in the real Eastleigh, a group of local filmmakers who were given a special preview of the film say they are disappointed at how the area has been portrayed.

The group, who refer to themselves as collectively as Eastleigh Wood, say the film is full of negative stereotypes of the area, which has been targeted by the government during raids against alleged al-Shabab militants. 

However, filmmaker Burhan Iman told me he was disappointed that the Kenyan scenes in the film were actually shot in South Africa.

He said the reason they started "Eastleigh Wood" was so they could tell their own stories.

However, Mr Iman did admit he was happy at the casting of Barkhad Abdi, the actor who was nominated for an Oscar in his first-ever screen role as a Somali pirate in Captain Phillips.

He said the actor was born in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, and raised in Eastleigh before moving to Minnesota in the US.

South Africa’s Times paper has details of a deepening crisis facing the wealthy Gupta family.

They have been accused of wielding undue political influence in the country because of their connection to President Jacob Zuma.

Today one of Mr Zuma’s sons resigned from one of their companies, and two Gupta family members resigned from Oakbay Resources and Energy (see 16:11 post).

This was an attempt to shield the listed firm from the scandal as some banks have cut off links with Oakbay.

But it looks like this might not be enough to save it, according to a leaked letter in the Times to Oakbay staff from chief executive Nazeem Howa. 

He explained that the Guptas hope by “to end the campaign against Oakbay and save all of our jobs". 

He added:

The Oakbay CEO said the company had been in contact with three government ministries and the president’s office “to express deep disappointment over the decisions of our banking partners and to make it very clear that livelihoods are at risk if we are unable to restore these important banking relationships”.   

Image source, AFP

Isa Sanusi
BBC Africa, Nigeria

I was in Kano earlier this week to collect material for a feature I'm working on and checked into hotel where I was asked to sign this slip:

Every guest at most hotels here are required to sign such statements because of random raids by the Hisbah - the city's Islamic police force.

The Sharia officers search the hotels looking for single women, who they always assume are prostitutes.

• Sharia was introduced in Kano in 2000
• Prostitution, gambling and the consumption of alcohol are banned
• Christians living in Kano are not subject to Islamic law

Image source, AFP

Eritrea has rejected reports that security forces killed several army conscripts trying to escape their convoy as it travelled through the capital, Asmara, on Sunday. 

Several pro-opposition media made the allegations, which were then reported on global media, including the BBC.

The information minister acknowledged the deaths on his Twitter account, giving the first official Eritrean response to the reports: 

Mr Meskel suggested that the reports illustrated a wider smear campaign by the opposition against the government:  

Rights groups consider Eritrea to be one of the world's most repressive states.  

Janet Onyango
BBC Africa, Nairobi

South Sudan’s ambassador to Kenya has reacted to the sentencing to death in Sudan of 22 South Sudanese, denying that any of his countrymen had been involved in terrorism.

The men were alleged to be members of a faction of the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem), the rebel group from Darfur in the west of Sudan.

The faction signed a peace deal with the government in 2013 and its members were pardoned, but the presidential pardon did not include the South Sudanese, as they were foreign.

The anti-terrorism court also sentenced three others to life imprisonment on Thursday.

Ambassador Jimmy Deng Makuach told me there were no South Sudanese in Jem, and even if the charges were true, the sentence of execution could not be justified.

Image source, AFP

“My history and background is no different from that of all previously disadvantaged black people,” says Duduzane Zuma, the son of South Africa’s president, announcing his resignation from a company owned by a family accusing of wielding undue political influence (see 16.11 post).

His statement says despite his efforts to fight an economy skewed by the legacy of apartheid, he has resigned because “aspersions were cast on me and my family”.

He also says:

He said that he was relinquishing his positions and existing investments “to preserve the jobs of Oakbay’s thousands of employees and to de-politicise my participation in business”, and ends his statement saying: 

On Sunday 13 March, as people gathered to enjoy the beach at the Grand-Bassam resort in Ivory Coast, militants opened fire causing chaos and killing at least 19 people. 

BBC Afrique reporter Valerie Bony was at the resort that day with her nine-year-old son. 

They had to hide from the gunmen in a beach hut for more than half an hour, trying to remain silent to avoid their attention.

At one point, one of the babies in the hut they were hiding in started crying.

Listen to Valerie's story here (starts 45 seconds in): 

Image source, AP

The fallout over allegations that the wealthy Gupta family have been wielding undue political influence in South Africa continues.

Earlier, we reported that President Jacob Zuma’s son, Duduzane, resigned from the Shiva Uranium company (see 13:29 post). 

This is a subsidiary of Oakbay Investments, a listed company which has announced that its chairman Atul Gupta and chief executive Varun Gupta have also resigned with immediate effect. 

In a statement, the Guptas said the decision followed a sustained political attack on the company. 

The BBC’s Milton Nkosi in Johannesburg says a number of financial institutions, including Barclays Africa and the auditing firm KPMG, have cut off links with Oakbay Investments.

Analysts say that although both President Zuma and the Gupta family deny that they influenced the appointment of key ministers, the company, which has not been found guilty of any wrongdoing, wants to distance itself from the scandal. 

Saudi Arabia's king has announced that a bridge linking the country to Egypt will be built over the Red Sea.

King Salman said in a statement that the bridge would boost commerce between the two allied countries.

He made the announcement during the second day of his visit to the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

Egyptian President Abdul-Fattah al-Sisi said the bridge would be named after the Saudi king. President Sisi is a close ally of the Saudi government.

Image source, EPA

Read the full BBC News story 

Many of you have been getting in touch on the BBC Africa Facebook page, external after the news that Uganda's only radiotherapy machine used for cancer is broken and is beyond repair.

The hospital in Kampala now needs to raise the $1.8m (£1.3m) to buy a new one.

Nim Rogers says: 

"I am a musician from Kampala Uganda and the breakdown of the machine has made my uncle, who was receiving cancer treatment at the hospital, hopeless. His condition is worsening and he is now contemplating death."

Rasid Juma says: 

"Patients whose 'lives matter' are sponsored by the state for treatment abroad. Priority number one is the $60m for the new presidential jet, even though the present one is still airworthy."    

Christine Namulindwa, spokesperson for the Uganda Cancer Institute, told BBC Focus on Africa radio:

Former world number one golfer Ernie Els endured a nightmare start to his opening round at Augusta, carding a nine - the worst first-hole score in Masters history.

Afterwards, he said: "I'm not sure where I'm going from here. If you have snakes in your brain, it's difficult. Maybe I need a brain transplant."

Scoreboards initially incorrectly showed the South African took 10 shots at the par four, rather than his actual score of nine. Scant consolation! 

Read the full BBC Sport story

From Beirut to Tokyo, London to Johannesburg, a simple haircut can spark conversations about race, sexuality, age, class and dreams.  

As part of the BBC’s Identity Season, The Salon tells surprising, moving, funny and frank stories from people around the world.

One of the African interviewees for the series, Cameroonian CeCe explains why she wants a natural hairstyle to show the world she is African. But the definition of "natural" is up for debate. Watch the video here

Zimbabwean hairdresser Sharon, who now lives in South Africa, has set up a salon in a shipping container in her shanty town community in Johannesburg. She has plenty of clients but life as a migrant worker is tough. Watch the video here

Image source, Reuters

Kenya’s police chief has ordered the arrest of eight bankers for “unethical conduct”.

A statement from the inspector general of police listed six bankers from the National Bank of Kenya and two from Chase, the bank which was placed under receivership on Thursday.

Joseph Boinnet also said a man had been arrested for “peddling falsehoods” on social media about the banking sector.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) said panic withdrawals on Wednesday, caused by "inaccurate" rumours on social media, had led to a run on Chase Bank.

The move follows a promise by the CBK governor to crack down on rogue bankers.

"We cannot tolerate rogue bankers, those who in effect steal from depositors," Reuters news agency quotes Patrick Njoroge as saying. 

On Wednesday, Chase dismissed its chairman and group managing director after the release of two conflicting financial statements.

One of them had downplayed the bank's internal loans. An audit later showed the bank had loaned its directors $80m, and its bad debts had skyrocketed to $100m.

On 29 March, National Bank placed its chief executive officer and five top managers on leave to pave way for an internal audit, Reuters reports.

Here's a copy of the police chief's statement, listing the names of the bankers:

Image source, Kenya police

Image source, Kenya police

Umar Shehu Elleman
BBC Africa, Lagos, Nigeria

Image source, bbc

Hundreds of angry students are refusing to leave the campus of the University of Lagos in Nigeria – despite the management saying they must do so by 10:00 local time (see 10:49 post).

Chanting and drumming, some of them are calling for the vice-chancellor to resign.

They are angered that the campus has been closed after student complaints about a lack of electricity and water – exacerbated by the current fuel shortages.

Only journalists are being allowed in to speak to the students. Outside the gate, the police have gathered.

Image source, Gallo Images

Duduzane Zuma, a son of South Africa’s president, says he has resigned as director from a mining company owned by the wealthy Gupta family, the Reuters news agency reports.

There have been allegations that Guptas have influenced cabinet appointments because of their connections to President Jacob Zuma – accusations denied by both families.

Duduzane Zuma said he was leaving “to de-politicise” the firm and preserve jobs, Reuters reports.  

"Notwithstanding my efforts to participate meaningfully in the economy, aspersions were cast on me and my family," the agency quotes him as saying in a statement.

Read more: The Guptas and their links to Jacob Zuma

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Johannesburg

Police in South Africa are probing the circumstances around why left-wing opposition politician Julius Malema was stopped by the police at gunpoint. 

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader tweeted about the incident at the time:

National Police Commissioner Khomotso Phahlane told a parliamentary committee that Mr Malema was using a car fitted with blue lights, normally reserved for officials with high-level security clearance, according to their initial findings.

Ms Phahlane said that special permission was needed for this and the vehicle in Mr Malema’s convoy was not registered as any part of any security division. 

The EFF has rejected the allegations. 

Image source, Reuters

Abdourahmane Dia
BBC Afrique

Image source, AFP

An opposition leader in Congo-Brazzaville has told the BBC that his home in the capital, Brazzaville, has been surrounded by security forces for the last four days and that he fears for his life.

Jean-Marie Mokoko said that his security detail, which he is entitled to as a former army general, had also been removed.

The police spokesperson has refused to confirm or deny the allegations.  

Once close to President Denis Sassou Nguesso, Mr Mokoko ran in elections in last month, coming third.

The former general has refused to accept the results, which Mr Sassou Nguesso won with 60% of the vote after the constitution was amended to allow him to seek a third term.  

All the main opposition parties have said the election were rigged, though Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas, who came second, has conceded defeat, saying despite “irregularities of all kinds” he did not want there to be any violence.

On Monday, the authorities blamed some attacks on government buildings Brazzaville on the Ninja militia group, active in the 1997-1999 civil war.