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

A reminder of today's wise words:    

Click here to send us your African proverbs. 

And we leave you with this photo of a man carrying recycled plastic bottles in Ghana's capital, Accra:

Image source, EPA

Image source, AFP

More than 300 students at a high school in Burundi have been suspended for defacing a photo of President Pierre Nkurunziza, parents and an official have told AFP news agency.

Other images in around 40 textbooks had also been desecrated, with insults against the president scrawled in others, school officials say.

One parent who asked to remain anonymous told AFP they had apologised for the graffiti during a meeting with the school, but without success.

He said the administration told the students, aged between 14 and 16, that they could not come back to school until those responsible were "turned in".  

School director Yves Marimba told AFP that "a solution has been found" but did not comment on the students' return. 

The country has been plunged into a deep crisis since President Nkurunziza announced in April 2015 that he would run for a third term, a vote he won in July amid opposition boycotts.

Image source, Getty Images

Africa's top-ranked nation Algeria clinched their place at the 2107 Africa Cup of Nations finals on Thursday with a 2-0 win in Seychelles.

Yassine Benzia and El Arabi Soudani scored in each half to ensure Algeria will win Group J.

Cameroon can join then at the finals in Gabon with a a win in Mauritania on Friday.

Tunisia will lose the chance of winning Group A if Djibouti beat them on Friday and Liberia beat Togo on Sunday.

The other game on Friday is Libya playing Morocco, who have already qualified for Gabon. 

Read the full BBC Sport story 

Image source, AFP

Sacked government ministers in Guinea-Bissau have been sleeping at their offices for the past seven nights, in an unusual protest against President Jose Mario Vaz's decision to appoint a new prime minister.

"Yes, yes, it's been a week today,"  sacked Communications Minister Agnelo Regala told the BBC's Liliane Nyatcha, when asked to confirm that they were sleeping at their old ministerial offices. 

A new prime minister and new cabinet members were sworn in last week, in a move the ousted ministers regard as unlawful. 

Guinea-Bissau is one of the most unstable countries in Africa, and has had several coups since independence from Portugal in 1974. 

It has also become a base for Latin American drug cartels and has been dubbed a narco-state. 

Read: Hooked

The leaders of the Opec cartel of oil producing nations have appointed Nigeria's Mohammed Barkindo as its new secretary general at a meeting in Vienna.

Mr Barkindo, former head of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp (NNPC), will replace Libyan Abdalla El-Badri, who has held the position since 2007.   

There was no deal to limit oil production in order to drive up the price. 

Read more: Buhari's battle to clean up Nigeria's oil industry

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC Africa, Addis Ababa

Image source, PA

Is Ethiopian marathon runner Kenenisa Bekele down and out? Not yet, I think. 

The reaction to his exclusion from the Rio 2016 Olympic Games is testament to that. 

It came as a surprise even to the legendary Haile Gebrselassie who told the BBC he ought to have been an automatic choice. 

Yes, the three-time Olympic gold medalist is facing intense competition from upcoming stars from the athletics powerhouse, but the team would definitely be stronger with him on board. 

He is already a legend in Ethiopia. That alone shows his prowess. 

He won the Great Manchester Run last month and many Ethiopians wanted him in the Rio team. 

I suspect he will be back - stronger - with the backing of millions of Ethiopians. 

Image source, EPA

Egypt has received the first of two advanced warships from France in a deal worth $1bn (£692m).

The ship named after the late president Gamal Abdel Nasser was handed over at a ceremony in western France.

The second named Anwar Sadat, will arrive in Egypt in September.

Both Mistral helicopter carriers were originally made for Russia, but the contract was cancelled in 2014 because of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Egyptian Defence Minister Sedki Sobhi, who was attending the ceremony in Saint-Nazaire, welcomed the arrival:

The Mistral can store up to 16 helicopters, has enough space to land six helicopters and is equipped with the latest missile defence and radar navigation systems, according to Egyptian state television.

Read the full BBC story here

Nomsa Maseko
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

There's been an outcry on social media in South Africa after a TV journalist working for news channel eNCA alleged that a story was taken off air because she was filmed wearing a headscarf, known as a doek. 

The channel has not said whether this was the reason the report was pulled, but in a statement it referred to reporter Nontobeko Sibisi wearing a doek "without consulting her managers". 

Whatever the reason, it has sparked a massive debate about fashion and race here.

Wearing a headscarf is seen as a sign of respect in many African cultures, but it has also become a fashion statement. 

Staff from the eNCA channel have tweeted their own photo of them wearing headscarves in solidarity with their colleague:

Many others have also joined in:

One user has even used a photo of the late Nelson Mandela wearing the doek to make their case for respecting the headscarf: 

Alastair Leithead
BBC Africa correspondent

The UK is stepping up its support for Somalia as the country reaches a pivotal moment, with elections due to be held later this year.

UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond held talks with both the president and the prime minister during his visit to the capital, Mogadishu. 

As he arrived, troops were still battling al-Shabab militants who attacked a city centre hotel yesterday with a suicide car bomb and then launched an armed assault. 

Image source, Reuters

Dozens of people were injured and at least 15 killed, among them two British Somalis who had returned to Mogadishu and become members of parliament. 

UK troops, numbering 70, will soon be based at the heavily-fortified airport working alongside the UN and African Union forces and supporting the Somali security services.

Despite having been driven out of the capital and most urban areas, the militants remain a threat across large parts of the country. 

There are still question marks over the elections, which are scheduled for August, amid fears that attacks will escalate. 

Read: Why does al-Shabab target hotels? 

Muhammad Kabir Muhammad
BBC Africa, Abuja

Image source, AFP

The people of Ogoniland, and the wider Niger Delta region, believed that the presence of President Muhammadu Buhari in the area today would rekindle hope in the communities that have been ravaged by oil pollution. 

His absence, therefore, must have been a source of disappointment to many. 

There is still no official explanation as to why the president decided to pull out of the launch of the country's biggest oil cleanup operation (see earlier entries). 

That notwithstanding, judging by the reception Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo received, who read a speech written on behalf of the president, they are still hopeful.

Image source, AFP

He read out a speech on behalf of the president. It recalled his promise to the people of Ogoni, made last year on the election campaign trail, that he would implement the findings of the UN Enivronment Programme report on the clean-up of Ogoniland.

It recommended that $1bn (£700m) would be needed over three decades to help restore the area.

The president's speech also lamented that the environment had been badly damaged.

People in the Niger Delta will now expect to see progress after the speeches and launch.

Image source, AFP

Image source, Italian Navy

The European Union (EU) needs to work more with African countries to tackle the arrival of migrants into Europe, France's prime minister said in an interview with a Greek newspaper on Thursday, Reuters news agency reports.

The EU, which struck a deal with Turkey to stem the arrival of undocumented migrants and refugees to Greece, has been scrambling for ways to shut down flows on the other major sea route into Europe from Libya as calmer weather begins.

French PM Manuel Valls was speaking ahead of a two-day visit to Greece:

Read more: Migrant crisis enters new phase

Image source, Getty Images

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is to target Russia, Mexico and Kenya for drug testing ahead of the Rio Olympics.

The executive board of the IOC backed extra focus on countries whose testing programme is deemed non-compliant by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The board said: "We are taking further decisive action to protect the clean athletes at the Olympic Games 2016."

Read the full BBC story here

A big welcome to Uwa Nnachi, who joins us on the BBC Africa Live page for the next few months.

For those who are avid BBC Africa fans, Uwa will be no stranger to you…. and you may remember her as an aficionado of African fashion. Here she is modelling some clothes last year in Petticoat Lane in London:

Here's a link to her video about London's home of African fashion.

And you can expect much from her, including her tips this weekend on how to make tomato-less Nigerian stews.

Catherine Byaruhanga
BBC Africa, Kampala

Taxi-hailing service Uber has launched in Uganda's capital, Kampala. 

Ugandans with a good internet connection, and the cash, can now order a taxi on their smartphone. 

US-headquartered Uber has seen explosive growth in many cities across the world and is now valued at more than $60bn (£42bn).

But it has provoked controversy and even violent riots in some countries, where traditional taxi drivers feel the service is muscling in unfairly on their business. 

It now operates in 12 African cities, but Kampala could be a very tough nut to crack. 

There aren't many people here who can afford private taxi rides, compared with South African or Nigerian cities like Cape Town and Lagos. 

And even those who can might still prefer motorbike taxis, known as boda bodas, which get you around quickly and cheaply.

Listen: The Boda Boda boom (BBC World Service documentary)

Senegal's President Macky Sall has said the one year prison sentence given to an imam and school teacher for advocating terrorism is too light. 

On a visit to France, Mr Sall told Radio France International that the government would appeal against the sentence. 

Yesterday, the court, sitting in the southern town of Kolda, rejected the prosecution's request to jail Ibrahima Seye, 38, for five years.

He had preached against "Western and American imperialism" in a sermon in September and during his trial he said: "Between Bin Laden and George Bush, I prefer Bin Laden."

Image source, AFP

Image source, PA

The new TV series starring Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May will record its first studio segments in South Africa.

The first episode of The Grand Tour, which is being made by Amazon Prime, will be filmed in Johannesburg in July.

It will mark the trio's first TV show since they exited Top Gear after Jeremy Clarkson punched a producer.

May joked on Twitter that the location was "chosen by Richard Hammond, who's run out of biltong".

Read the full BBC story here

The UK foreign secretary has made a short visit to Somalia, a day after al-Qaeda-linked militants carried out an assault on a hotel in the capital, Mogadishu, killing 15 people.

He has tweeted about his trip:

The bodies of at least 25 migrants who drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean have been washed up near Libya's western city of Zuwara, a Red Crescent official has said, Reuters news agency reports. 

Al-Khamis Al-Bosaifi said aid workers were still recovering the bodies, and it was still unclear how the migrants died. 

Brian Hungwe
BBC Africa, Harare

Zimbabwe wants to sell ivory worth $15m (£10m) to finance its conservation efforts, national parks director Edson Chidziya has told reporters. 

There was no evidence that burning ivory, something that Kenya does, would stop illegal poaching, he added. 

Journalists were shown around a national vault in the capital, Harare, today where, Mr Chidziya said, some 93 tonnes of confiscated ivory had stockpiled over the last four decades and the quality of some of it was deteriorating. 

His comments signalled that Zimbabwe is ratcheting up its argument ahead of a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) conference to be held September in South Africa. 

Zimbabwe wants the global ban in ivory trade to be lifted, while Kenya holds the opposite view. 

Read: The war on elephants

Image source, AFP

Here are some key facts on Ogoniland, the area President Muhammadu Buhari was due to visit for the first time since his election last year: 

• 1958: Oil struck in Ogoniland
• 1990: Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (Mosop) formed, led by Ken Saro-Wiwa
• 1993: 300,000 Ogonis protest at neglect by government and Shell
• 1993: Shell pulls out of Ogoniland after employee is beaten
• 1994: Four community leaders killed by mob of youths. Mosop leaders, including Ken Saro-Wiwa, arrested
• 1995: Mr Saro-Wiwa and eight others tried and executed; widespread condemnation of government
• 2003-2008: International attention switches to armed conflict started by other communities in Niger Delta
• 2011: Shell accepts liability for two Ogoniland spills
• 2011: UN report says region may need world's biggest clean-up operation
• 2015: Shell reaches $84m (£55m) settlement with Bodo fishing community affected by two spills 
• June 2016: Nigeria's vice-president launches clean-up programme after president pulls out.

Image source, Google