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:

And we leave you with this picture from Ivory Coast of customs officials who look happy to have found elephant tusks in some cargo from Nigeria - the largest seizure in a decade. 

It's in our collection of the best photos from across Africa this week.

Image source, AFP

A group of UN experts whose job it is to forecast what may happen in the next six months have put the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo high on the list of issues of concern, the Reuters news agency reports.

They are concerned , externalabout the possibilty that elections - due in November - could be delayed.

They say this "would likely trigger wide political unrest in a situation similar to that of post-electoral Burundi".

Image source, AFP

We wrote earlier about the controversy in South Africa over a video showing a white woman ranting about black people using derogatory and racist language.

The hashtag #RacistRant has been trending in South Africa as people take to Twitter to share their feelings.

As the argument rages, South Africa's News24 website, external has spoken to the mother of the woman in the video.

She said she was "absolutely shocked" to hear her daughter speak that way.

"What they said there and what I saw, it is not what I agree with, definitely not. Who would do a thing like that in their right mind?"   

News24 has put the interview on YouTube:

On Thursday the UK will vote in a referendum on whether to leave the European Union. 

So why does this matter to South Africa?

One word. Wine. 

Image source, AFP

If the UK votes to leave the EU it could mean South African wines have a better chance of competing against Italian and French wines.  

But then it could also mean that French, Spanish and Italian wine exporters might see an opportunity to squeeze South Africa out of the UK market in trade deals.

And as around a quarter of the wine from the Western Cape is imported to the UK, the uncertainty has been causing winemakers concern.

Watch more on the effect of UK's EU referendum result mean on Africa Business Report.

Member of Nigeria's House of Representatives Mohammed Garba-Gololo was named by the US ambassador in Nigeria as being involved in a sexual assault while on an official trip to the US (see earlier entry).

Mr Garba-Gololo told the BBC that the allegations were "false and unfounded".

He said he was "shocked and embarrassed" by the claim and has threatened to take legal action himself.

Hear the interview he gave to the BBC's Isa Sanusi:

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Johannesburg

A commission in South Africa has ruled that a university bursary offered to virgins is “unlawful, unfair, unreasonable and unconstitutional”. 

The Commission for Gender Equality, external (CGE) ruled that the maidens' bursary fund offered by the uThukela District Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal should be discontinued. 

News of the bursary caused an outcry earlier this year, with some saying it was discriminatory. 

The scheme was meant to encourage girls to remain “pure”, it was reported. 

Virginity testing is practiced in some South African cultures and is consitutionally protected provided it is done with the girl’s consent. 

But the commission was worried that how the municipality was using the practice was unfair to the girls concerned.

"Culture and cultural practice should not be used as a factor to exclude those who do not subscribe... from benefiting or receiving from services provided by government," CGE head Keketso Maema told media. 

The recipients had to undergo virginity testing every holiday to show that were not sexually active. 

Africa was split up "like it was a chocolate cake" by colonialists who knew nothing about the continent, apart from how to loot it, says our satirical President Olushambles.

So he has decided to redraw the map.

First he turned the map upside down and then he couldn't resist expanding his own country.

Listen to his expansionist plans in our regular comedy series Resident Presidents:

Fama Ka, who's visually impaired, is a disability rights campaigner in Senegal.

She says: 

This week we've been profiling some people who are doing pioneering work on disability rights on the continent:

We've also been holding a Facebook discussion, external in the last hour on the issue.

Jose Tembe
BBC Africa, Maputo

Image source, Getty Images

Mozambique's transport minister has called on landlocked neighbours to continue using Mozambican roads, railways and ports. 

Carlos Mesquita was reacting to the news that the Malawian government plan to quit using Mozambican roads due to attacks.

Last week four Malawian trucks were ambushed, and some of them set on fire, by Renamo armed militias on Mozambique’s national road number seven.

Mr Mesquita insisted that the security risks were temporary.

"The military and political situation in the country is something that will pass," he told me.

The head of Somalia's journalists union Mohammed Moalimu was caught in a militant attack in January which left him in hospital for a month.

But he considers himself lucky because he survived.

He has been recalling the attack in a restaurant in the capita,l Mogadishu with BBC Focus on Africa:

Listen to the interview:  

Eight Kenyan politicians, who have been charged with hate speech and incitement to violence, have been given bail at the High Court in the capital, Nairobi.

The three government and five opposition parliamentarians all denied the charges.

They relate to alleged comments regarding the assassination of opposition leader Raila Odinga (see earlier entry).

Supporters crowded around the gates of the heavily-guarded court in the morning.

Prime Ndikumagenge
BBC Africa, Bujumbura

In Burundi, a UN human rights expert has expressed serious concerns over the treatment of students accused of defacing President Pierre Nkurunziza's portrait in their text books.

Nine schools are being investigated in eastern Burundi after photos of the president were defaced in text books.

Today, more than 80 students were banned indefinitely from school in a region south of the country. In another school more than 230 pupils have been suspended 

Eleven students in other provinces are already being prosecuted for insulting the president by defacing his photo, punishable by five to 10 years in jail.

Speaking at a press conference in the capital, Bujumbura, Kristof Heyns said the authorities’ response was completely out of proportion:

Image source, AFP

Milton Nkosi
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

South Africans are reacting with outrage on social media to an incident in which a woman was filmed on camera hurling insults at black people. 

The film has been uploaded, external by South Africa's eNCA news channel.

The woman who had just been robbed in a smash-and-grab incident refused to be helped by black police officers. 

She repeatedly used a derogatory word for black people. 

She not only threatened to shoot black people but she also said she would run them over with a car.

The woman had not been identified - and the hashtag #RacistRant is now trending on Twitter:

Islamist militants Boko Haram militants have shot dead 18 women at a funeral in Nigeria's northeast, rampaging through a village, setting houses on fire and shooting at random, witnesses and local government officials told Reuters news agency on Friday. 

The attack took place at about 5 pm (1600 GMT) on Thursday in the village of Kuda in Adamawa State. 

Resident Moses Kwagh told Reuters that people waited until three hours after the attack and then counted 18 women's bodies. 

Some women were still missing, he said. A police source confirmed the attack but said it was not yet clear how many people had been killed. 

Frankie McCamley
BBC News

Image source, Aware

An elephant has survived being shot in the head by suspected poachers in Zimbabwe. 

The male, nicknamed "Pretty Boy", is thought to have been living with the wound for up to six weeks before he was rescued. 

Vets from Aware, an animal conversation trust in Zimbabwe, say they went into Mana Pools National Park to treat a few elephants with minor injuries - and one called Pretty Boy approached them.

Lisa Marabini told the BBC if the shot had been a few centimetres lower down it would have killed the animal. 

She said the bull was amazingly calm: "Generally elephants flap their ears at you but he didn't... no aggression whatsoever - it's like he knew we were there with the intention of helping him."

The vets hope the animal, who's thought to be around 25 years old, will recover fully from Monday's operation - but may need a second treatment. 

Image source, Aware

Image source, Aware

Image source, Getty Images

West Ham have signed winger Sofiane Feghouli from Valencia on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee.

The 26-year-old Algeria international spent six seasons at the Spanish club, scoring 42 goals in 243 appearances.

The 2012 Algerian Footballer of the Year, Feghouli has 40 caps and has played in three major tournaments.

Read more on the BBC Sport website.

Wanyama wa Chebusiri
BBC Africa

A 23-year-old volunteer primary school teacher in Kenya has been sentenced to 90 years in jail for sexually abusing his pupils.

John Gichia Mugi was charged with sexually assaulting 10 boys when he was their boarding master at a primary school in central Kenya in 2015. 

The judge said the teacher had betrayed parents' trust and committed a horrendous act on the boys he was supposed to look after. 

The 90-year jail term may be one of the longest and jail term given to a sexual offender in Kenya.

Meluse Kapatamoyo
BBC Africa, Lusaka, Zambia

Zambia's Electoral Commission has threatened to suspend all political party campaigns if political violence continues ahead of the 11 August general election. 

The commission's spokesperson Chrispin Akufuna told local media that politicians' supporters must stop all acts of violence:

There have been several recent incidents involving supporters of the opposition United Party for National Development and the governing Patriotic Front.

These include the disruption of rallies, fighting and attacking cars branded with party colours.

President Edgar Lungu and his main rival Hakainde Hichilema (both pictured below) have been out on the campaign trail ahead of August's vote.

Image source, Edgar Ngoma

Image source, Brian Mwiinga

Jose Tembe
BBC Africa, Maputo

Image source, AFP

The Mozambican government has conceded the ex-rebel Renamo movement's demand to involve foreign mediators in peace talks.

Last year Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama returned to his former bush military headquarters in the central Sofala province from where he has been ordering his armed militias to attack government and civilian targets.

These included looting and ambushes.

The attacks were intended to pressurise the government to hand over to the governance of six provinces to Renamo.

President Filipe Nyusi said that he finally accepted the demand for foreign mediators because he could no longer bear the suffering caused by Renamo. 

Image source, Getty Images

Independent experts have recommended using a fifth of the standard dose of the yellow fever vaccine because of a global shortage to combat the worst outbreak in decades, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, Reuters news agency reports. 

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said one fifth of a dose would be sufficient to provide immunity for at least 12 months.

The global stockpile of yellow fever vaccines currently stands at six million doses, WHO said in a statement. 

Read the latest WHO situation report, external.