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 and scroll to the bottom to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this image of a photo shoot from afrostylemagz Instagram account. 

Anna Holligan
Reporter BBC News, The Hague

 It's been an unprecedented day at the International Criminal Court (ICC). 

After confessing he was guilty, Malian militant Islamist Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi stood and told the court he would accept its judgment with pain and a broken heart. 

He hoped the punishment would be sufficient for the people of the ancient city of Timbuktu to offer forgiveness.

Chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, a Muslim, told the court attacks on cultural heritage sites had become a weapon of war. 

She made reference to the ancient site of Palmyra in Syria that was damaged by the so-called Islamic State last year. 

She said the sentence should act as a deterrent and send a warning to others that the destruction of these cultural treasures would not be tolerated. 

Image source, AFP

Guinea-Bissau will play at its first ever Africa Cup of Nations finals after a protest by Zambia was dismissed.

The tournament will be held in Gabon next year. 

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has ruled that Papa Massa Mbaye Fall is eligible to play for Guinea-Bissau.

The Football Association of Zambia had claimed that Mbaye Fall had previously played for Senegal after their 3-2 loss in a 2017 qualifier in September.

However, Caf's investigations found that the keeper had not played for Senegal.

Caf added that he has never been registered with the Senegalese Football Federation, who sent them a letter to that effect in June. 

Read full story:  

Image source, Getty Images

Thomas Naadi
BBC Africa, Accra

The Chale Wote Art festival has just taken place in Ghana's capital, Accra. A large stream of people both young and old poured onto the streets of James Town to catch a glimpse of the beautiful art works. 

The works include street painting, photography, graffiti murals, live street performances, and extreme sports among others.

The festival has grown in popularity since its inception in 2011. This year's event brought together more than 200 local and international artists to exchange ideas and connect with the public through their art work. 

Artists in Ghana have always struggled to sustain their business because their work is not often appreciated. 

But Matse Aryeequaye, one of the organizers of the festival, says Ghanaians are beginning to appreciate and buy art works.

As part of the Chale Wote festival, six galleries were set up to showcase modern Ghanaian art work. But many emerging artists say they still lack still lack support to develop their careers. The street art festival provides a perfect platform for them to market their art work.

Meluse Kapatamoyo
BBC Africa, Lusaka

Zambia's Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) has the suspended broadcasting licenses of three privately owned radio stations - Muvi TV, Komboni Radio and Itezhi Tezhi Radio. 

IBA chairman Justin Mutale said the suspension followed the "unprofessional conduct" of the three stations during the fiercely contested 11 August presidential elections. 

Their coverage had posed a risk to national peace and stability and they had been suspended in the "public interest", he added. 

The three stations can appeal against the decision within 30 days. 

The opposition has launched court action to challenge President Edgar Lungu's re-election, alleging the poll was rigged. 

The electoral commission  insists that he defeated Hakainde Hichilema in a free and fair contest.   

Image source, AFP

Haruna Shehu Tangaza
BBC Africa, Abuja

A tip-off received by Nigeria's intelligence officers led to police raiding a suspected gay wedding ceremony on Saturday in the northern city of Sokoto - a leading centre of Islamic learning, a police spokesman Almustafa Sani has told the BBC Hausa service. 

Police were conducting a thorough investiagting with a view to charge the two people arrested for being involved in "unnatural" conduct, he added.

Mr Sani said homosexuality was illegal under Nigeria's secular constitution, and Islamic law which is applied in Sokoto state. 

Other people at the ceremony dispersed when police arrived at the venue, he added. 

See earlier post for more details

BBC World Service

 A spokesman for the Libyan parliament based in the eastern city of Tobruk says it has passed a vote of no confidence in a proposed United Nations-backed government. 

The full implications of the vote are still unclear. But it is being seen as a setback for the UN's efforts to establish a government in the capital, Tripoli, which would aim to end the civil war and unify the country. 

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC Africa, Nairobi

I have just met a relative of Ethiopia's Olympic marathon silver medallist Feyisa Lilesa and it's now clear that his next destination will be the US where he intends to seek asylum. 

A legal team hired by Ethiopians in the US is heading for Rio to try and help with his asylum bid.

If he can't stay in the US, he is likely to move to Kenya where he has relatives. 

Lilesa crossed his hands above his head as he finished the race - a gesture made by Ethiopia's Oromo people who have suffered brutal police crackdowns.  

Image source, EPA

Tanzania's former athlete John Stephen Akhwari is remembered for participating in the 1968 Olympic games in Mexico. 

He's better known for ‘The Greatest Last-Place Finish Ever’ in the Olympic Games. He finished last, almost an hour after the runners had finished. 

He had entered the stadium hobbling, with blood and bandages hanging on his legs.

He told the BBC's Sammy Awami why he didn't quit the race:

He explains that unlike other countries who look after their athletes nobody seemed to care about him representing his country. 

John is now a farmer, and looks back at his participation in the Games with fond memories:

On Tanzanian's performance at the Olympics in Rio, he says:

The main opposition party in The Gambia says one of its activists has died in detention - the second to lose his life in custody since a security force crackdown started in May.

Solo Krummah died being admitted at the Edward Francis's Small Teaching Hospital in the capital, Banjul for an undisclosed operation, United Democratic Party (UDP) said. 

He was arrested with 14 others on 9 May during protests demanding electoral reform, and died on Saturday after the operation, it added. 

The government and hospital authorities have not yet commented. 

In April, Amnesty International said UDP national organising secretary, Solo Sandeng, died in custody after being arrested in similar protests.  

The tiny West African nation is due to hold presidential elections in December. 

Opposition groups have called for reforms to enable the elections to be free and fair.

President Yahya Jammeh , who came to power in a coup 20 years ago, is expected to run for office again.

Image source, AFP

Read: A climate of fear

The US is pushing for the quick deployment of a 4,000-strong African Union (AU) "protection force" to bolster the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said, Reuters news agency reports. 

Mr Kerry was speaking in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, at the start of his tour of several African countries. 

He announced the backing of the South Sudan plan at a press conference in Nairobi after meeting with foreign ministers from regional countries. 

Kenya's Foreign Affairs Minister Amina Mohamed said she wanted the force to be deployed "sooner rather than later", Reuters reports.

The UN Security Council approved the deployment of troops to South Sudan following renewed fighting in June between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and his former Vice-President Riek Machar. 

Image source, AFP

South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) has won the speaker's post in the all-important Johannesburg metropolitan council, taking control of it for the first tume from the once-mighty African National Congress (ANC). 

A BBC reporter is tweeting from the city that the DA's Vasco Da Gama beat the ANC's Contance Bapela in a vote at the inaugural meeting of the council:. 

#Joburg, external has been trending on Twitter in South Africa - not least becuase of some o the drama ahead of the vote, as this tweet by a local media group shows:

The DA's Herman Mashaba is also expected to be sworn in as the mayor of Johannesburg, the economic hub of South Africa. 

Despite winning the popular vote in the 2 August local government poll, the ANC failed to get more than 50% and was unable to form a coalition to continue to govern the city. 

As the ANC finds itself on the council's opposition benches for the first time since the advent of democracy in 1994, the DA has been celebrating its success, as this tweet shows: 

The widespread drought in southern Africa has had many direct effects including serious falls in crop yields and livestock deaths.

But there have been other consequences too. The falling water levels in Lake Kariba mean there is a shortage of hydroelectric power in Zambia, so people have turned to other energy sources such as charcoal.

And that has led to a huge effect on Zambia's honey industry, as the BBC's Kennedy Gondwe explains  in the video here. 

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Ethiopian runner Feyisa Lilesa has been described by some as the bravest Olympian at Rio 2016 after he staged a protested against the government. 

But now he is facing the prospect of a life in exile. After the race Feyisa explained his motives, saying his relatives had been arrested by Ethiopia's security forces and that feared a similar fate if he went back home and he would now seek asylum abroad.

The government has dismissed his assertions and insists he will be received as a hero for flying the country's flag high at the Olympics. 

His protest against the government for, as he put it, "killing my people" received massive support on social media but the state broadcaster has not been showing pictures of his win or his comments at the press briefing. 

Thousands of anti-government protesters from the two largest ethnic communities - the Oromo and Amhara - have been demonstrating for weeks calling for political reforms and inclusivity in the running of the country. 

Human rights groups say more than 100 people have been killed in past weeks since a fresh wave of protests begun, a number which the government disputes.

Image source, AFP

A private television station in Kenya is tweeting that a police helicopter has crashed at an airport in the capital, Nairobi:

Image source, EPA

US Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting six of his counterparts in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, to discuss ways to end conflict in South Sudan, Reuters news agency reports. 

After a two-hour meeting with Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta, Mr Kerry joined the foreign ministers of Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda to discuss options for putting the peace process back on track. 

Read: The wounds of war in South Sudan

Ishaq Khalid
BBC Africa, Bauchi

About 1,100 traditional rulers have been sacked in the northern Nigerian state of Bauchi. 

The state government says the affected village and district heads were not properly installed by the previous administration, voted out of office last year. 

The speaker of the state legislature also told the media that the traditional rulers had failed to  maintain peace and security and deal effectively with land disputes.  

He said a new law would be enacted to streamline the process of appointing traditional leaders. 

The deposed traditional rulers were appointed between 2014 and 2015 by the previous government when hundreds of district and village areas were created in the state. 

One of the rulers, Husaini Abubakar Othman, the village head of Tudun-Yarima, told me he is yet to receive an official letter informing him that he has been sacked.  

He dismissed allegations that they had not been properly appointed and cautioned politicians against meddling in the traditional institutions because of what he described as their importance, reverence and lineage. 

Anna Holligan
Reporter BBC News, The Hague

Image source, Reuters

The war crimes trial of Mali's militant Islamist  Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi is likely to last just one week, rather than years, after he pleaded guilty to destroying historical shrines in the northern city of Timbuktu in 2012.

This is the first time an International Criminal Court (ICC) suspect has pleaded guilty and it's also the first time it has tried a case of cultural destruction.

Image source, AFP

 A number of victims will share their stories in court - human rights groups say this will demonstrate that the desecration of cultural heritage doesn't only damage buildings but tears through the social, cultural and historic fabric of communities. 

The court hopes the trial will send a warning to others that the destruction and plundering of cultural treasures will not be tolerated.  

In pictures: Timbuktu's manuscripts

BBC Monitoring
News from around the globe

Image source, AFP

Ethiopian state-owned television station EBC did not air video of protesting athlete Feyisa Lilesa being awarded his medal. 

The station's EBC Channel 3 covered the race live, including the finish. However, in subsequent bulletins the station did not repeat video clips of the athlete at the finishing line.

The websites of Ethiopia's other state-owned media outlets only reported about the medal Lilesa won.

See previous post for more details

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Ethiopia's government has said it will treat Feyisa Lilesa as a hero if he returns to the country, despite the fact that he staged a protest against it at the Rio 2016 Olympics. 

Information Minister Getachew Reda just told me that the government had no reason to arrest him and it respected his political opinion  

Feyisa won a silver medal in the men's marathon race in Rio but made a gesture of solidarity with anti-government protesters as he finished the race.

He later said at a press conference that his life was in danger and he would have to move to another country - a claim the minister dismissed as baseless

Image source, Getty Images

See earlier post for more details