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 your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this South African selfie from our gallery of Africa's week in pictures:

Image source, EPA

Image source, AFP

Cameroon's information minister has said the government is open to discussing grievances of people in English-speaking parts of the country - but he suggested there would be no move to restore internet access for them.

Issa Tchiroma told BBC Focus on Africa radio: "We are ready to listen. We said that, ok, we understand your claim. Let us sit around the table, explain, and we are going to find a common solution through dialogue and consultation."

Rights activists in the North-West and South-West regions say there have been protests and strikes because the government has ignored discrimination and other grievances for many years and the situation has been getting worse.

Asked why protesters and rights activists had been jailed, Mr Tchiroma said they had been "caught red-handed, burning, looting, threatening people, maiming people". 

"The trial of all those who are in jail today will be open," he said.

As part of its response to the protests and strikes, the government last month cut off the internet connection to the two regions concerned, although it has not explicitly acknowledged doing so. 

When challenged about this, Mr Tchiroma said:

Rights activists have criticised the severing of the internet connection as collective punishment and a crude attempt to quell dissent.

Read more: Why has Cameroon blocked the internet?

At least 37 people have been killed by Democratic Republic of Congo's army today in clashes with the Kamwina Nsapu militia in the central Kasai region.

Residents of Tshimbulu town told the BBC’s Kinshasa reporter Poly Muzalia by phone that they were militia wanted to avenge the death of their leader who was shot dead in August.

A local journalist in the areas says the death toll could be as high as 50 and says dozens of others have been wounded.

Can you spot who's who in this line-up of famous faces?

Image source, AFP

Moise Katumi, a prominent opposition politician in the Democratic Republic of Congo, says he will return from exile to accompany the body of the late opposition leader, Etienne Tshisekedi, who died last month in Belgium.

The government and the opposition are arguing over arrangements for Mr Tshisekedi's burial, and it is still not yet clear when it will take place (see earlier post). 

Mr Katumbi, a wealthy businessman who owns one of Africa's biggest football clubs, TP Mazembe, risks imprisonment on his return home. 

A one-time presidential hopeful, he received a three-year sentence last June in a case which human rights activists say was politically motivated. 

A BBC Africa sport correspondent has interviewed an Ethiopian reporter who was covering the first Africa Cup of Nations match, played 60 years ago today in Sudan. 

He says telegrams were the only way to find out what was going on:

In the end Egypt beat the hosts 2-1 - and went on to win the inaugural tournament.  

Image source, AFP

Ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor, jailed for war crimes, is reported to have phoned political allies from inside a UK maximum security prison.

A recording of the alleged call, in which he reportedly advises his party members on tactics, was obtained by Africa Confidential magazine, external.

He is serving a 50-year sentence for supporting rebels who committed atrocities in Sierra Leone.

The Ministry of Justice said it does not comment on individual cases.

Alain Werner, director of Civitas Maxima, an NGO which builds legal cases against alleged Liberian war criminals, said the allegation was "extremely worrying".

The call, which has been heard by the BBC, is thought to have been made from a landline inside HMP Frankland, near Durham, on 28 January, Taylor's 69th birthday

Read the BBC News story for more.

Image source, EFCC

Photos of stacks of money discovered at a building owned by one of Nigeria’s former oil bosses have been posted on Facebook by the country’s anti-corruption body.

Agents from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) conducted the surprise raid on 3 February:

The money was recovered after intelligence was received that "proceeds of crime" were suspected to be in that area of Kaduna, the EFCC said in a statement.

Mr Yakubu had reported to the commission’s office in the northern city of Kano, admitting his “ownership of the recovered money, claiming it was gift[s] from unnamed persons”, it said.

The former oil executive, who served as head of the state-owned oil company for two years from 2012, was assisting in their investigation, the agency added.

Image source, EFCC

Image source, AFP

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is tipped to take over from her ex-husband as president of South Africa – but a Xhosa royal family is not convinced she is up to the job… because she is a woman.

Xhanti Sigcawu, the brother of King Mpendulo Sigcawu, told South Africa’s News24, external that he agreed she might be too “delicate”:

The comments come after Ms Dlamini Zuma, 68, visited the traditional seat of the king, known as Nqadu Great Place, in South Africa's Eastern Cape Province earlier this week.

And it has upset some people.

Nkosikhulule Xhawulengweni Nyembezi, a researcher, analyst and human rights activist, has written an open letter, external to the Xhosa monarch in today’s Daily Dispatch newspaper:

South Africa’s seven traditional monarchs have little political power, but have an advisory role and resolve local disputes.

The governing African National Congress (ANC) is electing a new leader in December, and its women's league has put forward Ms Dlamini-Zuma as a candidate. 

Image source, AFP

Land rights are the key to creating jobs, ending poverty and reducing high living costs in Africa's cities, the World Bank has said. 

The bank said African countries should reform procedures for buying and selling land, and invest heavily in urban infrastructure. 

Africa’s urban population will double over the next 25 years, reaching 1 billion people by 2040.

  You can read the full report here, external, or a report by Reuters news agency via the link below.  

Three former Nigerian sprinters are aiming to become the country's first athletes to compete at the Winter Olympics.

Their chosen sport? Bobsleigh.

Seun Adigun, who competed at London 2012, is hoping to reach the 2018 games in South Korea along with her team-mates Akuoma Omeoga and Ngozi Onwumere.

Seun has been telling BBC Sportsworld's Lee James about her first experience in the sled and what it would mean to represent her country:

Thomas Naadi
BBC Africa, Accra

Image source, Getty Images

The party of Ghana’s former President John Mahama has denied it is responsible for the alleged disappearance of more than 200 cars which the new government has said are missing from the presidency.

In a statement, the NDC said the allegations were “false, baseless and without merit”.

The party also accused the new administration of President Nana Akufo-Addo of trying to “demonise members of the previous administration for cheap partisan propaganda purposes”.

As part of the transition process, both the incoming government’s assets and logistics committees were given a list of all vehicles at the presidency, the NDC statement said.

A total of 641 vehicles were listed and properly accounted for, it added.

A list was attached to the NDC statement giving each vehicle’s make, registration number, chassis number and condition.

Mr Akufo-Addo defeated Mr Mahama in elections held at the beginning of December.

In 2009 a vast deposit of rubies was discovered in northern Mozambique and now half the world's red gemstones come from there.

But as the BBC's Jason Boswell reports in the video below for Africa Business Report high taxes are proving a challenge for companies mining the gems:

The first lady of Nigeria's Kogi state has called for children with disabilities to be "embraced" and not kept out of sight. 

Amina Bello has a 10 year-old son, Hayatullah Yahaya Bello, who was born with cerebral palsy, which is a neurological condition that affects movement and co-ordination. 

In an interview with a Nigeria's Daily Trust newspaper, external, the wife of the Kogi State governor said parents with disabled children often feel stigmatised and keep them behind closed doors. 

She has also spoken about how her own family members mocked her for having a son who has cerebral palsy:

Mrs Bello also said it was a major challenge bringing up a child with cerebral palsy in a society not ready to easily accept a child with such a condition. 

And she advised parents to embrace their children regardless, and know that there is something special about their child.

Her remarks again raise the issue of how people with disabilities are treated in Nigeria.

Earlier this week, two Nigerian soldiers were filmed beating a disabled man with sticks in a busy street:

Image source, @GalacticoHD/Twitter

It seems the assault happened because the man was wearing a camouflage shirt which is a sensitive issue in Nigeria. 

The two soldiers have been arrested and "in line with our zero tolerance for acts of indiscipline".

Feeling peckish? How about some moi moi, a popular Nigerian dish made from black-eyed peas.  

See how two businesswomen in Nigeria - a restaurant owner and a market seller - make their living from moi moi:

Image source, PA

More on the story that could see Caster Semenya upgraded retrospectively to Olympic gold at London 2012.

The Russian athlete who beat her, Mariya Savinova, has been stripped of her 800m title and banned until 2019.

The Russian has had all her results from July 2010 to August 2013 annulled after being found guilty of doping.

Savinova beat South Africa's Semenya into second at the London Olympics and the 2011 Worlds in Daegu.

The 31-year-old also beat Britain's Jenny Meadows into to bronze at the 2010 Europeans. Both athletes could now have their medals upgraded.

Savinova will also lose her 800m gold from the 2011 World Championships and the European Championships in 2010.

And she will forfeit a World Championship silver from 2013 and will be suspended for four years, backdated to 2015.

A Court of Arbitration for Sport statement read:, external "On the basis of clear evidence, including the evidence derived from her biological passport (ABP), Mariya Savinova is found to have been engaged in using doping from 26 July 2010 (the eve of the European Championship in Barcelona) through to 19 August 2013 (the day after the World Championship in Moscow).

"As a consequence, a four-year period of ineligibility, beginning on 24 August 2015, has been imposed and all results achieved between 26 July 2010 and 19 August 2013, are disqualified and any prizes, medals, prize and appearance money forfeited."

Read the full BBC Sport story here.

Two children on their way to school this morning have been swept away as floods hit Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe, the country’s Times newspaper reports, external.

Heavy downpours overnight caused the Lilongwe River to burst its banks.

The Malawi Nation has posted a video on Instagram of the surging waters:

A helicopter has been rescuing people. Lilongwe police spokesperson Kingsley Dandaula told the Times it managed to get to two boys who were trapped in the middle of a submerged maize field.

BBC Africa sport presenter reminds us what happened on this day in 1957.

Image source, AFP

The West African force deployed to The Gambia last month to help President Adama Barrow take power will be cut to 500 from 7,000 this month.

A statement from Mr Barrow's office read on state television said the gradual scaling down would begin no later than 19 February, Reuters news agency reports.

The troops intervened when long-time ruler Yahya Jammeh refused to leave power after losing elections in December.

Regional leaders had to threaten to remove him by force to end to the crisis.

Mr Jammeh agreed to go into exile in Equatorial Guinea only after thousands of foreign troops entered the small West African country.

The 500-strong force left behind will have a three-month mandate to protect Mr Barrow and other government members.

Sections of Gambia’s security services were under Mr Jammeh's personal control.

Mr Barrow also announced that the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the notorious secret police which had “instilled fear amongst citizens”, would be reformed, AFP news agency reports.

Its name would change and functions would be limited to "intelligence gathering, analysis and advice to the relevant arms of government responsible for internal and external security".

Some breaking news from the AP news agency: Could South African athlete Caster Semenya be in line to have her silver medal from the London 2012 Olympics upgraded to gold?