That's all from the BBC Africa Live page this week. Keep up to date with what's happening on 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 pictures from Douala, Cameroon, showing the smog on World Environment Day:

Religious fundamentalists in Mali consider village puppeteers to be the enemies of God, puppeteer Yaya Coulibaly tells the BBC.

He said that he fears for his life and now performs behind closed doors, not on the street:

A 16-year-old student and a 30-year-old man have gone on trial in a military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo over the killing of two UN experts in March, their lawyer has told AFP news agency.

The two are being tried for war crimes, including murder and mutilation, as well as terrorism and taking part in an insurrection, Mr Kabangu said.

They appeared before the Kananga military court for the start of the trial which was then postponed to 12 June on the prosecutor's request, Kabangu added.

American Michael Sharp and Swedish-Chilean Zaida Catalan were kidnapped and found dead in March in the restive Kasai region where there were investigating mass graves following violence which killed hundreds of people.

About 11 people kidnapped by rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have been released after days of fighting, a military spokesman has told AP news agency.

Capt Mak Hazukay Mongba said that 11 residents of Mamundioma village were freed near the Virunga National Park after the military intensified an operation against the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebel group.

The ADF seized the 11 after an attack on Friday.

The released hostages said their captors told them to call on the military to halt operations against the ADF.

The group has killed more than 1,000 people in eastern DR Congo since October 2014, according to AP.

Image source, AFP

Image source, Getty Images

Egypt will begin its ban on flights to and from Qatar on Tuesday morning, the Civil Aviation Ministry told Reuters news agency.

Qatari flights will also not be allowed to pass through Egypt's airspace, the ministry said.

See earlier post for more details

Image source, AFP

The head of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Nigeria's Babatunde Osotimehin, has died suddenly at his home aged 68, the UNFPA has said.

In a statement, the UNFPA said:

In his tribute, the UN chief said:

The cause of death is still unclear.

A prominent Sudanese human rights activist has been charged with spying for foreign embassies, a prosecutor has said.

Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, an engineering professor at the University of Khartoum, was arrested in December as part of a crackdown on opposition leaders and activists.

Prosecutor Babikir Abdel Latiff said that charges have been filed against Mr Adam and he will soon be put on trial:

In September, rights group Amnesty International said Sudanese forces had carried out dozens of suspected chemical weapons attacks in a mountainous area of war-torn Darfur, killing up to 250 people.

Sudanese officials, including President Omar al-Bashir, have strongly rejected the allegation.

Image source, Darfur

In March, activist Mustafa Adam was sentenced to one-year in prison, external and fined about $7,500 (£5,800) for spying.

He maintained his innocence.

Former Newcastle United midfielder Cheick Tiote has died aged 30 after collapsing during training in China, a spokesman for the player has announced.

The Ivory Coast international spent seven years at the Tyneside club, making 138 league appearances.

He joined Chinese second-tier side Beijing Enterprises in February for an undisclosed fee.

He was also part of the Ivory Coast squad that won the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

Image source, Getty Images

Moroccan authorities have arrested two more leaders of a protest movement, reports AFP news agency.

Najib Ahamjik, widely referred to as the second in command of the grassroots Al-Hirak al-Shaabi, or "Popular Movement", was arrested, along with a woman, Silya Ziani, seen as an active member of the protest movement, AFP says.

Around 40 activists and key members of the grassroots Al-Hirak have been detained since May 26.

Protesters have been gathering nightly demanding the release of the leader of the movement, Nasser Zefzafi.

Morocco has been gripped by protests since October, following the death of a fishmonger in the town of al-Hoceima.

Image source, Getty Images

Few people openly admit to holding racist beliefs but many psychologists claim most of us are nonetheless unintentionally racist.

We hold what are called "implicit biases". So what is implicit bias, how is it measured and what, if anything, can be done about it?

The BBC's David Edmonds has been investigating. Read his article here.

Image source, Getty Images

The former leader of South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, is set to appear before the party’s disciplinary panel on Friday for her tweets on colonialism, the private News24 site reports.

In a BBC Focus on Africa radio interview, Helen Zille defended her comments, saying:

You can listen to the fill interview on BBC Focus on Africa radio in the next few minutes.

A man died after he was turned away from a hospital in northern Kenya on the first day of a strike by nurses, reports the privately owned Daily Nation., external.

Joseph Leng’uro told the newspaper that his father was turned away from Samburu County Referral hospital and told to go to a private hospital.

The BBC's David Wafula reports the nurses are demanding a pay rise which was promised last year.

But the government says it can only afford $20m (£15m) to pay the nurses compared to the $400m they are demanding.

Last year a strike by doctors lasted more than three months was called off after the authorities promised to fulfil their demands:

Image source, AFP

Image source, Reuters

Foreign observers have described Lesotho's general election as largely peaceful, reports AFP news agency.

Armed soldiers were deployed at polling stations on voting day, drawing strong criticism.

The electoral commission said the deployment had caused confusion.

The Southern African Development Community (Sadc) regional bloc said the involvement of the army could be "misconstrued as military interference" and could "influence the conduct of the election".

The former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano, who headed a team of African Union observers, warned that Saturday's election vote would not be enough, and called for a change in the role of the security forces.

"Elections alone cannot address the underlying political and structural challenges facing the country," he said.

The tiny mountain kingdom plunged into crisis in 2014 when soldiers tried to oust former Prime Minister Thomas Thabane.

His All Basotho Congress (ABC) party took an early lead after more than half of the votes from Saturday's election were counted while incumbent Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili's Democratic Congress (DC) party was trailing behind, AFP reports.

Read more: Why Lesotho is voting for the third time in five years.

We reported earlier that Egypt is among a bloc of countries that have cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, saying the country backs terrorism.

Now the Egypt Independent reports that the Central bank of Egypt has had to come out to clarify it has not ordered banks to halt transactions in Qatari Riyals.

"Several Egyptian banks had halted dealings with Qatari banks earlier on Monday, responding to Cairo’s statement" says the news site, external.

But Egypt’s Central Bank governor Tarek Amer told CNN that exchange companies should carry on accepting Qatari Riyals from customers.

The debate over which West African country makes the best jollof rice can get heated.

Nigeria's Premium Times says, external that the country's Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, recently "sparked outrage" by claiming Senegal prepared better jollof rice than Nigeria.

Many Ghanaians and Sierra Leoneans also claim the mantle.

So now a TV channel has decided to settle it once and for all.

Bella Naija reports, external that the channel BTV has announced the African Jollof Rice Challenge and is going to give $5,000 (£3,900) to the person they judge the best jollof rice chef at the end of August.

And that will be the end of the discussion, right?

A bomb planted in a police station killed at least one policeman in Somalia's southern port city of Kismayo earlier today, reports Reuters news agency.

Militant Islamist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility, Reuters says.

Al-Shabab lost control of Kismayo in 2012, but much of the country is still under the control of the militants:

New Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi "Farmajo" Mohamed told the BBC last month that he thought al-Shabab could be defeated within the next two years.

The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) has extended the mandate of its troops in The Gambia by 12 months, AFP news agency reports

The force, consisting mainly of soldiers from neighbouring Senegal, was first sent to the tiny West Afican nation in January to force long-serving ruler Yahya Jammeh to step down after he reused to hand power to his elected sucessor, Adama Barrow.

At the summit in Liberia's capital Monrovia, Ecowas praised the "crucial role" played by the troops in maintaining stability in The Gambia but said the situation was also "fragile", requiring troops to extend their stay, it said in a statement, AFP reports.

Patience Atuhaire
BBC Africa, Kampala

Image source, AFP

Campaign group Global Witness has released a report which claims there is widespread corruption in the issuing of concessions in Uganda's mining industry.

The report implicates a senior army officer, officials in the department of geology and mining, members of parliament, as well as international companies.

Global Witness says there are indications that some of what is refined and exported as Ugandan gold may, in fact, have been smuggled from the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.

The department of mining recorded that only 93kgs of gold were produced and exported from Uganda in the 2015-16 period, but Revenue Authority records show that over 5,000kgs, valued at about $195m (£150m), were exported.

The report shows that an MP was granted an exploration license for an area in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, one of only three places in the world that is home to the endangered mountain gorillas.

Researchers also found that some officials in the department of mining owned mining companies themselves, raising conflict of interest issues.

Global Witness concludes that if the current mining policies and concessions are not reviewed, not only will the nascent mining sector be crippled, but also several ecologically sensitive areas will be affected.

A spokesman for the mining ministry was unavailable for comment.

Ismail Ahmed is the CEO of WorldRemit, a cash transfer service that helps migrants send money home to their families. His own experience as a migrant who once fled a war-torn country has been a driving force behind the company.

He told #CEOSecrets that his secret was learning to turn challenges into opportunities.

Video journalist: Greg Brosnan

West African regional group Ecowas has in principle approved Morocco's membership application despite it being in North Africa, sources tell the BBC.

But Ecowas leaders meeting in Liberia said the implications of its membership still needed to be considered before Morocco could formally join.

King Mohammed VI was not at the summit because Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been invited.

Morocco's application comes after it rejoined the African Union in January.

Morocco left the continental body in 1984 after it recognised the independence of Western Sahara.

Read the full BBC story here