Africa highlights: Wednesday 3 May 2017, as it happened

Summary

South African president's allies 'will heckle his rival in revenge'
Somalia and Ethiopian leaders in co-operation pledge
Ailing Nigerian leader misses third consecutive cabinet meeting
More than 60 charged in Kenya over chaos at primaries
Italy football authorities 'gutless' over Muntari racism protest
Uganda journalists arrested on World Press Freedom Day
Zimbabwe's ex-chief justice dies
Renowned South African author takes his own life
Islamist militants kill nine Malian soldiers
Email stories and comments to africalive@bbc.co.uk - Wednesday 3 May 2017

Live Reporting

Hugo Williams and Farouk Chothia

'Not enough fans racially abused Muntari'published at 10:10 British Summer Time 3 May 2017
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Muntari angrily confronted Cagliari fans, shouting: "This is my colour"
Pescara midfielder Sulley Muntari has been banned for one game after he protested against racist abuse.
He was booked for dissent after asking the referee to stop Sunday's Serie A match against Cagliari, saying he was being racially abused.
The 32-year-old ex-Ghana international then walked off the pitch in protest - for which he received a second yellow card, officials have now confirmed.
They added not enough fans took part in the abuse to trigger action.
The Serie A disciplinary committee, external agreed their actions were "deplorable" but said its guidelines meant it could not impose sanctions as only "approximately 10" supporters were involved - fewer than 1% of the Cagliari supporters in the ground.
A BBC Sports reporter in Ghana has tweeted about the controversy:
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As has the chief football writer at the UK's Times Newspaper:
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Fellow Ghana international Kevin-Prince Boateng, Muntari's former teammate at AC Milan who walked off the pitch after being racially abused when they were both playing for the Italian side in 2013, has also tweeted his support, referring to reports that Muntari gave his shirt to one of the fans involved:
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Read the full BBC Sport story
Malian soldiers killed in ambushpublished at 09:23 British Summer Time 3 May 2017
BBC World Service
Nine Malian soldiers have been killed in an ambush by suspected Islamist militants, the government says.
A spokesman said the troops were attacked while travelling in a convoy on Tuesday.
No group was named and no one has claimed responsibility.
The government extended a state of emergency at the weekend in response to the militants, who've launched a number of attacks recently.
French forces backing the government said they killed or captured 20 militants near the border with Burkina Faso late last month.
South Korea warship sails to Somaliapublished at 09:13 British Summer Time 3 May 2017
A South Korean warship is heading for Somalia to hold an anti-piracy drill in waters off the country's coast.
The 4,400-ton destroyer Daejoyoung left the South Korean port of Busan yesterday, with a 300-strong crew on board.
Friday's drill will involve the destroyer Daejoyoung, a 17,000-ton commercial vessel and 350 seamen and sailors, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reports, external.
The country has had a naval unit in the Gulf of Aden since 2009 as part of global efforts to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia.
The South Korean navy has posted a video of a previous anti-piracy mission on its official YouTube channel (you may recognise some of the footage - it's been lifted from the Hollywood film Captain Phillips):
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First lady: Buhari health fears exaggeratedpublished at 08:59 British Summer Time 3 May 2017
Image source, AFP
Image caption,
Aisha Buhari has broken her silence about her husband's health
Nigeria's first lady has played down fears that President Muhammadu Buhari is seriously ill, while a respected local newspaper reports that he is expected to attend today's weekly cabinet meeting after missing the last two.
In a tweet, Aisha Buhari said:
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Her comments came after calls from a group of prominent Nigerian civil society activists for Mr Buhari to go back on medical leave following the "apparent deterioration" of his health.
The president's health has been the source of intense speculation after he spent about seven weeks in the UK receiving treatment for an unspecified illness.
He returned home in March, saying he had never been "so sick" in his life and hinted that he had received a blood transfusion.
Concern about his health resurfaced after he missed last week's Muslim Friday prayer, as well as the last two weekly cabinet meetings, held on Wednesdays.
Nigeria's respected This Day , externalnewspaper quotes an unnamed source as saying that the president is likely to chair today's cabinet meeting in the capital, Abuja.
Briefing journalists after meeting Mr Buhari yesterday, Justice Minister Abubakar Malami said a committee - which investigated the discovery of more than $43m (£34m) in a flat in the commercial capital, Lagos, last month - would submit its report to the president today, the newspaper quotes the newspaper as saying.
Mr Buhari suspended National Intelligence Agency (NIA) boss Ayo Oke after anti-corruption officers seized the money during a raid on the upmarket flat, and ordered an investigation into how the agency came into possession of the money.
Unnamed intelligence officials told local media at the time that the cash was kept in the flat for covert operations.
Read: Should Nigerians be worried abut the president's health?
Today's wise wordspublished at 08:59 British Summer Time 3 May 2017
Our African proverb of the day:
Quote Message
Small trees will some day make a forest."
A Bemba proverb sent by Kambole Mukanwa, Lusaka, Zambia
Click here to send us your African proverbs
Good morningpublished at 08:59 British Summer Time 3 May 2017
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