A popular singer in Senegal has been arrested after she shared an audio recording on WhatsApp in which she is alleged to have made disaparaging comments about President Macky Sall.

Amy Colle Dieng, a well-known singer in the local Mbalax style, is said to have shared the content in a WhatsApp message group for supporters of Karim Wade, the son of former president Abdoulaye Wade currently exiled in Qatar.

News site Dakaractu reports that Ms Dieng has admitted to police that she made the insulting remarks.

She is currently being held by the national police's criminal investigations unit.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Ethiopia has arrested its first senior government official in an ongoing campaign to crack down on corruption.

The state-owned Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation website said Alemayehu Gujo, a finance and economic development minister, was arrested after parliament removed his immunity in an extraordinary session today.

The authorities have arrested 50 former state officials since 25 July.

Forty people who were arrested in Nigeria over the weekend for performing homosexual acts have been released on bail.

The 28 adults and 12 minors, all of them male, were charged with "permitting male persons to have carnal knowledge of themselves against the order of nature".

In its statement, the Lagos State Ministry of Justice says the 40 individuals had been "caught in the act of homosexuality at a popular hotel in the area simply known as Vintage Hotel".

They were released yesterday by a magistrate court in Nigeria's main city, Lagos.

Homosexual acts are punishable by up to 14 years in jail in Nigeria, while gay marriage and displays of same-sex affection are also banned.

The court hearing has been adjourned to 8 September.

As Kenyans prepare to go to the polls next week political campaigns are ramping up a notch.

Our reporter Abinoor Aden spotted these skaters sporting T-shirts, flags and caps for the governing Jubilee party in the capital, Nairobi:

Meanwhile supporters of the opposition Nasa alliance have attended a rally in the western city of Kisumu wearing the coalition's trademark orange:

Image source, AFP

Image source, AFP

Watch: Kenya Election 2017 - everything you need to know.

Image source, EPA

People in Rwanda are voting in a presidential election widely expected to secure a third term of office for current President Paul Kagame, who has been in power for 17 years.

The electoral commission says preliminary results will be announced later today (19:00 GMT).

The two other contenders are Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and the independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana.

Mr Kagame is widely credited with improving Rwanda's economic development, but his critics accuse him of suppressing dissent.

Two voters have been speaking to the Reuters news agency about why they have turned out:

Image source, AFP

Nigeria's Education Minister Adamu Adamu says the federal government is planning to bring history back into the curriculum for pupils in primary and secondary schools.

Mr Adamu told News Agency of Nigeria:

He added:

The move to reintroduce history as a subject in the national schools curriculum has been approved by the the National Council on Education, Punch newspaper reports, external.

Nigerian journalist Sola Odunfa said that it was during the military rule of General Ibrahim Babangida in the 1980s and early 1990s that the studying of history began to disappear from schools.

Letter from Africa: Why Nigerians need to learn their history

Today's vote by Ethiopia's MPs to end the state of emergency means that it will be lifted as the decision does not need further approval from the president or prime minister.

The initial decision to introduce it last October was made by the cabinet, but it needed parliamentary approval, and MPs also voted to extend it earlier this year, the Addis Standard reports.

It adds that this means that the constitutional rule of law will return as opposed to emergency law, which gave additional powers to the military. But it is not clear if those detained during the emergency will be released.

Among things banned under the emergency were:

• Use of social media to contact what were called "outside forces"
• Organising demonstrations "likely to cause disturbances, violence, hatred and distrust among the people"
• Making political gestures, such as crossing your arms above your head

Image source, Reuters

The measures were introduced to curb the anti-government protests in the Oromia and Amhara regions.

BBC World Service

The UN says that more than 250 people, including 60 children, have been victims of ethnic massacres in the volatile Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The killings took place between March and June and UN investigators say many were carried out by the Kamuina Nsapumilitia group which is largely made up of young people.

The UN says that a pro-government militia, the Bana Mura, assembled to defeat the rebellion in the area is also responsible for many killings.

The report was drawn up by the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raa'ad al-Hussein and is based on testimonies from people who have fled into neighbouring Angola to escape the violence.

Ethiopia's parliament has voted to lift the state of emergency imposed last October to help curb anti-government protests.

It was initially introduced for six months and was then extended for another four months.

BBC World Service

The Nigerian government has said it will legalise mini-refineries in the oil-rich Niger Delta and supply them with crude oil at a reasonable price by the end of the year.

The move is aimed at ending the theft of oil from pipelines in the delta, which has many illegal refineries that process the stolen oil.

Communities there feel they do not benefit from the oil in their region.

The plan was announced after a meeting between Acting President Yemi Osinbajo and community leaders.

The presidency also said it would discuss with oil companies about moving their regional headquarters to the Niger Delta.

Image source, AFP

The White House has given the go-ahead for the sale of military planes to Nigeria to aid in the fight against Islamist militant group Boko Haram, the AP news agency, external is reporting.

President Donald Trump told Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari in a phone conversation in February that he backed the deal.

The deal, said to be worth up to $600m (£490m), was agreed by the Obama administration, but was reportedly halted on the day it was due to be sent to Congress, after a catastrophic incident involving the Nigerian military.

About 90 people, mainly women and children, were killed in January when the Nigerian Air Force mistakenly bombed a camp in the country's north-east, which was hosting thousands of those who had fled Boko Haram.

Image source, US Air Force

Wanyama wa Chebusiri
BBC Africa

Image source, PA

Controversial Kenyan pastor Gilbert Deya has been extradited from the UK to face child trafficking charges.

Mr Deya runs an evangelical church in London and claims he can deliver “miracle babies” to post-menopausal or infertile women.

Kenyan police spokesman Charles Owino told the BBC that Mr Deya, 65, arrived in Nairobi early this morning on a Kenya Airways flight after his appeal was rejected by a UK court.

Mr Deya had appealed against the extradition citing fear of torture and of facing the death penalty.

In 2004 his wife, Mary Deya, was arrested and charged in Kenya with stealing babies who were found at her house in an upmarket estate in Nairobi.

Police say the pastor is likely to be charged in court today.

Our African proverb of the day:

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Welcome to BBC Africa Live where we will bring you the latest news from around the continent.