That's all from BBC Africa Live today. Keep up-to-date with what's happening across the continent by listening to the Africa Today podcast or check 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 photo by Barry Christianson of children watching the tide come in at Saunders' Rock Beach in South Africa's Cape Town:

Twenty-five people have been killed in a collision between a packed minibus and a bus in northern Senegal, the emergency services have said, AFP news agency reports.

The passengers in the minibus were on their way to the annual pilgrimage of the Mourides, a Sufi Muslim brotherhood sect, in the central city of Tourba, it adds.

The vehicle was only meant to carry 14 people, the agency said, but 27 passengers were on board at the time of the collision, 24 of whom were killed.

The 25th death was the driver.

Image source, Reuters

With just a few days to go until the BBC unveils the shortlist for the BBC’s African Footballer of the Year 2017 we are asking fans if they can express their love of football in a short poem.

The shortlist will be announced on Saturday, 11 November, with special coverage on radio and television starting at 18:00 GMT. Voting opens at 19:00 GMT online at BBC.com/africanfootball

To kick us off (pun intended) here is a short poem from Leo Mwila in Lusaka, Zambia:

My Football

My football, my world

You are wonderful and priced

And no laughter, is any worth without you.

For in the fewness of joy

You uplift our hearts with pride

And mouthwatering goals and grabs we cheer,

At every kick and fight

You fill the world with fun,

Though your falls and misses we frown

Your motions we yearn to find

Up to the shaking of the white net

My football, my world

You are sweeter than sweet.

We would love to hear from you too. You can send an original short verse you are happy for us to publish to, externalBBCafricanfootballpoems@gmail.com, external

Jose Tembe
BBC Africa, Maputo

Eight people have been arrested in Mozambique for allegedly spreading rumours which almost led to two people accused of protecting vampires being lynched.

Police in Cuamba district, in the country’s northernmost province of Niassa, said it was only their swift actions which saved the two intended victims.

As a result of the violence, Niassa provincial governor, Arlindo Chilundo has been forced to deny there are any such things as vampires.

The vampires, he said, were no more than a fiction invented by people who want to use rumours to destabilise communities.

Similar rumours have led to the deaths of at least eight people in neighbouring Malawi, and the arrest of more than 140 people involved in lynch mobs.

The villagers in these areas believe human blood sucking is a ritual practised by some to become rich. They also believe they are failing to catch the blood suckers because they use magical powers.

Image source, AFP

Kenyan businessman and former MP Harun Mwau has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging last month's presidential election, won by President Uhuru Kenyatta with 98% of the vote.

The election commission violated the law by failing to call for fresh nominations, after the Supreme Court nullified the results of the first poll in August, Mr Mwau said in court papers, adding:

The main opposition leader, Raila Odinga, boycotted the re-run, saying the vote was not free and fair.

He has launched a "national resistance" campaign, which has targeted three of Kenya's biggest firms, including mobile phone operator Safaricom, for a boycott.

On Monday, Mr Odinga switched from Safaricom to Airtel, the second largest service provider in Kenya.

He accuses Safaricom of colluding in efforts to rig the election, an allegation it strongly denies.

The Supreme Court has until 14 November to consider petitions challenging the election.

It annulled the August poll, saying it was marred by "irregularities and illegalities".

As accessories go, it was one you couldn't miss.

Burundian First Lady Denise Nkurunziza's newest addition was clasped firmly in her arms as she arrived in church on Sunday.

The baby - understood to be about four to five months old - apparently sat through the service quietly, treated to a bottle by one of Burundi's most important women.

Presidential spokesman Alain Nzeyimana confirmed to the BBC that Mrs Nkurunziza, who has five biological children already, has adopted the baby.

The president's official website announced earlier this year she had also adopted a toddler.

Shingai Nyoka
BBC Africa, Harare

Image source, Reuters

Zimbabwe's sacked Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa had worked with President Robert Mugabe for more than 40 years, first serving as him as special assistant during the liberation war in 1977.

On Monday, the man nicknamed "the crocodile" by party colleagues for his shrewdness met with Mr Mugabe as usual.

Afterwards, another meeting was held with top government officials.

It was after that meeting that Information Minister Simon Khaya Moyo read out a statement explaining Mr Mnangagwa had been sacked from his position.

The statement was almost verbatim of the one used to dismiss Mr Mnangagwa’s predecessor, Joice Mujuru, three years ago.

It said the president was exercising his authority in accordance with the country's constitution. It also said Mr Mnangagwa demonstrated little probity in the execution of his duties.

The dismissal refers to his government position, and it's not clear whether the president will also dismiss him as vice-president of his party, Zanu PF, at a later stage.

Mr Mnangagwa is yet to comment on his dismissal.

A cafe in southern Tanzania is aiming to improve the lives of its staff, and perhaps teach its customers a thing or two as well.

The staff here are deaf, and there is a chalk board teaching its patrons sign language.

The BBC has been to visit the cafe to find out from those who work there how it is changing their lives for the better.

Video producers: Esther Namuhisa and Mark Sedgwick

"Termination of employment" - that's the headline on the official statement announcing the sacking of Zimbabwe's once-powerful Emmerson Mnangagwa as Zimbabwe's vice-president.

Education Minister Jonathan Moyo, who had a poor relationship with Mr Mnangagwa, has tweeted the statement:

Image source, Reuters

Zimbabwe's Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been removed from his post, the country's information minister has announced.

Mr Mnangagwa displayed traits of disloyalty, disrespect and deceitfulness, Information Minister Simon Khaya Moyo said, according to Reuters.

His removal makes it more likely that President Robert Mugabe's wife Grace will follow in her husband's footsteps as leader of Zimbabwe.

She earlier called on her husband to remove his vice-president, denouncing him as a coup plotter and a coward.

• Read more on the day's developments in Zimbabwe here.

A British hostage kidnapped in Nigeria's southern Delta state has been killed and three others freed, the Foreign Office (FCO) has confirmed.

Ian Squire was one of four Britons reportedly taken at about 02:00 local time on 13 October.

The British High Commission and Nigerian authorities negotiated the release of Alanna Carson, David Donovan and Shirley Donovan.

The FCO said it had been a "traumatic time" for those involved.

Read the full BBC story here

The AFP news agency says its chief photographer in East Africa has appeared in court in Kenya on a charge of trespassing on a property belonging to President Uhuru Kenyatta's family.

Japanese photographer Yasuyoshi Chiba, 46, was arrested on Friday at a farm belonging to the Brookside dairy firm, which is owned by the president's family.

He had gone to photograph the company logo after the opposition National Super Alliance (Nasa) called for a boycott of Brookside following disputed presidential elections, AFP reports.

Security officers called the police after stopping the photographer, who refused to delete his pictures, the agency adds.

Prosecutors decided to charge him with " trespassing on a private property", punishable by a fine of around $52 (£45), AFP reports.

Image source, AFP

Image source, AFP

A leading Zimbabwean opposition MP and former finance minister has condemned moves within the ruling party to appoint First Lady Grace Mugabe as her husband's deputy in government.

Tendai Biti has tweeted:

His comments came after the youth league of the ruling Zanu-PF party called on President Robert Mugbabe to sack Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and to replace her with the first lady.

The youth league accused Mr Mnangagwa's supporters of heckling Mrs Mugabe at a rally in the second city, Bulawayo, and denounced them as "rebels" and an "increasingly irrelevant, criminally unethical and morally decadent minority", as this tweet shows:

See earlier post for more details

Image source, EPA

The bodies of 26 women, thought to be Nigerian, have been recovered from the sea off Italy.

The women, the youngest of whom is thought to have been just 14, were trying to reach Europe from Libya.

It is unclear why so many women died, as there were men on board the ship as well.

There are suspicions that they may have been sexually abused and murdered as they attempted the dangerous Mediterranean crossing.

Italian prosecutors are now investigating the exact circumstances, and are questioning five migrants in the southern port of Salerno.

Read more here.

The deaths of 11 Malian soldiers have been blamed on a French anti-terror raid - an allegation the French defence ministry has strongly denied.

The soldiers were being held captive by Al-Qaeda affiliate Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (Group to Support Islam and Muslims - GSIM).

A proof of life video issued on 18 October showed the men alive, and calling for Malian President Ibrahim Boubakar Keita to secure their release.

Six days later, the French military announced it had destroyed a ''combatants' camp'' at Abeibara, in northern Mali, killing or arresting 15 "terrorists".

But GSIM say the soldiers were killed during the raid - an accusation dismissed by the French armed forces press office as ''propaganda coming from an armed terrorist group''.

Image source, AFP

However, two Malian military sources also told AFP news agency the soldiers had died during the raid.

It comes after the French foreign minister's spokeswoman was asked by a journalist whether she could confirm that the French ambassador in Bamako had visited Mali's defence minister to tell him that the 11 soldiers had died during the Barkhane raid.

In her answer, the spokeswoman did not mention the Malian soldiers saying only: ''The Malian authorities are pursuing their work to identify the neutralised terrorists. We are working closely with them.''

Mali's defence ministry confirmed that it had seen a photograph of six dead soldiers and that the men had been among those in the video, but did not link their deaths to the Abeibara raid.

Jonathan Paye-Layleh
BBC Africa, Monrovia

Image source, AFP

Liberia's Supreme Court has indefinitely halted the presidential run-off election, which was due to take place tomorrow.

The poll cannot be held until the election commission “urgently and expeditiously” investigates allegations of “irregularities and fraud” made by the opposition Liberty Party, the court said.

Chief Justice Francis Saye Korkpor handed down the judgement to a packed courtroom in the capital, Monrovia.

He said the election commission had “wrongly and illegally” proceeded to organise a run-off between former football star George Weah and Vice-President Joseph Boakai without dealing with the complaint of the Liberty Party.

Its candidate, Charles Brumskine, was eliminated from the run-off after he came third in last month's election.

The run-off was called after Mr Weah, who secured the highest number of votes, failed to secure an outright majority.

Liberty Party officials - including its chairman Benjamin Sanvee and its vice-presidential candidate Harrison Karnwea - left the courtroom elated.

A lawyer for the commission, Musa Dean, said “the highest court of the land has spoken and we have to abide by the ruling".

Image source, Getty Images

Africans dominate the list of finalists competing to be named the IAAF World Athlete of the Year.

Five out of six nominees have African heritage, including all three of the men's finalists.

Somali-born long distance runner Sir Mo Farah, who competed for Great Britain, is battling Mutaz Essa Barshim, a Qatari high jumper born to parents of Sudanese origin.

South African sprinter Wayde van Niekerk is the third athlete competing for the prestigious title.

In the women's category, Ethiopian long distance runner Almaz Ayana is hoping to beat Greece's Ekaterini Stefanidi, a pole vaulter, and Belgium's Nafissatou Thiam, a heptathlete whose father is Senegalese, to be named athlete of the year.

The winners will be announced at in Monaco on 24 November.

The youth wing of Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party has called on President Robert Mugabe to sack his deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa, and to give the post to his wife, the state-owned Herald newspaper reports, external.

Image source, AFP

Grace Mugabe was the only leader with "unquestionable loyalty" to Mr Mugabe and Zanu-PF, the Zanu-PF Youth League said.

They went on to call for the "urgent removal" of Mr Mnangagwa as the vice-president of the party and government.

See earlier post for more details

Image source, AFP

Civil war in South Sudan has made the hunger crisis much worse, despite this being the harvest season, according to a report by the government, the United Nations and a humanitarian group.

Almost five million people - close to half the population - are classified as severely food insecure. That's an increase of more than a million people on the same period last year.

Hyperinflation has caused food prices to soar as fighting across South Sudan has brought instability and economic crisis.

More than a million children are expected to be malnourished next year, and the UN says that in the worst case scenario there could be famine in several areas.

In a statement, external, Serge Tissot, the South Sudan representative of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisaton, said:

Catherine Byaruhanga
BBC Africa, Kampala

Ugandan doctors have began an indefinite strike at all government facilities, despite a reported threat to jail striking medics.

The country's doctors are protesting poor pay, a lack of medical equipment and what they say are the arbitrary arrests of their colleagues accused of corruption.

Uganda's Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda met with organisers to urge them to call off the walk out while the government looked into their demands.

However, his request was shot down with boos.

Last week, President Yoweri Museveni said he would call a state of emergency should the strike go ahead.

The Uganda Medical Association said he also threatened to arrest striking doctors - although the president's press secretary denied this.