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 picture of two pilgrims on their way to the Touba Magal, Senegal's most popular pilgrimage which celebrates the Mouride brotherhood:

Image source, AFP

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 to express their love of football in a short poem.

The five shortlisted players will be unveiled 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

Today’s poem was penned by John Ajie, a Nigerian living in Ghana:

Football, the beautiful game.

I call her beauty because beautiful she is.

She is the exclusive loophole in my gambling abstinence agreement.

She is the exclusive loophole that temporarily relieves me of my relationship commitments.

For the beautiful game,

Many a foe have set aside their hatred for 90 minutes,

As they were overtaken,

By the globally unifying addiction that is football.

We would love to hear from you too. Please send your original short poem, which you are happy for us to publish, to BBCafricanfootballpoems@gmail.com, external

An address-finding app, external, digital trackers for emergency services, external, and 'Africa's number one music app', external have all been recognised at an awards ceremony in South Africa last night.

The Appsafrica.com Innovation Awards are in their third year, and saw entries from 31 of the continent's 54 countries this time around. The full list of winners can be found here, external.

Organisers say they want to celebrate the growth in homegrown apps.

But other African tech analysts have pointed to a very low uptake, with market researcher Yanick Lefang telling the African Tech Roundup podcast that less than 12% of people in Africa have ever downloaded an app:

Image source, AFP

A top South Sudanese military commander has defected and joined the largest rebel group fighting troops loyal to President Salva Kiir.

Lt Col Chan Garang, an ally of former army chief Paul Malong, defected with 200 soldiers, Reuters news agency reports.

The commander said that he had defected because Mr Malong's allies were being badly treated.

He added that troops had not been paid for seven months and other ethnic groups were being discriminated against.

"I left Juba because when are you are a supporter of Paul Malong, you will be arrested," he said.

President Kiir, Mr Malong and Lt Col Garang are ethnic Dinkas and any split within the powerful group could represent a threat to Mr Kiir.

Mr Malong who is under house arrest in the capital Juba was sacked in May.

UN investigators blame the former army chief of directing militias responsible for the rape, torture and murder of civilians.

Over the weekend, government troops surrounded his house in the capital and unsuccessfully attempted to disarm his bodyguards. An armed stand-off continues outside his house, Reuters reports.

Garang said he was preparing for an offensive: "We are preparing our army so that we can launch an attack on Juba. Salva Kiir divided the tribes so we need him to go."

Malong was unreachable by phone, but his wife Lucy Ayak distanced her husband from the defected commander.

"[If Garang] is not happy with the government and he has deserted. Why is he saying it is the issue of General Malong?," she asked Reuters.

The four-year civil war in South Sudan which broke out in 2013 has split the country along ethnic and regional lines.

A third of the population of 12 million have fled their homes and half are dependent on food aid.

Ishaq Khalid
BBC Africa, Abuja

Four female suicide bombers were involved in the attack in Nigeria's north-eastern city of Maiduguri earlier today.

At least eight people were wounded in the attack.

Two of the suicide bombers detonated their explosives near the University of Maiduguri killing themselves.

The other two targeted a military check-point in the outskirts of the city. One blew herself up while the other was shot dead before she could detonate her device.

We had reported earlier that all four attackers had blown themselves up, but have since received clarification.

Emergency officials say many people were wounded - six of them critically.

The multiple explosions in the city of Maiduguri happened just hours after the Nigerian military engaged Boko Haram militants in fierce gun battles in the town of Gulak in neigbouring Adamawa state.

The authorities say three people including a military personnel were killed there.

Reports say there were heavy casualties. But the authorities say one soldier and two civilians were killed with many others wounded.

The number of casualties on the side of Boko Haram is unclear as they carried them along while they fled.

These attacks further indicate that Boko Haram militants are still a threat in the north-east of Nigeria, despite significant gains recorded by the military in the fight against the insurgents.

She's the second wife of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and a political force in the making, with some speculating that the sacking of the country's vice-president will pave the way for her to step into her husband's shoes as leader.

But what else do we know about Grace Mugabe?

Our correspondent Milton Nkosi shares this one-minute explainer:

More from BBC Minute here.

Image source, Getty Images

Kenya's Olympic marathon champion Jemima Sumgong has been suspended for four years for doping.

The 32-year-old was found to have taken banned blood-booster EPO in an out-of-competition test in her home country.

Sumgong, who also tested positive for a banned substance in 2012, won the London Marathon in 2016 before claiming gold in Rio, becoming the first Kenyan woman to take the title.

Her ban starts from 3 April, when she was provisionally suspended.

EPO, also known as erythropoietin, is a hormone that can increase endurance and, in athletics, is used mainly by long distance-runners.

Between 2011 and 2016, more than 40 Kenyan track-and-field athletes failed doping tests.

Among those sanctioned was Sumgong's former training partner Rita Jeptoo, 36, who was banned for four years following a positive test for EPO in 2014.

Sumgong was in involved in a dramatic incident in last year's London Marathon when she fell during the race but recovered to win the title.

Watch it here:

Read more on BBC Sport here.

Image source, AFP

The African Union (AU) has announced that up to 1,000 of its soldiers will leave Somalia by the end of this year.

The decision to downscale the AU security mission, also referred to as Amisom, comes in the wake of two major bomb attacks in Mogadishu last month which together left at least 370 dead.

Soliders from Burundi, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Djibouti make up the 22,000-strong Amisom force fighting al-Shabab militants.

Ambassador Francisco Caetano Madeira, the AU representative to Somalia, has sought to reassure, saying:

Our colleague Abdi Nassesr Ahmed told Focus on Africa a short while ago that Amisom's announcement "might be part of an exit strategy which many think is overdue", noting that the force was first deployed exactly 10 years ago.

Amisom troops have also complained of a 20% cut in funding in recent times.

Despite the Somali national army's lack of training and equipment, Abdi adds, it could be a morale boost to for them to take up more responsibility in the fight against al-Shabab - as well as a chance to prove their commitment by preventing a security vacuum.

"Maybe they will receive the funds that have been going to Amisom until now", he says.

Alhassan Sillah
BBC Africa, Conakry

Journalists in Guinea have been out on the streets of the capital, Conakry, today protesting what they call bullying and intimidation of the press by the authorities.

Things came to a head last week when false rumors that President Alpha Condé had died began to circulate, and subsequently journalists from a privately-owned Gangan radio station were accused of starting the rumour and detained.

Colleagues who went to secure their release were beaten by security forces, had their equipment destroyed and their radio station taken of the air.

The government has yet to comment on the restrictions.

A few days later another radio station called Espace FM - possibly the most vocal in the country - was shut down by the authorities, after journalists there lampooned the status of the military as they celebrated 59 years of existence.

The government said this was tantamount to incitement.

Many journalists have had enough and are taking to the streets, as you can see from these pictures I took a short while ago:

Image source, Alhassan Sillah/BBC

Image source, Alhassan Sillah/BBC

Image source, Alhassan Sillah/BBC

Image source, Alhassan Sillah/BBC

Laeila Adjovi
BBC Africa, Dakar

In Togo, opposition protesters are back on the street of the capital, Lomé, despite a heavy police and military presence.

The protests are part of an ongoing call for President Faure Gnassingbé to resign.

A Togolese activist has shared pictures of the protests:

Demonstrations were however prohibited in the central city of Sokodé, one of the main opposition strongholds.

Security forces dispersed public gatherings in the city with some protesters saying that they had been attacked by the officers.

According to the Minister of Security, Damehane Yark, protests in Sokodé were not allowed because weapons were found and confiscated in the city during previous protests.

Most demonstrators are demanding political change and the return of the 1992 constitution which imposed presidential term limits.

They are opposed to the rule of President Gnassingbé who came into office in 2005 after taking over from his father Gnassingbé Eyadema, who had seized power in a coup in 1967, seven years after independence.

This renewed wave of protests comes despite what are described as appeasement measures by the government.

In the past few days, the ban on weekday protests was lifted, and on Monday, the government announced that 42 people tried and detained after recent violent protests would be released.

The move is meant “to safeguard peace and social cohesion in Togo”, Yaovi Attigbe Ihou, the minister of industry and tourism said in a statement on national television.

He added that the government is keen to open a broad dialogue with the whole political class in Togo.

Anti-government demonstrations began in mid-August and have resulted in violent clashes with the police.

At least 17 people have died and hundreds others injured in the past three months.

A video of Tanzania's President John Magufuli publicly scolding a government official is being shared on Twitter.

In the 30-second clip Mr Magufuli asks Mwantum Kitwana Dau to state how much money had been set aside for a road fund.

Ms Dau says that she doesn't know and doesn't want to lie about it.

Watch the exchange here ( in Swahili)

The Reuters news agency reports that she and another senior were sacked on Monday following the incident.

A statement issued by the president's office said Ms Dau, the director of the Bukoba Rural Municipal Council, and Erasto Aron Mfugale, the director of the Bukoba Municipal Council, would be assigned to other duties, Reuters reports.

The two dismissed officials were not available for comment, Reuters says.

In one part of the tense exchange Ms Dau said that she oversees many departments and could not immediately recall the exact budget allocated for road projects.

Mr Magufuli replied, "You can't talk to me like that."

The president, who is nicknamed the "bulldozer" for his aggressive style of leadership, is known to make spot visits at government offices and berating officials who he believes are not doing their work.

Critics have, however, accused him of being authoritarian.

Chris Ewokor
BBC Africa, Abuja

Image source, AFP

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari is billed to present the 2018 spending plans to the parliament this afternoon - it is first time the president is doing so earlier than December.

The budget estimates will likely amount to a record 8.6 trillion Naira (almost $23.9bn; £18bn).

This will mean an increase of about 15% on this year's budget, and will see oil production increase to 2.3 million barrels per day at a benchmark of $45 per barrel.

In a bid to overcome its poor revenue caused by low oil prices Nigeria has increased its budget each year since President Buhari took office in May 2015.

His government plans to fund the budget by boosting oil production, which makes up about two-thirds of government revenues, to 2.3 million barrels per day as well as raising taxes on luxury goods to 15%.

With a total debt of $62.9bn as of the first quarter of 2017, the president recently sought approval from lawmakers to borrow $5.5bn to help plug part of this year’s deficit.

Image source, AFP

A Danish man whose freezer contained women's genitals has been found guilty of various crimes by a South African court - but not female genital mutilation.

Peter Frederiksen was found guilty of rape, production and possession of child pornography, conspiracy to murder and numerous other charges.

But the charges relating to mutilating women were dropped last month.

A judge was unable to find him guilty due to a loophole in South African law.

According to local media, the law was unclear on what penalties removing body tissue without consent should carry.

Police found 21 women's body parts in his freezer in Bloemfontein in 2015, neatly labelled in plastic bags with a date, the name of a woman and where she was from, the BBC's Milton Nkosi reported at the time.

Frederiksen, who was also wanted in his native Denmark for alleged illegal dealing in firearms, was arrested and held in prison while he awaited trial.

His wife Anna Matseliso Molise was due to testify against her husband at his trial.

However, she was killed a month later, dying in hospital after being shot four times outside her home in Maseru, Lesotho.

Read the full story here.

Police in Uganda have disputed a story in today's state-linked newspaper New Vision, that officers from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are investigating a spate of murders of women in the country.

They said in a statement that a special police unit was in charge of investigating the murders which have claimed the lives of at least 20 women, as reported in September.

They have asked the public to ignore the New Vision story:

The victims were reported to have been killed over a period of four months in and around the Ugandan capital, Kampala.

Here is one of their stories:

Teenager and self-styled "emoji campaigner" Rayouf Alhumedhi has made digital history, by calling for an emoji to represent women who wear hijabs.

Rayouf says she was tired of not being able to find herself in the global gallery of pixels at her fingertips:

She told The Cultural Frontline about how, through the work of graphic designer Aphee Messer, the hijabi emoji was born:

The author of a controversial new book about President Jacob Zuma's alleged financial irregularities says he has received death threats.

Jaques Pauw, investigative journalist and author of The President’s Keepers‚ says he was contacted on the telephone last night by an anonymous caller who told him:

The author says it was the third death threat he has received since publishing his book. He told eNCA news, external how he is dealing with the threats:

Last week, South Africa's spy agency demanded the withdrawal of The President’s Keepers, saying it is "replete with inaccuracies" and contravenes the Intelligence Service Act.

The State Security Agency threatened to go to court if NP publishers failed to withdraw the book, which alleges that Mr Zuma had for four months received a "salary" from a businessman - over and above his government-paid presidential salary - and had failed to declare it to the tax collection agency, the South African Revenue Services.

After excerpts of the book were published in Sunday newspapers, Mr Zuma's spokesman issued a statement, denying any wrongdoing by the president and saying he was the victim of a "smear campaign".

"The tax matters of the president are in order," the statement added.

Pauw has since said, external he is prepared to seek punitive costs orders against that State Security Agency (SSA) if it approaches the courts for an interdict against him.

The book has proven to be hugely popular, with News 24 reporting, external that the first print sold out on the day of the release and more are being printed.

The author himself, external has even encouraged would-be readers who cannot afford to buy the book to enjoy PDF copies of his book circulating online:

BBC World Service

Four female suicide bombers have blown themselves up in the north-eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri.

So far it is reported that only the bombers were killed. Several people were hurt.

The city is where the Islamist militant group, Boko Haram, was founded.

As we reported earlier suspected jihadists attacked the town of Gulak overnight in the neighbouring state of Adamawa, forcing hundreds of civilians to flee.

Officials and residents say fighting with the Nigerian military resulted in heavy casualties, including civilians, but it is not yet clear exactly how many people died.

A Kenyan journalist has shared a picture of a group of cows walking alongside one of the main roads in the capital, Nairobi.

His tweet jokes about "armed cows" and warns people to be cautious.

It is in relation to a police statement over the weekend defending the security forces for having killed hundreds of cows in the central Laikipia region.

The police said that the animals were killed because the armed gunmen had taken cover among them.

Herders in search for pasture for their animals have trespassed in private farms and ranches in the region leading to violent clashes.

The government has sent security officers to the region to drive out the pastoralists but they have faced resistance.

Famous model Winnie Harlow has it, as did Michael Jackson.

Vitiligo is a long-term condition where pale white patches develop on the skin or hair, affecting around 1% of the world's population.

The affected areas of the body lose pigment, when the cells that produce melanin disappear.

Experts are still not exactly sure what causes vitiligo, although some suspect it is an autoimmune disorder.

Ogo Maduewesi from Lagos in Nigeria developed the condition at the age of 30. She tells BBC Minute why a lack of understanding has made it a difficult journey:

Image source, AFP

Former Nigerian international footballer Michael Emenalo, who served as the technical director for English Premier League club Chelsea, has resigned.

Emenalo was in the job for 10 years.

The 52-year-old, who played for Nigeria at the 1994 World Cup, joined Chelsea in 2007 under then-club manager Avram Grant, for whom he played at Maccabi Tel Aviv.

He worked in both scouting and coaching departments at Chelsea before being promoted to technical director in 2011.

During his time at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea won the Champions League in 2012, plus three Premier League titles, three FA Cups, the League Cup and Europa League. Emenalo said:

Chelsea boss Antonio Conte said:

Read the full story on BBC Sport.