Almost 40 people have died after the bus they were travelling in plunged off a five-metre drop in Ethiopia, according to state media.

The accident happened in the Legambo District of the country's Amhara region, north of the capital Addis Ababa.

Local officials have confirmed 28 men and 10 women were killed.

Ten passengers have survived but suffered "serious and minor injuries", AFP quotes state-affiliated Fana Broadcast Corporate as saying.

"Most of victims of the accident are students of higher learning institutions," the broadcaster said.

Milton Nkosi
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

Image source, AFP

South Africa's government has declared a national disaster to deal with drought-stricken areas such as popular tourist destination Cape Town.

This will enable authorities to have access to special funds.

The announcement was made by Minister of Co-operative Governance Zweli Mkhize.

He said that the decision was announced at 10:00 local time (12:00GMT) following work done by the Inter-Ministerial Task Team (IMTT) on Drought and Water Scarcity.

An amount of 6 bn rand ($4.7bn; £3.4bn) was set aside in the 2018/19 budget speech for bringing relief to affected communities.

Minister Mkhize emphasised that a stringent process will be followed when allocating relief funds.

“We call on everyone in the country to use water sparingly as we are a water scarce country.”

The national disaster declaration covers a period of three months.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z's announcement of a joint tour called On The Run II features promotional art inspired by Senegalese filmmaker Djibril Diop Mambéty.

The image features the pair sitting on a motorbike with a cow skull on the handlebars, echoing Mambéty's 1973 film Touki Bouki.

Excited fans have been comparing the images on social media:

Commentators point out that Beyoncé has referenced a number of African cultures in recent years - including Yoruba deities during her performance at last year's Grammy awards, external in the US.

Image source, EPA

South Africa's former minister of finance has defended his actions before an inquiry into so-called "state capture".

Malusi Gigaba, who was named home affairs minister in a recent reshuffle, told the inquiry he always "acted in the public interest", according to local news site Fin24, external.

Mr Gigaba was one of the few people scheduled to speak at the inquiry, which is probing allegations of mismanagement into state-owned companies, to turn up today.

Lawyers acting for the Gupta brothers - the wealthy Indian-born family who have been accused of using their friendship to wield enormous political influence to aid their business interests - said they would not be attending, as they were out the country.

The Gupta family are linked to several contracts at state-owned companies.

None of them have been seen since police revealed they were seeking the arrest of one of the three brothers, Ajay.

Duduzane Zuma, the son of former president Jacob Zuma, and South Africa Airways (SAA) board chairperson Dudu Myeni also said they would not be attending.

Meanwhile, a South African court has temporarily blocked plans by state-owned power company Eskom to sign 27 renewable energy deals.

Unions asked the court to halt the agreements, saying they would put some 30,000 jobs at risk and push up prices.

Eskom was planning to finalise its deals on Tuesday, to buy green energy from independent producers. That would lead to the closure of coal-fired electricity plants.

Image source, AFP

Kenya is the country of choice when it comes to Africa's super-rich buying property, a new survey has found.

Almost a quarter of the continent's wealthiest own property in the East African nation, estate agents Knight Frank say, external.

The next nearest country is South Africa, which lags behind on just 9%.

According to Kenya's The Nation,, external it means out of the 22,970 Africans with a net worth of more than $5m (£3.5m), more than 5,500 have property in Kenya.

The report also names Karen, in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, and Cape Town's Central Business District as two of the world's luxury home hotspots.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, Reuters

The Nigerian government says it will negotiate for the release of 110 abducted schoolgirls rather than use military force.

The students were seized last month from their school in the town of Dapchi by the militant group Boko Haram.

However, the Nigerian authorities know that sending troops and aircraft in pursuit of the jihadists holding the abducted school girls is an extremely risky strategy.

President Muhammadu Buhari said the government had chosen negotiation over the military option and Nigeria was working with international organisations and negotiators to ensure that the girls were released unharmed by their captors.

Negotiations have been partially successful before. Dozens of the Chibok school girls were freed in exchange for the release of Boko Haram prisoners. The government denied a ransom was paid.

More than 100 schoolgirls are still missing four years after they were abducted from Chibok secondary school.

Our African proverb of the day:

Click here and scroll to the bottom to send us your African proverbs.

Welcome back to BBC Africa Live, where we will bring you the latest news and views from around the continent throughout the day.

And you can scroll down to see all the stories from Monday below.

That's all from the BBC Africa Live page today. Keep up-to-date with what's happening across the continent by listening to the Africa Today podcast or checking 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 of children playing on the swings in Cape Town, South Africa.

Kenya's Red Cross is giving aid to people fleeing the Ethiopian border town of Moyale amidst an ongoing military operation, according to its Twitter account.

We reported earlier how nine civilians were killed during an operation in the town on Saturday.

As a result, the Ethiopian military has said it has suspended several soldiers and launched investigations.

But it seems some residents have taken the decision to flee.

The Red Cross said 2,000 people have arrived in Kenya so far:

Moyale Mayor Aschalew Yohannes told DW Amharic some 50,000 civilians had crossed to Kenya.

The Ethiopian News Agency said soldiers were deployed to Moyale town in the Oromia region to pursue Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) fighters who had crossed into Ethiopia from three locations.

OLF is a secessionist group which the government has branded a terrorist organisation.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

The National Assembly deliberately made it impossible for Nigerians to learn exactly how much politicians were paid.

For seven years, no budget was published but advocacy groups changed that and some hard to decipher figures were released last year.

It took the outspoken Senator Shehu Sani to lift the lid from the inside.

The salaries, at around $2,000 a month, are relatively modest. But via the back door Nigeria’s senators are receiving some astonishing expense payments for which there is little accountability.

After serving two terms a senator’s expense payments total an eye-watering $3.5m. That is separate from the $500,000 a year that is for constituency projects.

You get a clue as to how some of the money is spent when you visit a senator’s office.

There will always be a queue of people waiting to have a quiet word – often expecting a hand out from the Senator’s deep pockets.

But how much stays in the pockets and how much is paid out – no one knows!

• Read the story here.

Exiled Congolese opposition leader Moise Katumbi has promised to return home by June so he can take part in the presidential elections.

Moise Katumbi, who has been living in exile since May 2016, said he would return in order to file his candidacy papers for the long-delayed election, due to take place in December.

However, there is a possibility he will be arrested as soon as he steps foot in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), as he was sentenced to three-and-a-half years behind bars for a property deal.

But while he would not be drawn on the exact date he planned to return, he added: "I'm not scared of returning to Congo."

Mr Katumbi was joined by supporters in Johannesburg, South Africa, as he unveiled his new "Together for Change" party, which he hopes will unseat President Joseph Kabila's ruling party come December.

"This fight and the successful transfer of power are national issues... so we have decided to establish a political movement known as 'Together for Change'," Mr Katumbi explained.

Mr Katumbi's impending return to DR Congo was met with scepticism by some - not least, the BBC's Africa editor, who tweeted:

Mr Kabila was supposed to step down from his role as president in 2016, when his mandate ran out.

However, the election has twice been delayed, leading to unrest in the large central African country.

A Ugandan MP who called on men to beat their wives has defended his comments to the BBC - revealing his wife had even doled out a slap in his direction on one occassion.

As Africa Live reported earlier, Onesimus Twinamasiko found himself at the centre of controversy after suggesting that "as a man, you need to discipline your wife".

The comments have not been well received in Uganda, where one in five women have been a victim of physical or sexual violence.

Bit in an interview with BBC Focus on Africa, Mr Twinamasiko attempted to clarify his comments with reference to his own marriage, saying:

"I don't mean beatings which cause injuries or death - but a slap - I would feel fine! Because it's calling me to order. We would sit down and sort it out.

"I was slapped once by my wife and it was OK with me, because we sorted out our differences. I also slapped her once. She had wronged me."

• Read the full story here.

Image source, Getty Images

Thousands of people have answered a call by the main opposition party in Guinea to march in the capital, Conarky, to protest against February's disputed local election.

Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea (UFDG) called for the city to come to a "standstill".

Youths erected roadblocks and set fire to tyres in an expression of anger against President Alpha Conde.

The march coincided with growing calls for authorities to reopen schools following a teachers' strike on 12 February.

AFP reports that several hundred demonstrators gathered outside the presidential palace, chanting anti-Conde slogans and demanding an end to the school strike.

"How can we accept the silence and contempt of the president when our children have been at home for a month?" a woman is quoted as saying.

Protests erupted after local elections on 4 February, which were won by the ruling the Rally for the Guinean People.

The elections were the country's first at a local level since 2005.

AFP reports that around 12 people have died in the unrest, some of whom were shot dead by police.

The US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has landed in Nigeria for what has become a flying visit.

Mr Tillerson arrived in Abuja on Monday afternoon, having already made a brief stop in Chad after leaving Kenya this morning.

Image source, Reuters

Mr Tillerson had originally been meant to spend the night in Nigeria before flying home, but has cut short his visit.

His staff said he had to return to Washington in order to deal with urgent matters back home.

However, he has made an impression.

In Chad, for example, he revealed the US was thinking about lifting a travel ban imposed by his boss, Donald Trump.

Image source, Reuters

Mr Tillerson praised the steps the US ally had made in strengthening control over its security and passports, according to news agency Reuters.

"These steps I think are going to allow us to begin to normalise the travel relationship with Chad," he told reporters.

Jose Tembe
BBC Africa, Maputo

Six children - five of them from the same family - have died when a fishing boat overturned close to a Mozambican tourist resort.

According to the privately-owned television, STV, the vessel went under in bad weather on its way to Vilankulos town from the island of Magaruke in the Indian Ocean.

The maritime authorities in the southern Mozambican province of Inhambane say the boat was carrying 20 people at the time.

The local maritime authorities blamed bad weather for the accident.

Accidents are common on Mozambique's rivers, lakes and sea waters, with most due to bad weather or overloading.

Nigerians are reacting in shock after it was revealed each senator is given a budget of close to $40,000 (£29,000) a month to be used on expenses of their own choice.

The money is on top of a salary of more than $2,000 a month - not to mention a yearly constituency budget of $500,000.

Nigeria's minimum wage, meanwhile, is just $50 a month.

Senator Shehu Sani, a governing party politician who revealed the figures, is calling for the scrapping of the payments, saying they were a key reason why many people went into politics.

Civil society groups in Nigeria have welcomed his decision to reveal how much they were receiving each month.

Meanwhile, on social media everyday Nigerians - who, up until now, had little hope of discovering the financial arrangements of their MPs - are venting their anger:

Image source, AFP

An official in Tanzania has called for a police crackdown against pregnant schoolgirls.

Arusha Regional Administrative Secretary Richard Kwitega told The Citizen newspaper, external the authorities were not doing enough about rising pregnancy rates.

According to Mr Kwitega, 333 schoolgirls became pregnant in his district - of whom 81 were still in primary school - in 2016 and 2017.

But instead of suggesting better education may be the best way to reduce the numbers in future, Mr Kwitega revealed his frustration lay with the police.

"Despite reporting the matter to the police, no legal action is taken against a majority of the students," he said.

Last year, Tanzania's President John Magufuli said teen mums should not be allowed to return to school.

A law passed in 2002 allows for the expulsion of pregnant schoolgirls, justifying the decision on the grounds the girls had committed "offences against morality" and "wedlock".

Men who get the girls pregnant face a possible 30 years behind bar, Mr Magufuli has also warned.

Ghana is set to ban the smoking of water-pipe tobacco, commonly known as shisha, by the middle of this year, a health official has said, Citifmonline reports., external

According to the website, Divine Darlington, from the health ministry,says research by the Ghana Health Service had shown one puff from shisha tube was the equivalent of a whole cigarette.

He said the research revealed the rate of smoking shisha and e-cigarettes among young people has shot up to 5.3%, higher than the traditional use of tobacco which stands at 2.8%, Citifmonline reports. .

Kenya's health ministry banned shisha in December, citing health concerns.

Its health ministry said that violators of the ban would be held liable for a minimum fine of $490 (£346) or imprisonment of up to six months.

Tanzania and Rwanda have also banned shisha.

Julius Malema, the firebrand leader of South Africa's Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), has scoffed at an invitation by President Cyril Ramaphosa to rejoin the ruling party.

In a tweet, he referred to the African National Congress (ANC) as "thing", calling it "dead":

He was expelled from the party, where he had been the head of the national youth league, in 2012.

President Ramaphosa had said during a voter's drive that he would love to see Mr Malema return to the party and that "he [Malema] is still ANC down, deep in his heart", eNCA reports., external

Mr Malema has been a vocal critic of ANC and was especially a thorn in the side of former President Jacob Zuma.