Stanley Kwenda
BBC Africa

Ghana and Newcastle winger Christian Atsu said he would like to use the story of his own childhood to highlight the dangers of child labour and human trafficking faced by many young children in his country.

Atsu said the struggles he faced to make it as a professional footballer is a good example of the lived realities of children in Ghana.

"Growing up in Ghana I had a very difficult situation. I had no money to buy food or to get shelter. It was very difficult for me and my family," Atsu explained.

The 26-year-old said he knew he was "lucky to come out of the situation" - but was more than aware others had not had his luck.

As a result, he has decided to help build a school attached to an orphanage which cares for 50 children in his home country.

Speaking an event he organised in Newcastle, together with charity organisation, Arms Around the Child, last night, he revealed he hoped to raise £50,000 for the scheme.

"We are seeing a lot of children suffering from child trafficking and child labour so we are working hard to get them out of this situation and give them better education," Atsu, who earns a reported £10,000 a week, said.

"I think it's very important for footballers to get involved because they can inspire a lot of people to help in charity causes."

His Senegalese teammate Mohamed Diame agreed.

"Footballers are privileged people so it's important to share and give support and never forget the people in Africa," he said.

"Helping others should be a normal thing because God tells us that we have to share," Diame added.

A farm has been set alight in South Africa's KawZulu-Natal province after the shooting of a man apparently provoked rising tensions.

The South African Police Service tweeted a picture of the farm, outside the town of Eshowe, in flames this morning.

According to the tweet, a sugarcane plantation and a house was set ablaze.

Public anger spilled over following the death of the man, allegedly at the hands of farm security.

Reports are conflicting about the exact circumstances, however local news site IOL have said a 30-year-old man was killed after he was caught fishing at the farm area on Wednesday night.

A police spokesperson said the 21-year-old firing guard has been charged with murder.

They added that a case of public violence has been opened following the fire.

Tensions have been rising in South Africa in recent months, partially provoked by a video of two white farmers forcing a black man into a coffin.

However, some groups claim white farmers are disproportionately affected by violence.

Yesterday, an Australian MP said he was considering offering South Africa's white farmers fast-track visas as a result, sparking condemnation from South Africa's government.

Image source, AFP

Protesters demanding Morocco's government take action on poverty have set police cars on fire and clashed with officers.

It is the first time protests in the poor mining town of Jerada, in the north-east, have turned violent, news agency Reuters reports.

Residents have held numerous demonstrations since the death of two artisinal miners in December.

One activist told Reuters they had staged a sit-in after the interior ministry threatened decisive action unless they stopped.

Some protesters said tear gas had been used to break up the action, while an official said a number of police officers needed medical treatment.

Image source, AFP

A Malian militia has offered to return an American vehicle abandoned in a deadly attack which left four US special forces and four Nigerien soldiers dead.

The four wheel drive vehicle, which is understood to have been abandoned during the ambush in Niger in October, has come into the hands of The Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MSA), a Tuareg militia group.

MSA say they seized the vehicle, along with guns belonging to the US, during a clash with "armed bandits" on the border at the start of this week.

It is unclear if the bandits had any relation to the Islamic State militant group, an affiliate of which claimed to be behind last year's attack.

MSA, which shared photos of its haul, has now offered to return it to the US "through legal channels".

According to news agency Reuters, Colonel Mark Cheadle said the US military's Africa Command was investigating the claim.

The October attack, which saw a joint force come under fire from machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, marked the first time the US has lost soldiers in Niger.

• Read more: How did US soldiers die in Niger attack?

To mark his 29th birthday, afrobeats star Olamide has become the owner of a TV station in Nigeria.

The Bobo hit maker took to his Instagram to announce the news in a post which has more than 50,000 likes:

Lots of people have been reacting on social media, and some took to Twitter to wish him both a happy birthday and congratulate him on his latest project.

Image source, EPA

A Kenyan nurse has admitted she was the one who sent the wrong patient for brain surgery - but has blamed a heavy workload for the mistake.

Mary Nyambura Wahome told a parliamentary committee she only realised the mistake after surgeons called the ward to say they could not find the blood clot, hours into the operation.

The mix-up at Nairobi's Kenyatta National Hospital made headlines across the world after it emerged earlier this month.

Surgeons operated on a man believing he had a blood clot on the brain. However, the man who eneded up on the table, Samuel Wachir, only needed non-invasive treatment for swelling.

The parliamentary committee was told the mix-up had left Mr Wachir with memory loss.

According to local media, Ms Wahome said she was one of three nurses in charge of 61 patients that day.

The hearing also revealed only private patients were given wristbands with their names on when arriving at the hospital.

She said she had sent the man to surgery after calling out the patient's name, John Nderitu, and receiving an answer. She said the man, who she described as confused, was next to a file with Mr Nderitu's name.

Image source, Getty Images

An air hostess is understood to be seriously injured after falling from an Emirates aircraft's emergency exit in Uganda.

The woman was rushed to hospital from Entebbe International Airport, near the capital Kampala, after falling from the doorway on Wednesday.

The Boeing 777 had landed shortly before, and was preparing to welcome passengers on board before departing for Dubai.

The circumstances surrounding the fall are being investigated, with conflicting reports emerging about the incident.

However, the Dubai-based airline has confirmed the fall, telling the Khaleej Times, external:

It has taken almost a month for Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari to visit Dapchi - the town where 110 girls were snatched by Boko Haram militants.

But - as we reported yesterday - he has finally made it there.

Unfortunately, the visit does not appear to have left either parents or Nigerian social media users impressed, after pictures emerged of his large entourage and the red carpet which was rolled out on his arrival.

Mr Buhari - who promised "there will be no rest" until the schoolgirls were found - and his crew flew in on at least six helicopters to address the students, relatives and teachers of the kidnapped girls on Wednesday.

It led one mother of two missing girls to question where those soldiers were when her daughters were taken.

The president's huge security entourage, she said, was upsetting to see.

Others told the BBC they were not reassured by President Buhari's words and many are still angry at the lack of action by the government immediately after the attack.

Meanwhile, social media users could not take their eyes off the red carpet...

Arwa Barkallah
BBC Afrique, Dakar

In Senegal, eight people have died and 12 have been injured in an army helicopter crash.

The accident happened in Missirah, a town near The Gambia's northern border.

The helicopter, which was carrying 20 people, was coming back from a funeral in Ziguinchor, South of Dakar. It was carrying the body on board.

An investigation was requested by the President Macky Sall. He offered his condolences to the families of the victims.

The last big crash in Senegal happened in 2015 when seven people died in a plane crash.

Image source, AFP

Mosques in parts of the Rwandan capital have been banned from using loudspeakers for the call to prayer - just weeks after the government closed hundreds of churches in Kigali.

The ban affects Nyarugenge sector, which is home to some of the city's largest mosques.

Nyarugenge sector head Havuguziga Charles told the BBC Kinyarwanda service that the new regulations were aimed at curbing noise pollution, and had been met with little resistance by local imams.

"They have told us that it doesn’t matter (stop using loudspeakers)," he said. "I have found that they have begun to respect it and it has not stopped their followers from going to pray according to their praying time.”

However, Sheikh Salim Hitimana, head of the Supreme Muslim Council of Rwanda, told local news outlet KT Press, external the decsion had taken them by surprise.

“We are going to meet the authority that issued the directive and discuss this decision. We will then share our stand,” he said.

Another official from a Muslim association criticised the ban, saying it would be better to agree to keep down the volume and use the loudspeakers for a shorter time.

The bans comes after official actions which saw more than 700 churches and one mosque closed, mainly for breaching building regulations and noise pollution.

Some have since reopened, the government said.

The checks come ahead of a new law being introduced to govern how religious organisations are run - a move which critics see as further censorship.

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.

You can also read all the news from Wednesday if you keep scrolling down.

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 Wednesday's wise words:

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

And we leave you with this photo taken of a young child in Burundi:

South Africa's Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba has tweeted that his ministry will investigate a video of what appears to be an official at the department using her phone while working.

The one-minute video shows her looking through a passport while occasionally breaking to tap, swipe and scroll through her phone.

It appears that she was using Facebook.

The video has 60,000 views:

Ahmed Mohamed Abdi
BBC Monitoring

Image source, AFP/Getty Images

A proposed motion of no-confidence against the speaker of Somalia’s lower house of parliament, Mohamed Osman Jawari, has flopped after its submitters failed to get the required number of MPs to support it.

Reports say that of the 107 MPs who had earlier backed the proposed motion, 16 opted out.

The no-confidence vote required 92 signatories to be presented to parliament.

There have been allegations linking the prime minister’s office to the proposed motion.

MPs accuse Mr Jawari of abusing his power and being an impediment in the constitutional review process.

Mr Jawari has been the speaker of parliament since August 2012.

Read: Somalia country profile

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has promised that "there will be no rest" until all of the kidnapped Chibok and Dapchi school girls have been released.

Mr Buhari made the comments during a visit to northeastern Yobe state where Dapchi is.

The town was the site of a kidnapping of 110 girls by suspected Boko Haram militants last month.

Their capture follows the 2014 kidnapping of more than 270 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in Borno State.

Image source, Getty Images

Police in South Africa are investigating one of their own officers who is alleged to have molested young girls while investigating a sexual assault case involving primary school pupils in Johannesburg's Soweto township, news agency AFP reports.

Police Provincial Commissioner Deliwe de Lange said the allegations against the officer were "receiving the necessary attention as a matter of priority".

The forensic officer allegedly committed the assault on Monday when visiting two girls aged seven and eight at school to prepare them for a court appearance.

The pair are among 87 girls allegedly abused by a security guard at the Soweto school last year.

Provincial Education Minister Panyaza Lesufi expressed dismay at the latest "shocking and disturbing" accusations.

"A person entrusted with protecting children has violated their trust," Mr Lesufi said.

More than 100 rapes are reported to police every day in South Africa. Officers are often accused of inadequately investigating assaults and failing to treat victims properly.

Image source, Getty Images

Three terror suspects, who Kenyan authorities disrupted last month, were planning to attack government buildings, the news website Citizen Digital reports, external.

On 15 February, police found the trio hiding in a building in Isiolo, central Kenya.

In the ensuing firefight, police killed one of the men and arrested the other two.

They also recovered more than 1,000 bullets, 36 grenades, 18 IEDs and 5 AK-47s from the scene.

The Inspector-General of Kenya's police, Joseph Boinnet, said there is evidence that the group was planning a major attack in the capital, Nairobi.

"These terrorists were targeting a government building and we suspect they planned to attack a judicial building probably to rescue people being prosecuted for terror offences," Mr Boinnet said.

He added that police found 80 kg of explosives in a vehicle owned by the group, which he believes they planned to blow up.

Oluwashina Okeleji
BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

Senegal will play South Korea in an international friendly on 11 June, the South Korea Football Association (KFA) has confirmed.

Both nations will use the game as part of their preparations for this summer's World Cup in Russia.

It will be the seventh time - all in friendlies - that the two countries have met at a senior international level, with the West Africans winning three times, drawing twice and losing once.

At their first and only World Cup appearance in 2002, Senegal - led by then captain and now coach Aliou Cisse - reached the quarter-finals and beat a star-studded French side in the group stages.

This time around, they will have to get past Poland, Colombia and Japan in a tricky Group H at the Russian tournament.

Senegal's sports minister, Matar Ba, has already challenged the team to become the first ever African nation to reach the World Cup semi-finals.

Image source, Getty Images

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has said in a speech in parliament that he will not allow land grabs.

Lawmakers voted last month to back a policy for land expropriation without compensation.

Majority black citizens see it as a way of addressing historic racial inequality which saw whites - who make up 10% of the population - own the majority of the country's farmland.

"We cannot have a situation where we allow land grabs, because that is anarchy," Mr Ramaphosa said in a speech in parliament. "We cannot have a situation of anarchy when we have proper constitutional means through which we can work to give land to our people."