Yasine Mohabuth
Port Louis, Mauritius

Mauritius' former head of mission at the Commonwealth Games has been barred from leaving Australia while he is investigated over allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour by an athlete.

Kaysee Teeroovengadum has also left the athletes' village after a Mauritian athlete lodged an official complaint of sexual harassment with the police.

He had originally been allowed to remain in the village immediately after his resignation was announced.

Mr Teeroovengadum has strongly denied the allegations, describing them as unfounded.

Opposition leader Xavier-Luc Duval said it was shameful how the Mauritian Olympic Committee handled this case.

"Their inaction shocks foreigners," he said.

See earlier post for more details

It has been more than a month since South African authorities announced Ajay Gupta was a "fugitive from justice", wanted on charges related to corruption.

The only problem is, it seems no one was exactly sure where he was.

Well, wonder no more. Ajay Gupta - one of three Indian-born brothers accused of using their friendship with former President Jacob Zuma to wield power over political institutions in South Africa - is definitely in Dubai.

How do we know this? Because South African businessman Justin Van Pletzen spotted him exiting offices in the Gulf nation and then shared a handy video of the encounter, which he has since taken down.

However, The Huffington Post South Africa has a copy of the video:

In the short video, Mr Gupta tells Mr Van Pletzen he does intend to return to his adopted country - but only when they "reply" to his questions.

We don't know what those questions were.

The Guptas deny all charges laid against them.

• Want to know more about the scandal which has gripped South Africa? Read southern Africa correspondent Andrew Harding's piece here.

Stanley Kwenda
BBC Africa

Image source, EPA

Liverpool's Sadio Mane says he and his teammates will try to help Egyptian striker Mohamed Salah score more goals.

Mane spoke ahead of the Liverpool and Manchester City Champions League quarter-final tie tonight at Anfield.

"It's a very big game but everything is possible because we are playing at Anfield," said Sadio.

Acknowledging the strength of their opponents, Sadio added: "We are going to do our best and try to win the game."

Liverpool are the only side to beat Manchester City in the Premier League this season and much of their success has been largely to Salah, who has so far scored 31 goals in the league season.

"Hopefully we can assist him more so he can score more than that," said Mane.

Image source, AFP

Ghana's sports ministry has denied it had anything to do with 50 allegedly fake journalists getting visas for the Commonwealth Games.

Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Pius Enam Hadzide, told news site Graphic, external it would be launching a probe - but the visas were not awarded by his department.

“We did not sponsor journalists, we didn’t sponsor supporters, we didn’t sponsor anybody to the Commonwealth Games, we didn’t handle accreditation and for international tournaments, the ministry doesn’t handle accreditation,” he told the Ghanaian outlet.

The denial comes after it was reported about 50 people, claiming to be journalists, had arrived in Australia, ostensibly to cover the Commonwealth Games.

The Australian authorities, however, suspected they were not genuine.

Mr Hadidze told Ghana's StarrFM Online, external Australian authorities are "not convinced that some of the Ghanaians who purport to go and cover the commonwealth games intend to return to Ghana after the games”.

Cameroon's military has rescued 12 European tourists who were taken hostage in the Southwest Region, where Anglophone militants are campaigning for an independent state, AFP news agency quotes the government as saying.

The seven Swiss and five Italian nationals "were taken hostage by a band of armed terrorists" in the Nguti area of the south-west Region and were freed on Monday following a "special operation," a communication ministry statement said.

The 12 were abducted while they were on their way to the Twin Lakes tourist site, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, six municipal councillors in the neighbouring north-west Region, which has also been hit by unrest, were also freed in operations that led to "tens of assailants neutralised, huge stocks of weapons and ammunitions as well as large quantities of drug(s) seized", AFP news agency quotes the ministry as saying.

The ministry did not say when the abductions took place.

Separatists are demanding an independent state in the two mainly English-speaking regions, alleging that they are marginalised under a government dominated by French speakers.

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

There is tight security in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, ahead of an expected no confidence motion against the speaker of parliament.

Many roads are closed and the parliament building has been surrounded by the security forces.

The speaker, Mohamed Osman Jawari, says President Mohamed Farmajo has asked him to resign, but he is refusing to do so.

Mr Jawari is being accused of abusing power and blocking constitutional reforms.

Image source, AFP

Read: Somalia's rocky road to democracy

The UK could return to Ethiopia treasures taken 150 years ago - including a gold crown and a royal wedding dress - on a long-term loan, the London-based Guardian newspaper reports, external.

Ethiopia filed a restitution claim in 2007 for hundreds of artefacts and manuscripts taken during the 1868 capture of Maqdala, the mountain capital of Emperor Tewodros II in what was then Abyssinia.

Ethiopia's claim had been turned down, but the director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Tristam Hunt, had suggested a compromise, the newspaper reported.

“The speediest way, if Ethiopia wanted to have these items on display, is a long-term loan … that would be the easiest way to manage it,” he is quoted as saying.

Maqdala 1868: a display of about 20 Ethiopian objects will open at the museum tomorrow to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the battle at Maqdala.

The event has been advertised on the museum's website:

Image source, Victoria and Albert Museum

Image source, AFP

South Korea's government has distanced itself from a firm providing the Democratic Republic of Congo voting equipment derided by opposition politicians as "cheating machines".

The embassy released an official statement to news agency AFP after it emerged a South Korean firm called Miru Systems Co. Ltd. is providing the machines, unveiled by the DR Congo's Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) in February.

According to CENI President Corneille Nangaa, one machine would be able to handle the ballots of "600 to 700 voters".

But the international community has raised concerns about the use of the machines - including Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, who said the delayed vote should only be held using paper ballots.

In contrast, CENI says the machines could reduce voter fraud and will allow the long-delayed election to go ahead in December.

But South Korea's embassy appeared to share the concerns of the US ambassador.

It told AFP the machines "could give the Congolese government a pretext for undesirable results related to the elections, notably a further delay in holding the elections".

"The international community is concerned by the fact that the Congolese government could once again postpone the election or endanger the peaceful and orderly conduct of the election," the embassy added, saying the government shared its concerns.

Mr Nangaa dismissed the concerns.

Black Panther is the most successful superhero movie of all time, and officially became one of the top 10 biggest grossing films globally this week - overtaking Frozen, according to Deadline, external.

But there are still some people who have yet to experience the magic of Wakanda for themselves.

Luckily for these children, who live in some of the Kenyan capital Nairobi's most deprived area, the US Embassy decided to step in with a special screening:

We hope they enjoyed it as much as we did.

Yasine Mohabuth
Port Louis, Mauritius

Mauritius' head of mission at the Commonwealth Games in Australia has resigned after being accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour by an athlete.

Kaysee Teeroovengadum said he had quit the post so the "Mauritian delegation regains its serenity in the run-up to the start of the Games".

“However, I reserve my right to the fullest to initiate any legal action, criminal or civil, as I may be legally advised," he added.

His accuser's lawyer said an official complaint of sexual harassment has been lodged with the police in Australia.

The alleged incident occurred shortly after the team moved into the athletes' village.

“She is traumatized and uncomfortable because her room is opposite of that of her alleged attacker," lawyer Rouben Mooroongapillay said.

Teeroovengadum will continue to stay in the athletes village, despite quitting his post.

Those who opened their Commonwealth Games souvenir programmes in Australia this morning may have been surprised to find England had moved continent overnight.

The UK nation has apparently left Europe and moved to Africa.

What's more, London had been replaced by Banjul - until yesterday, the capital of Gambia.

It is unclear if Gambians will wake up this morning and find Big Ben in the middle of their main city.

AP Sports shared this photo of the programme:

The embarrassing typo was revealed just hours before the Games, where more than 4,500 athletes from 71 nations and territories are due to compete for 275 gold medals on the Australian Gold Coast, were due to be opened by the UK's Prince Charles.

Our African proverb of the day:

Click here 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 on Wednesday, 4 March.

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 checking the BBC News website.

A reminder of today's wise words:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this image taken in Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott:

As images go, it is really rather eye-catching.

An elephant, crossing a road in South Africa's most famous national park, the Kruger, carrying an unexpected parcel in the crook of her trunk.

And that is not to mention the lion acting as the might beast's personal guard of honour.

Of course, the amazing picture was not entirely what it seemed.

The clue, of course, being in the date - and the name of the photographer who captured the amazing image, Sloof Lirpa.

Anyway, even if people realised pretty quickly it was an April fool, it didn't stop them sharing - or commenting.

In fact, according to Business Insider, some 20 million people have seen, external the post.

Helen Oyibo
BBC Pidgin, Lagos

The death of a young doctor has sparked intense debate on social media in Nigeria.

The female resident died from Lassa fever in the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia, in the eastern Abia State.

The country is currently in the midst of an outbreak of the disease which killed 90 people - including health workers - in the first two months of this year alone.

One fellow doctor took to social media to say she was no longer prepared to put her life at risk without the government providing proper protection equipment:

The doctor is not alone in her concerns.

Dr Adebayo Sekunmade - who is president of the Association of Resident Doctors at Lagos University Teaching Hospital - said equipment needed was simply not available.

“The fact that the hazard allowance is a joke is not something that will encourage doctors to make sacrifices for their patients," he told BBC Pidgin.

“In that light, I think most doctors think twice before attending to patients with Lassa fever and other potentially dangerous conditions in patients.”

But the medical director of the hospital where the young doctor died defended their systems, saying it was the first death they had recorded.

“We observe universal safety precaution and all we are trying to do also is to review and strengthen what is already available in the hospital," he said.

“Nobody for sure can say that the doctor contracted the disease from the hospital, if it were possible to say so then we could say something else happened.”

Kidnappers of a Catholic priest in the Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern city of Goma in North Kivu province have demanded $500,000 (£355,000) for his release, the church said.

Father Celestin Ngango was taken away by armed men on Sunday shortly after he celebrated Easter mass in his parish.

"His kidnappers have contacted the St Paul of Karambi parish to demand $500,000 in ransom for his release," the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO) said, while demanding he be set free immediately.

North and South Kivu provinces have experienced a wave of violence among militia groups, which often extort money from civilians or fight each other for control of mineral resources.

Three priests were seized in the region in October 2012, and two others were abducted in July last year.

There has been no news of any of them since then, CENCO said.

Sammy Awami
BBC Africa, Dar es Salaam

Image source, AFP

Seven opposition leaders in Tanzania were freed on bail today following their arrest last week.

The Chadema party politicians are facing charges of sedition and incitement to violence and are scheduled to reappear in court on 16 April.

The charges are connected to a demonstration in Dar es Salaam in February which led to the death of a student, who was allegedly killed by a stray bullet while police were dispersing protesters.

As part of the bail conditions, the seven opposition politicians have to report to the central police station in Dar es Salaam every Friday.

Chadema chairman Freeman Mbowe - who was among those arrested - told the media: "We used to think this country has a petty dictatorship but now this country has a full dictatorship. We'll talk and clarify more at the right time."

Critics of the government say it's part of an ongoing crackdown on freedom of expression in Tanzania.

People across South Africa have been paying their respects to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the anti-apartheid campaigner who died aged 81 on Monday.

Photographers have been capturing shots of people in mourning - and others celebrating her remarkable life:

Image source, Reuters

Image source, AFP

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, AFP

Ivory Coast's biggest power provider - the Ivorian Electricity Company (CIE) - is training drone pilots to inspect electricity pylons.

The BBC's Matthew Davies went to the drone academy in Abidjan to hear how the drones are dramatically reducing the firm's maintenance costs.

Watch the piece below: