The shock announcement by Arsenal's long-serving manager that he will leave the club at the end of the season has got the continent talking.

In Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa his name is the top trending topic on Twitter.

Wenger, 68, has been at the helm for nearly 22 years.

Nicknamed "the professor", the Frenchman has had a successful reign though full of frustration for fans who have become disillusioned by his managing style especially in recent years.

There have been growing calls for him to resign with the hashtag #WengerOut being used to put pressure on the club to sack him.

The hashtag was one of our selected stories for 2017.

His critics see him as an entitled and arrogant. Others compared him to former Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe who was forced out of power after 37 years.

Here's a sample of some of the social media reaction from the continent:

Mariantonietta Peru
BBC Monitoring

South Sudan military chief James Ajongo Mawut has died, the privately owned National Courier reports.

"South Sudan is in shock today as the untimely death of chief of defence force is announced - a man of immense integrity and courage with ironclad liberation credentials. General Ajongo’s death is a sad loss for the army," the National Courier said in a Facebook post.

Gen Ajongo was reportedly being treated for a kidney ailment in Egypt. Last week, his family denied media reports that he had died.

“He is responding well and will soon return home to live among his people and continue to discharge his national duties," the family said in a statement.

He was appointed head of Sudan People's Liberation Army in May last year.

He replaced General Paul Malong, who recently rebelled against President Kiir.

A photographer in Kenya's Nairobi National Park has snapped a lion with an on-trend hairstyle.

Paras Chandaria told the UK news site Daily Mail, external that he thought the animal's unusual look was "awesome".

Male lions, unlike lionesses, tend to have full and bushy manes.

Mr Chandaria suggested that the big cat had had some grooming:

The Star newspaper in Kenya has tweeted the picture of the animal.

BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa is due to attend a meeting of regional African National Congress (ANC) party chiefs in the North West province later today to try to quell a wave of unrest that has broken out there.

Violent clashes in the city of Mahikeng prompted Mr Ramaphosa to cut short his participation in the Commonwealth summit in London.

On Wednesday, protesters accusing the provincial premier of corruption barricaded roads and set vehicles ablaze.

It's the worst unrest since President Ramaphosa took office in February.

He has promised to tackle corruption which his predecessor Jacob Zuma is accused of allowing to thrive.

Image source, AFP

Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has revealed that she was sexually assaulted at the age of 17 by a "powerful man in the media" in Lagos who she has not named.

The writer, who has been a prominent supporter of the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct, shared her story in a speech at the Stockholm Forum for Gender Equality in Sweden:

She described the loathing and anger she felt after the assault:

Reflecting on the effect the assault had had on her, she added that she had been a feminist "long before she knew what the word meant".

Many people on social media have praised her for speaking out:

Image source, AFP

Sacked state hospital nurses in Zimbabwe are planning to hold an open air clinic today to showcase the limited resources they work with.

A notice by the nurses union says that the event will be held in the capital, Harare and the south-western city of Bulawayo from noon local time.

The union said its members will offer consultation, counselling, vital observation and take patients' pulses.

It added: "As nurses we are ready and able to provide care to Zimbabweans but we cannot continue to work under the current conditions that have been forced upon us by the government."

The body also appealed to the public to support their cause by wearing white clothes.

The government fired 15,000 nurses on Wednesday after they failed to call off their strike demanding better wages.

A spokesman for President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the government was recruiting unemployed nurses and recalling retired nurses below the age of 70 who were willing to work.

Today's African proverb:

Image source, AFP

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

Welcome to BBC Africa Live where we will bring you the latest news from around the continent.

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:

And we leave you with this from an artist based in Cotonou, Benin:

Uche Akolisa
BBC Igbo, Lagos

A Nigerian university lecturer has been suspended for allegedly demanding sex in return for improved grades.

An investigation was launched by Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Osun state after a lecturer in a leaked audio recording seemed to offer a student who had failed a course an opportunity to pass if she agreed to have sex with him five times.

Abiodun Olarenwaju, OAU’s public relations officer, told the BBC it had been established that the voices in the recorded telephone conversation, that went viral, were that of Richard Akindele, a business professor, and a postgraduate student at the university.

He said the investigating committee had established “a prima facie case”.

The lecturer at government-run university had been suspended pending a “final determination of disciplinary case against him”, Mr Olarenwaju said.

Prof Akindele has not commented publicly on the case.

• Read more about sexual harassment at a university in Uganda: 'My lecturer tried to rape me'

Image source, Getty Images

Parliament in Guinea-Bissau has convened for the first time in nearly two years, reports the AFP news agency.

The parliament has not been able to function because the president sacked the prime minister and the ruling party was not able to agree on a new candidate.

It all started with squabbles over international aid money, according to insiders who spoke to journalist Lorraine Mallinder., external

In 2015 donors pledged, external $1.5bn (£1bn) to Guinea-Bissau.

President José Mario Vaz wanted to use the money for private agriculture project in his home village but then-Prime Minister Domingos Simões Pereira resisted, the sources suggested.

A few months later the president sacked Mr Pereira.

However, the ruling party sided with the sacked prime minister and a stalemate ensued, with the two sides unable to agree on a replacement.

Earlier this year the West African regional body Ecowas imposed sanctions on the country and finally on Monday the president named veteran politician Aristides Gomes as the new prime minister, reports VOA news, external.

The spokesman for Kaduna’s governor, Samuel Aruwan, has denied that the northern Nigerian state has sacked more than 4,500 teachers for incompetence.

Earlier, an education official in Kaduna told the BBC the new recruits had been fired because they hadn’t been able to write acceptance letters.

A teacher has also told the BBC that she was one of those whose employment was terminated before she took up her post.

The state has been on a recruitment drive after sacking about 22,000 primary school teachers last year for failing a test set for their six-year-old pupils.

A soon-to-be released Hollywood film is set to tell the story of a diving resort in Sudan which was a base in the 1980s for Israeli agents with a secret mission to rescue Ethiopian Jews.

The resort in Arous, on the shores of the Red Sea, was set up and run for more than four years in the early 1980s by operatives from the Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency.

They used it as a cover for an extraordinary humanitarian mission - to rescue thousands of beleaguered Ethiopian Jews stranded in refugee camps in Sudan and evacuate them to Israel.

Some 14,000 Beta Israelis made a perilous 800km (500-mile) journey by foot along with over a million other Ethiopians seeking refuge across the Sudanese border.

Some of the first evacuations were organised by sea but when that became too dangerous and they were secretly airlifted out of the country.

Read the whole story on the BBC News website: The holiday village run by spies

Christine Imbosa Maloba tells the BBC how she was rejected by friends and family after being diagnosed in Kenya with cervical cancer:

Video produced by David Whitty and Rajni Boddington

Football's governing body, Fifa, has fined the Lao Football Federation (LFF) 690,000 CHF ($711,000; £500,000), external after the BBC revealed African footballers as young as 14 were being trafficked there.

Fifa regulations prohibit the movement of players to a foreign club or academy until they are 18.

But Laos side Champasak United imported 23 under-age players from West Africa to an unregistered football academy in 2015.

The club fielded overseas players as young as 14 in league games.

One 14-year-old player, Liberia's Kesselly Kamara, told the BBC that his contract promised him a salary and accommodation, but he was never paid and had to sleep on the floor of the club's stadium - as did the rest of the travelling party.

Jose Tembe
BBC Africa, Maputo

An initiation ceremony for new undergraduates in Mozambique has caused outrage after photos circulated on social media showing the students being forced to drink and bath in urine and faeces.

Image source, WhatsApp

Some of the first-year students at Unizambeze's agriculture, forestry and engineering faculty in central Zambezia province also had their heads shaved.

According to privately owned STV, the initiation happened a few days ago.

One victim, Artemiza Nhantumbo, told the broadcaster about her experience:

Another student, Quiteria Jorge, said the second-year students pulled them out of their classrooms to do the initiation:

This has not pleased parents of the students, who have urged the authorities to take measures against the culprits.

Cardoso Miguel, provincial director of higher education, said an investigation was now under way, “As we can see from images on social media, it’s clear that the behaviour this initiation was improper.

"The inquiry committee will assess the degree of involvement of each student - some will probably be suspended, and others may be expelled.”

Initiation ceremonies for new undergraduates are not officially sanctioned but are a common practice at most universities in the country, usually organised by second-year students.

South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has decided to prosecute Duduzane Zuma - the son of former president Jacob Zuma - for culpable homicide, local media reports.

Duduzane Zuma's Porsche hit the back of a minibus in Johannesburg in 2014, killing one woman instantly.

At an inquest that year, the ex-president's son said he had lost control of his car after driving into a puddle.

The inquest recommended he was prosecuted but the NPA said there wasn't enough evidence to charge him.

In October 2017, AfriForum - a group that campaigns to protect the rights of white Afrikaners - said it would prosecute him privately.

ENCA reports, external that it is now unclear what will happen to that prosecution.

Ibrahim Aydid
BBC Monitoring, Nairobi

Image source, Getty Images

A Kenyan court has declared that plans by the government to tap private phone conversations is illegal, the Daily Nation reports, external.

The Communication Authority (CA) and the government wanted three telecommunications networks to “tap computers on their behalf by planting spy gadgets on all networks”.

But Justice John Mativo has declared the plan “illegal and violation of consumer rights”.

He ruled that the move was adopted in a manner “inconsistent with the constitution”, saying there was inadequate public participation prior to adoption and implementation of the system.

Swaziland's King Mswati III has changed the name of Swaziland to eSwatini, the BBC's Nomsa Maseko has tweeted:

The monarch made the announcement at the dual celebration to mark his 50th birthday and the country's 50 years of independence:

The kingdom of Swaziland - or should we say Eswatini - is one of the world's last remaining absolute monarchies where the king rules by decree over his subjects.

Sammy Awami
BBC Africa, Dar es Salaam

Tanzania’s top music star Diamond Platnumz has apologised for posting a video clip on Instagram of himself playfully kissing a woman.

He removed it from his account earlier this week after he was questioned by police.

The authorities have deemed the footage to be indecent, in breach of Tanzania’s culture and in violation of new laws regulating online content.

The award-winning "bongo flava" star told reporters this morning why he realised that he had been in the wrong:

His apology comes after he met top officials at the country’s communication regulatory authority, the body charged with implementing the controversial regulations that came into force a few weeks ago.

Apart from censoring obscene content, the legislation requires bloggers to pay a hefty registration fee of more than $900 (£630).

Many activists, online content providers and ordinary users have accused the government of using these regulations to suppress freedom of expression.

Read more: Why Diamond Platnumz is in trouble for a kiss