BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

Madagascar's highest court has revoked parts of a new electoral law that has seen opposition activists take to the streets.

It has ruled that the revision of electoral lists and the length of campaigns prescribed in the law are unconstitutional.

Opposition MPs and their supporters accuse President Hery Rajaonarimampianina of manipulating the electoral law to his advantage.

They've occupied a square in the capital, Antananarivo, for a fortnight.

On Thursday, the defence minister and the heads of the security forces urged the government and the opposition to resolve Madagascar's political crisis.

Fans of English football club Arsenal are still reeling from last night's defeat in the Europa Cup semi-final.

Supporters had hoped that the team would make it to the final and hopefully win the trophy as a perfect send-off to long-serving coach Arsene Wenger, who is leaving at the end of the season after two decades.

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, who is an ardent Arsenal fan, tweets that the loss was an unfortunate end to Wenger's time at the club:

Mr Kagame was among supporters calling for Mr Wenger to be replaced at the club.

He added that he hopes that the club will soon return to its glory days:

Image source, AFP

Mozambique's main opposition Renamo party said on Thursday evening that its long-serving leader, Afonso Dhlakama, has died of a heart attack. He was 65.

Mr Dhlakama led Renamo during a 15-year rebellion against the Mozambican government, which ended in 1992.

He was supported by white-led governments in South Africa and what was then Rhodesia.

Renamo was accused of mass killings, mutilations and the use of child soldiers.

After the end of the civil war, Renamo became Mozambique's main opposition party.

Its supporters continued to periodically clash with government forces.

Former BBC journalist Zenaiado Machado says Mozambique's President Filipe Nyusi has called Afonso Dhlakama's death "a very bad moment".

The two leaders had recently held meetings and Mr Dhlakama was seen as having a key role in Mozambique's developing peace process.

"Mr Dhlakama's death and the unknown succession plan within Renamo will bring uncertainty," says Zenaida Machado, now a Mozambique specialist at Human Rights Watch.

"It raises critical questions about the next Renamo leader's ability to control hundreds of armed men in the bush and negotiate a long-lasting peace deal with the government."

She says Mr Dhlakama will be remembered for challenging the abuses of the governing Frelimo party, but also for allowing his own forces to commit serious human rights violations with impunity.

Read more:

• Mozambique country profile
• Mozambique timeline

Four miners who were trapped after an earthquake on Thursday in Masakhane gold mine, west of the main city of Johannesburg, have died, News 24 reports , externalquoting the mine spokesman.

The victims were part of a group of 13 miners working when a seismic movement struck causing a cave-in, news agency Reuters reports.

Mine spokesperson James Wellsted said five other mine workers were admitted to hospital and are in a stable condition.

He added that six others remain trapped underground, saying: "We have located three of the six workers, but the other three are still uncounted for."

In February, 955 miners were trapped the Beatrix mine is in Welkom town, about 290km (180 miles) south-west of Johannesburg.

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 resume our coverage of 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 picture from the streets of Lagos:

The Egyptian footballer Mo Salah is the man of the moment, having led Liverpool to the Champions League final.

But it turns out he is not unique, looks wise anyway.

Check out his lookalike in Cairo. You'll struggle to see the difference:

Jose Tembe
BBC Africa, Maputo

Image source, EPA

The Mozambican government says it has made around $525,000 (£386,190) available for the victims of the rubbish dump that collapsed in the capital, Maputo, in February, killing 17 people.

The pile of waste, some 15m (49ft) high, gave way in heavy rains. The dump was home to some of the city's poorest residents, who build makeshift camps amid the rubbish.

Maputo mayor David Simango said each of the 270 families living in temporary camps will be given $2,000 so that they can rent accommodation for 12 months while the government builds houses for them about 25km (15.5 miles) north of the city.

Mr Simango made the announcement while visiting one of the two temporary makeshift camps where the families are living.

Image source, AFP

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has been forced to make a "technical stop-over" in London after meeting US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, his spokesman Garba Shehu has said.

"The big jet is under repair. So, the president is using a small plane and there is a limit to the distance the small plane can cover," he told AFP.

"The technical stop-over I talked about is that the journey from US to Abuja is broken into two," Mr Shehu added.

Last year, Mr Buhari, 75, spent months in the UK receiving treatment for an unspecified illness.

Meanwhile, Nigeria's ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo has accused Mr Buhari of a "mediocre performance" when he met Mr Trump.

“For whatever the meeting was worth, President Buhari again bungled another opportunity to self-redeem. No wonder President Trump ordered him in a rather condescending manner to go back home and stop the killings going on in Nigeria!," Mr Obasanjo was quoted in a statement issued by his media aide, Kehinde Akinyemi.

Mr Obasanjo backed Mr Buhari in his bid for the presidency in 2015, but has refused to endorse him for a second term in elections due in February.

Mr Obasanjo's statement said only three things came out of the meeting between Mr Buhari and Mr Trump:

* The US will continue to purchase less crude oil from Nigeria "and there is nothing Nigeria under Buhari can do" about it

* The US will export agricultural products to Nigeria "and Buhari’s government will encourage that"

* All the killings taking place in Nigeria by herdsmen are being done by expatriates trained by ex-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi "and no Nigerian is to blame and Buhari cannot do anything to stop it".

Mr Buhari has not responded to Mr Obasanjo's criticism.

Image source, Getty Images

Frenchman Sebastien Migne has been appointed as the new football coach of Kenya's national team on a three-year deal.

The 45-year-old replaces Belgian Paul Put who stepped down for personal reasons in February after just three months in the job.

Migne quit as coach of Congo-Brazzaville at the end of March after a year in charge of the Red Devils.

His first major task will be to lead the Harambee starts to the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon next year.

Read more on BBC Sport.

Image source, Getty Images

Athletics South Africa has said it will challenge the new rules of the world athletics governing body, IAAF, on testosterone levels in female athletes.

The changes mean some female runners with naturally high testosterone levels will have to race against men or take medication if they wish to compete.

South African Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya could be affected.

In a statement, Athletics South Africa said it will challenge the new regulations because "we have found them to be skewed".

If the IAAF failed to drop the rule, it will take its case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, Athletics South Africa said.

It referred to the case of Indian 100m and 200m runner Dutee Chand, who went through her own legal battle against the IAAF and won.

The landmark ruling questioned the validity of so-called gender tests around naturally high testosterone levels in female athletes.

Athletics South Africa added that it "once again takes the opportunity to re-affirm our support for all our athletes who may be affected by this new ruling".

BBC World Service

Three United Nations agencies have launched a joint appeal for financial aid to tackle the food crisis in the Sahel region of Africa.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation, the United Nations Children's Fund and the World Food Programme want to raise more than $600m (£450m) for the six countries affected.

About five-million people are facing food shortages, with drought conditions exacerbating the impact of armed conflict and migration.

The agencies say conditions this year during the lean months from April to September are likely to be the toughest in the Sahel for four years.

Ahmed Ambali
BBC Yoruba, Lagos

Image source, Dino Melaye/Facebook

A magistrate court has refused to give bail to flamboyant Nigerian senator Dino Melaye, orderig that he should remain in police custody for 38 days.

Mr Melaye was arraigned in court on a range of charges, including gun-running and kidnapping. He denies the charges.

A media aide of the senator told BBC Yoruba that as law abiding citizens,’’we accept the judgement", handed down by the court in Lokoja city in Kogi State, north-central Nigeria.

The judgement was, however, "orchestrated by powers that be’" and God would intervene to give ‘’victory to the senator,’ he added.

The court handed down its ruling in Lokoja city in north-central Nigeria's Kogi State.

Two suspects in police custody have alleged that the senator was their financier, and had supplied them with weapons to cause mayhem in Kogi State.

Mr Melaye has dismissed the allegations as being part of a campaign to end his political career.

See earlier post: Melaye wheeled to court

Visit the BBC Yoruba news site here

Nigerian authorities say they have raided four pharmaceutical companies and found signs they were producing more codeine cough syrup than they were allowed.

It follows a BBC Pidgin and BBC Africa Eye investigation showing that the syrup was being sold on the black market, and young Nigerians were getting high on it.

After the documentary was aired, Nigeria has announced a ban on the production and import of cough syrup containing codeine.

• Watch the full documentary, external.
• Read: Ban 'drives up black market prices'

Image source, Getty Images

Two black rhino adults and one calf were killed in Kenya's famous Meru National Park last night, according to a tourism ministry spokesman.

Security teams reacted swiftly after hearing gunshots at around 6.30pm local time, and laid ambushes at strategic points until the morning, but they failed to arrest the poachers, Mulei Muia said.

The bodies of the animals were found with the horns missing, he added.

In traditional Chinese medicine, rhino horn is sold as a cure to everything from cancer to impotence.

The horn is a more valuable than cocaine, heroin or gold - and can fetch between $25,000 and $60,000 per kilo.

• Read more: The strange figures behind a secret trade of rhino poaching

A court in South Africa has sentenced a forex trader to 32 years in prison for murdering his ex-girlfriend by stabbing her and then trying to conceal his crime by burning her body.

Judge Peet Johnson described Sandile Mantsoe, 28, as a "devil in disguise" for murdering Karabo Mokoena, 23.

"She died on behalf of abused women. Abused women need to know they can be protected from the likes of you," the judge was quoted by the local IOL news site as saying, external.

Mantsoe was arrested after the charred remains of Mokoena was found in a shallow grave near a suburb of the main city, Johannesburg, in April 2017.

Ms Mokoena's murder sparked outrage in South Africa, where femicides are around five times higher than the global average.

It also led to online accounts of physical and sexual abuse by men using the hashtag "MenAreTrash".

Mantsoe ran the company Trillion Dollar Legacy and was described in a video posted on You Tube as the "Moses of financial freedom", external, but his critics accused him of operating a bogus investment firm which conned people out of their hard-earned cash., external

Larry Madowo
BBC Africa Business Editor

Image source, Getty Images

Cambridge Analytica, the political consultancy at the centre of the Facebook data-sharing scandal, is shutting down, leaving many questions about its involvement in Kenya and Nigeria.

While regulators and lawmakers in the US and UK have scrutinised the company’s work concering data protection and privacy regulations, nothing has been forthcoming from Africa.

We may never know the extent of Cambridge Analytica's work in Africa, and if it broke any laws.

Here's a reminder of the accusations:

In Kenya

Executives bragged in a secret recording by Channel 4 News that they had run President Uhuru Kenyatta’s campaigns in 2013 and 2017 - saying they had "staged the whole thing".

The firm is accused of being behind a deeply divisive campaign that exploited ethnic tensions to manipulate voters.

Cambridge Analytica has not commented but Mr Kenyatta's Jubilee Party has downplayed the impact of the group, saying it only employed the company's parent company, SCL, to help with branding.

In Nigeria

SCL reportedly worked for former President Goodluck Jonathan’s losing 2015 re-election campaign, using Israeli computer hackers to find dirt on his opponent Muhammadu Buhari.

SCL told the Guardian , externalit had only provided “advertising and marketing services in support of the Goodluck Jonathan campaign”.

Image source, Getty Images

South African gold producers have signed an historic settlement to compensate tens of thousands of miners who contracted lung disease while working underground.

The agreement - which must still be approved by the Johannesburg High Court - concludes what's believed to be South Africa's biggest ever class action case.

Lawyers representing the current and former miners said the companies had failed to protect them from silicosis and tuberculosis caused by breathing in silica-laden dust.

Most of the miners who contracted lung disease while working underground have been unable to work for many years, dependent on government grants for a living.

The companies, including Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields and Harmony Gold, had already set aside almost $400m (£294m) in provision for the settlement.

Adejuwon Soyinka
BBC Pidgin editor, Lagos

“Do you know what you have done?” asked Sola Oyekanmi frantically. ‘The street price of codeine cough syrup has shot up to 5,000 naira ($14; £10)!”

Just a month ago, drug dealers were selling codeine cough syrup on the street for up to 3,000 naira. The dark addictive syrup has turned to gold.

“You need to understand that the ban on codeine cough syrup is already driving up the price in the black market,” explained Oyekanmi, a Lagos based media executive with ears on the street.

“I can assure you, by next week, the price will be even higher.”

Nigeria's government announced the ban less than 24 hours after BBC Pidgin's and Africa Eye’s undercover documentary Sweet Sweet Codeine exposed damning evidence that some people in the pharmaceutical industry were illegally selling the opioid syrup direct to the black market, contributing to a severe addiction crisis in the country.

The health ministry said the BBC documentary had nothing to do with the decision. Yet, the prospect of a ban had not been raised by the ministry before.

The Nigerian Senate estimates three million bottles of codeine syrup are being drunk a day in just two states. Thousands of addicts could soon lose their fix. What will happen to these vulnerable people?

BBC Yoruba colleague Yemisi Oyedepo says in her neighbourhood of Isolo in the commercial capital, Lagos, concerns are high.

“These people are not going to stop even if pharmaceutical companies stop producing the product, they will continue to patronise existing producers of unlicensed cough syrup,” she said.