Image source, Reuters

Six black rhinos are due to be flown to Chad from South Africa today in an effort to save the species, reports Reuters news agency.

Almost 50 years ago they were hunted to extinction in Chad.

The hope is that the two bulls and four cows will establish a breeding herd.

Reuters adds that they rhinos will be given a police escort to the airport, and in Chad they will be dehorned and fitted with transponders.

By establishing a viable and secure population of rhino in Chad, we are contributing to the expansion of the rhino population in Africa, and the survival of a species that has faced high levels of poaching," said South African Environment Minister Edna Molewa.

BBC World Service

Madagascar's defence minister and the heads of the security forces have called on the government and the opposition to resolve the political crisis that has gripped the island nation.

They said the opposing sides must find a solution as soon as possible.

Opposition MPs and their supporters have been occupying a square in the capital, Antananarivo, for the past fortnight. Two people were killed on the first day of the protests.

They are calling for President Hery Rajaonarimampianina to quit, accusing him of manipulating the electoral law to his advantage.

The new electoral law would prevent former President Marc Ravalomanana from run in the election due later this year.

Ahmed Ambali
BBC Yoruba, Lagos

Image source, Salleh Ashaka

Embattled Nigerian Senator Dino Melaye has been re-arrested and wheeled into court on a stretcher for the second consecutive day.

A police ambulance transported Mr Melaye - who is known as the "singing senator" - from the capital, Abuja, to Lokoja city in north-central Nigeria early this morning, his media aide, Rotimi Ayodele, said.

He was then carried into a magistrate court on a stretcher.

Mr Melaye has been accused of sponsoring and arming political thugs. He denies the allegation, saying he is a victim of a plot to end his political career.

He is known to be at loggerheads with Kogi state governor Yahaya Bello, even though they both belong to the ruling party.

Yesterday, police wheeled Mr Melaye on a stretcher into a magistrate court in Abuja on charges of attempting to escape from "lawful custody".

The Abuja magistrate granted Mr Melaye bail of 90m naira ($250,000; £184,000), but he was re-arrested by police soon thereafter.

Mr Melaye had been under police guard in a hospital in Abuja since last week after he sustained injuries while allegedly trying to escape by jumping out of a police vehicle. His allies say he was pushed.

At the weekend, the election commission threw out a petition to force him to step down as a senator, saying only about 5% of signatures - 18,742 out of 189,870 - could be verified.

The senator is well known for his love of luxury cars, champagne and designer clothes, once appearing in a music video depicting his lavish lifestyle.

The song Dino, named after Mr Melaye, features lyrics like "100 cars in the parking lot like I'm Dino".

The video shows rapper Kach pretending to eat dollar bills, displaying expensive cars, a mansion, jewellery and shoes.

Mr Melaye gained the nickname of the "singing senator" for posting videos on social media taunting a rival in song.

Read update: Melaye denied bail

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Image source, Getty Images

Kenya's former Olympic 1500m champion Asbel Kiprop says he will prove he is a "clean athlete" after reports he failed an out-of-competition drugs test.

The 28-year-old three-time world champion reportedly tested positive for banned blood-boosting agent EPO.

Kiprop finished second at the 2008 Beijing Olympics but was upgraded to gold when Bahrain's Rashid Ramzi failed a drug test.

In a statement he said he would not "ruin" his career by doping.

"I have been at the forefront of the fight against doping in Kenya - a fight I strongly believe in and support," said Kiprop, who has run the fifth fastest 1500m of all time.

"I would not want to ruin all I have worked for since my first international race in 2007. I hope I can prove that I am a clean athlete in every way possible."

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Image source, Getty Images

Influential Roman Catholic bishops in Burundi have denounced a planned referendum on whether to amend the constitution to allow President Pierre Nkurunziza to stand for two more terms.

Mr Nkurunziza has ruled the central African nation since 2005 and if the amendment is approved in the 17 May referendum he would be entitled to stand for two more seven-year terms from 2020.

The 10 bishops said it was not the right time to vote on "profound" constitutional changes.

Their spokesman, Bishop Joachim Ntahondereye, said Burundians fear to speak their minds because the authorities threaten them with intimidation and reprisals.

About 1,200 people have died in violence since 2015, when Mr Nkurunziza controversially ran for a third term after surviving an attempted coup and mass protests.

Exiled opposition groups have called for a boycott of the referendum.

One hundred prominent Moroccans have signed a petition demanding that the kingdom's inheritance rule be repealed.

The rule, referred to as Ta'sib, decrees that "female orphans" who do not have a brother must share the inheritance with the male relatives closest to the deceased.

Linguistics Professor Moha Ennaji, who is a signatory to the petition, told BBC Newsday that it is another form of violence against women in Morocco:

Image source, Getty Images

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has ordered the closure of 13 overseas missions and job cuts at the foreign ministry due to an economic crisis, reports state media.

"The decisions have been taken in order to cut costs, given the economic situation in the country," Suna news agency reports his decree as saying.

It added that diplomats in the foreign ministry will have to do their own administrative work as the whole administration team is being sacked.

The announcement comes after ex-Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour said Sudanese diplomats abroad had not been paid for months and wanted to return to Khartoum.

But Mr Ghandour was not thanked for the warning - he was sacked by the president.

Sudan's economy has been performing badly since separating with the south as that took 75% of its oil earnings and currently the country has an acute shortage of foreign currency.

Zambian fashion designer Kapasa Musonda, 28, is one of Africa's rising talents.

In fact, one of her designs was recently worn by the Hollywood actress Angela Bassett who's currently gracing the screens in the film Black Panther.

BBC Newsday's Bola Mosuro met Ms Kapasa in her design studio and showroom in the Zambian capital, Lusaka.

Hundreds of Egyptians gathered in cafes in Cairo last night to watch their compatriot Mo Salah play for Liverpool in the Champions League semi-final against Roma.

Liverpool won 7-6 on aggregate despite losing the second leg of their semi-final 4-2 away to Roma.

They face Real Madrid in the final later this month.

Image source, Getty Images

Leading Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina has tweeted that he will get married to his boyfriend in South Africa:

The 47-year-old author, who won the 2002 Caine Prize for African writing for his short story Discovering Home, has not named his boyfriend.

In 2014, he came out publicly as gay, making him one of the most high-profile Africans to do so.

He made the disclosure on his 43rd birthday in an article entitled: I am a homosexual, mum.

Homosexual acts are illegal in Kenya and he would not be allowed to marry there.

South Africa has one of the most liberal constitutions in the world, and recognises same-sex marriages.

Tomi Oladipo
BBC Africa security correspondent

A German nurse working for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been kidnapped in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu.

In a statement, the ICRC said she'd been seized by armed men from inside the ICRC compound at around 8pm local time on Wednesday.

The ICRC added it was deeply concerned about the safety of the nurse, who was “working every day to save lives and improve the health of some of Somalia’s vulnerable people".

There is no public indication of who the kidnappers are, but the organisation said it was in touch with various authorities to secure her release.

On Tuesday a World Health Organization employee was shot dead by unknown men in Mogadishu.

The ICRC has tweeted about the abduction:

Today's African proverb:

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 until 08:00 GMT. In the meantime, 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:

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

And we leave you with this picture taken by documentary photographer Yagazie Emezi in north-western Zambia, where members of a secret society known as the Nyau dance in a village:

Police in Nigeria have brought flamboyant senator Dino Melaye to court in the capital, Abuja, on a stretcher.

He has been under police guard in hospital since last week after he sustained injuries while allegedly trying to escape by jumping out of a police vehicle. His allies say he was pushed.

The magistrate court set bail at 90m naira ($250,000; £184,000), according to Sahara Reporters, external.

Mr Melaye - the senator for Kogi West in central Nigeria - was detained over allegations that he supplied illegal weapons to his political supporters.

He denies the allegation, saying he is a victim of a plot to end his political career.

He is known to be at loggerheads with Kogi state governor Yahaya Bello, even though they both belong to the ruling party.

At the weekend, the election commission threw out a petition to force him to step down as a senator, saying only about 5% of signatures - 18,742 out of 189,870 - could be verified.

The senator is well known for his love of luxury cars, champagne and designer clothes, once appearing in a music video depicting his lavish lifestyle.

The song Dino, named after Dino Melaye, features lyrics like "100 cars in the parking lot like I'm Dino".

The video shows rapper Kach pretending to eat dollar bills, displaying expensive cars, a mansion, jewellery and shoes.

Mr Melaye has gained the nickname of the "singing senator" for posting videos on social media taunting a rival in song.

• Read more about the scandal-prone senator here

Rana Jawad
BBC North Africa correspondent, Tunis

Image source, AFP

Th attack on the headquarters of Libya's electoral commission is the deadliest and most elaborate of its kind in Tripoli in at least three years.

It may not come as a surprise, given Libya's precarious security conditions, but it will still have sent shockwaves around Tripoli because of the target and its reported victims, including election commission employees who were among at least 12 people killed.

In the past, attacks in the capital have mostly been confined to targeting security forces linked to the state or militias, as well as diplomatic mission buildings and foreigners.

The tactics used are reminiscent of the deadly attack on the Corinthia hotel in 2015 - in which nine people were killed.

The target appears to crystallise a political message on the future of the country and attempts to move forward.

But targeting the core symbol of that expected change for the country will not be taken lightly.

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta has called for forgiveness and reconciliation during his state of the nation address.

"If there was anything I said last year that hurt or wounded you, if I damaged the unity of this country in any way, I ask you to forgive me, and to join me in repairing that harm," Mr Kenyatta said.

Mr Kenyatta was criticized for calling the judges "thugs" after the Supreme Court annulled his election win in August 2017.

He won a re-run, which was boycotted by his main rival Raila Odinga. Mr Kenyatta called Mr Odinga "a mad man".

"I pray that all of us will spend the days and weeks after this address repairing the bonds that frayed last year," he said during today's address.

"Let us apologize for our words,and for the anger and malice that Kenyans heard."

The President won an heated election re-run last October, which Mr Odinga had boycotted.

Around 150 people were killed in election-related, with police accused of using excessive force to quell opposition-organised protests.

Mr Odinga and Mr Kenyatta shook hands in March to promote reconciliation.

There was a mixed response by Kenyans to today's speech by Mr Kenyatta:

A Twitter user wrote "Kenyans can’t reconcile and be at peace without the truth."

A gang of robbers dug a tunnel to enter Al Baraka Bank in South Africa's main city, Johannesburg, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

However, the attempt to rob the bank failed because the alarm went off and the gang fled, the bank's chief operating officer, Mohammed Kaka, was quoted by the local News24 site as saying., external

Police have still not caught the robbers.

South Africa has one of the highest rates of crime in the world.

Gunmen have hijacked armoured vehicles transporting large sums of money, and have also blown up cash machines.

Image source, AFP

A court in South Africa has convicted a man of murdering his ex-girlfriend by stabbing her and then trying to conceal his crime by burning her body.

Sandile Mantsoe, 28, was arrested after the charred remains of Karabo Mokoena, 23, was found in a shallow grave near a suburb of the main city, Johannesburg, in April 2017.

Judge Peet Johnson said Mantsoe was an unreliable witness who had fabricated evidence during his trial.

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 under the hashtag "MenAreTrash".

The 28-year-old denied killing Mokoena. During his bail hearing, he claimed he had disposed of her body after he came home and found that she had committed suicide by stabbing herself.

Her body was found after her family filed a missing person’s report with police in April 2017.

Ms Mokoena's family welcomed Mantsoe's conviction. He is still to be sentenced. Murder carries a maximum life sentence in South Africa.

Image source, AFP

The militant Islamic State (IS) group has said it carried out the deadly suicide bombings at the headquarters of Libya's electoral commission in Tripoli.

"Two suicide operations hit the headquarters of the High Election Commission in Tripoli," the group's propaganda arm, Amaq news agency, reported.

Libya's UN-backed government has declared three days of mourning after at least 12 people were killed in the attack.