LIbya's UN-backed government has condemned "the heinous deadly terrorist attack" on the headquarters of the electoral commission in the capital, Tripoli.

In a statement, it said the attack - which killed at least 12 people - was a "desperate attempt to derail the democratic process".

"Despite its ruthlessness, it will never deter us from moving forward in this path that the people have chosen," the statement added.

Libya is due to hold presidential and parliamentary elections later this, but rights groups doubt that conditions for a free and fair poll exist in a country marred by instability since the killing of long-serving ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Image source, AFP

All six students from a school in a rural area in Kenya have been rescued after falling into a pit latrine on Wednesday morning.

Parents, community members and rescuers dug out the mud and bricks from the collapsed pit latrine in a bid to rescue the students, the BBC's Mercy Juma reports.

The headteacher confirmed that all six students had since been rescued.

Kisulisuli Primary School's pit latrine is believed to have collapsed following heavy rains in Nakuru county.

Alex Duval Smith
BBC Africa, Dakar

Artists from all over the world have arrived in Dakar for the 13th edition of Dak’Art, a massive exhibition of African art which takes over the Senegalese capital.

The month-long event opens tonight.

Over the next four weeks, there will be displays across the city, concerts, and debates around the role of art.

Here are some of the works on display:

The final touches are put on the exhibit Les Fantomes de l'Afrique (Africa's ghosts) by French and Togolese artists Vincent Michea and Sadikou Oukpedjo (2nd left) in Galerie Cecile Fakhoury.

Ivorian sculptor Jems Robert Koko Bi works on a piece at the old Malian market by the railway station - one of the biennale's venues.

Senegalese artist Oumou Sy sets up her installation at the old Malian market.

British artist Helen Bur stands by her mural painting of Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, the mother of the late Nigerian musician Fela Kuti, which was commissioned for Dak’Art.

BBC World Service

Image source, Al Nabaa Channel via Reuters

At least 12 people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack in Libya that targeted the offices of the electoral commission in the capital, Tripoli.

A number of militants, including at least one suicide bomber, stormed the building setting off an explosion that sent a huge plume of black smoke into the air.

Members of the election commission and security guards are believed to be among the casualties.

The electoral commission has been registering voters in anticipation of elections that the United Nations hopes can be held in Libya by the end of the year.

Villages have been buried, many have lost relatives, the area has been declared unsafe, and yet residents continue to farm on the landslide-prone slopes of Uganda's Mount Elgon.

Eight years ago, 300 people were killed when collapsing mud and rocks swept through several villages. The BBC’s Patience Atuhaire met survivors who choose to stay, despite frequent landslides in the surrounding area.

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Police in Rwanda have raided a camp housing refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, injuring some and arresting others.

Two refugees are reported to have been killed. Many of the 17,000 people in the camp have left, and are now scattered in surrounding areas.

The presence of the refugees is a source of tension in Rwanda.

At least five were shot dead by security forces in February following protests about a reduction in their rations.

The refugees have told the United Nations they want to return home or go to another country.

Milton Nkosi
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

A wildlife park owner in South Africa, Michael Hodge, has walked for the first time since he was mauled on Saturday by a lion he raised from birth.

The 72 year-old UK citizen, who sustained injuries around his neck and a broken jaw from the attack, is said to be traumatised by the incident, which led to the killing of Shamba the lion.

Mr Hodge’s spokeswoman Bernadette Maguire said that he walked with assistance from a physiotherapist at a private hospital in South Africa's main city, Johannesburg.

She added that he will probably remain in hospital for a few weeks.

“His wounds are still open until doctors are sure there is no infection,” Ms Maguire told me.

She told local media: "He is very upset about the loss of Shamba and I think he is trying to put up a brave face, but he is really battling to come to terms [with] what has happened."

Kwaito musician Arthur Mafokate posted a picture of the recovering safari park owner on Instagram:

"He is very upset about the loss of Shamba and I think he is trying to put up a brave face, but he is really battling to come to terms [with] what has happened," Ms Maguire told local media.

A video showed Mr Hodge being attacked and dragged by the large male lion inside its fenced enclosure.

The lion was shot by a ranger who came to his rescue.

Marakele Predator Centre, which Mr Hodge owns, remains closed.

Iran had denied supplying weapons to the Western Sahara independence movement, the Polisario Front, after Morocco cut diplomatic ties with Tehran over the allegation.

Iran's foreign ministry said allegations of "cooperation" between an Iranian diplomat and the Polisario Front were "false", AFP news agency quotes .

Morocco alleged on Tuesday that Tehran was using its ally, the Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah, to train and arm Polisario fighters.

Morocco says Western Sahara, which it annexed in 1975, is a part of its historic territory.

The Polisario Front is demanding a referendum for self-determination.

Image source, AFP

An agreement has been reached for landlocked Ethiopia to take a stake in the port of Djibouti which handles the vast majority of its trade.

The deal was made during new Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's first foreign trip since he was appointed.

The size of the stake is not yet clear.

Djibouti has been seeking investors since it terminated the Dubai-owned DP World's concession to run the port two months ago.

Ethiopia recently acquired a 19% stake in the port of Berbera in the self-declared republic of Somaliland.

The number of Nigerian doctors working in the UK has been sharply increasing, according to research by fact-checking organisation Africa Check.

Last year, the number of Nigerian doctors registered with the UK General Medical Council nearly doubled, an increase of 89%.

"In 2016, a total of 245 doctors registered in the UK. The number sharply rose to 439 last year, taking the number of doctors to 5,060," Africa Check said.

So far this year, on average 12 Nigerian doctors were being registered every week, bringing the total number to 5,250 on 28 April 2018, the fact-checking body said.

The first year for which data was listed - 2006 - showed 2,692 Nigerian doctors registered.

The BBC’s Stephanie Hegarty in Lagos says it is not clear yet why the numbers have risen so rapidly.

Brain drain of this kind is a huge challenge for health systems in Africa, she says.

Nigeria went through a recession in 2016 and a 10-day doctor’s strike over unpaid wages in September 2017 was no doubt a push factor, but most of these medics would have left before that point, she adds.

Comments by US rapper Kanye West that enslavement of African Americans may have been a "choice" have not gone down well.

"When you hear about slavery for 400 years ... for 400 years? That sounds like a choice," he said during an appearance on entertainment site TMZ.

"We're mentally imprisoned," the star added. He recently made headlines for his support for US President Donald Trump.

Black people were forcibly taken from Africa to the US, during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, and sold as slaves.

Watch the video of the exchange:

The rapper has been criticized for what many have called "ignorant" comments.

This twitter user called the comments "worse than anything" US President Trump has ever said:

Another imagined that West would hold the same views on apartheid in South Africa.

BBC World Service

At least three people have been killed after gunmen attacked the electoral commission offices in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, officials say.

Suicide bombers are reported to have been part of the attack, causing a big explosion which has sent a plume of black smoke above the building.

Libya is due to hold elections by the end of the year, but there remains considerable concern as to whether the country is stable enough to do so.

Libya's security forces are engaged in a gun battle with militants who stormed the electoral commission's offices in the capital, Tripoli, Reuters news agency reports.

The militants had set the offices alight, forcing staff to flee, a spokesman for the commission, Khaled Amar, is quoted by Reuters as saying.

A suicide bomber was among the militants, Mr Amar added.

A leading opposition politician in Zimbabwe has vowed to expel Chinese investors who are "looting" the country if he wins presidential elections due in July.

“We will kick out the Chinese companies,” Nelson Chamisa was quoted by the privately owned New Zimbabwe news site as saying, external.

“We want genuine deals that benefit the people," he added.

Image source, Getty Images

Mr Chamisa took over from Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai following his death in February, but his leadership is being challenged by a rival faction led by former Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe.

The July poll will be the first since the forced resignation of long-serving ruler Robert Mugabe in November.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa will contest the election on the ticket of the ruling Zanu-PF party.

He is a strong advocate of a "Look East" policy, but has also been wooing Western investors since taking office.

“I have seen the deals that Ngwena [President Mnangagwa’s nickname] has entered into with China and others, they are busy asset-stripping the resources of the country," the state-owned Herald newspaper quoted Mr Chamisa as saying at a May Day rally., external

“I have said beginning September when I assume office I will call the Chinese and tell them the deals they signed are unacceptable and they should return to their country,” Mr Chamisa said.

Image source, AFP

Six pupils from a school in a rural area in Kenya fell into a pit latrine after it collapsed on Wednesday morning, local media report.

Citizen TV attributed the incident in Nakuru county, north-west of the capital, Nairobi, to recent heavy rains that have been experienced across the country.

The Standard news site, external quoted the head teacher of Kisulisuli primary school as saying four of the rescued pupils were unhurt but the other two were injured.

A local journalist with another TV station is, however, reporting that only five have been rescued and one is still trapped:

Lead mining used to be a major employment sector in the town of Kabwe in Zambia until the mines closed in 1994. But a century of mining has left a toxic legacy.

Due to the levels of lead ingested into their system, children tested in Chowa community next to the decommissioned mine have levels in their blood sometimes five times what is safe according to the World Health Organization.

The BBC's Bola Mosuro has been to the mining city of Kabwe to see the effects.

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Image source, Getty Images

Ethiopian Jews have appealed to the president of Israel to help them migrate there, to be reunited with members of their families.

The request was made to President Reuven Rivlin by Jewish representatives at the start of his state visit to Ethiopia on Tuesday.

Jewish leaders say nearly 8,000 people are stranded in Ethiopia waiting to emigrate to Israel.

They all claim to be descendants of Jews who converted to Christianity years ago, mostly under duress.

More than 140,000 Ethiopian Jews now live in Israel, many of whom were helped to move there by the Israeli authorities.

Recent months have seen thousands protesting in Israel for the government to do more for the Jewish community in Ethiopia.

But there have also been calls to deport migrants from Africa.

In April, Israel's government abandoned a plan to expel thousands of migrants - mostly from Eritrea and Sudan - after a court ruling and an outcry by rights groups.

In 2016, Israeli officials said the migrants threatened the security and identity of the Jewish state.

• Read more about the mission to take Ethiopian Jews to Israel

Our African proverb of the day:

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

Welcome to BBC Africa Live, where we resume coverage of the latest news and views after an overnight break.

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:

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

And we leave you with this picture taken in the South African city of Cape Town where trade unionists gathered to mark International Workers' Day, also known as Labour Day and May Day:

Image source, Reuters