Image source, AFP

The results of Thursday's referendum in Burundi which could allow President Pierre Nkurunziza to stay in office for 17 more years are due later today.

They're expected to show a big majority in favour of the change, though reports from polling stations say some people were being forced to vote to avoid being beaten or arrested.

Foreign journalists were mostly denied access to the country during the vote. Opposition voices have been largely silenced.

Burundi has been ravaged by political violence since 2015 when Mr Nkurunziza ran for a third term.

Read: First a third term for Nkurunziza, now seven-year mandates

Image source, Reuters

The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised its assessment of the risk to public health from the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo from "high" to "very high" at the national level.

At regional level it raised the risk from moderate to high.

Eleven more people are confirmed to have caught Ebola.

Twenty-five people in total are now thought to have died from the highly contagious disease, although only in one of those cases has Ebola been confirmed as the cause.

The WHO will hold an emergency meeting later today

A UN agency is warning of an emerging crisis along the Niger border after Algeria began dumping migrants in the Sahara Desert.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says it has dealt with almost 10,000 migrants abandoned in the desert since September.

Some have been left by traffickers, but others were deported by Algerian authorities - left in the desert and told to walk to the nearest border town.

In the searing heat, a number of people have died.

One migrant, from Mali, recounted his own experience:

Giuseppe Loprete, IOM's chief of mission in Niger, has been trying to raise awareness of their plight:

Mr Loprete told the BBC's Newsday that Algeria had defended its actions as necessary to prevent insecurity and terrorism, adding it did not want anybody to cross the border without knowing who they are.

However, the IOM had found a number of people with refugee papers from Algeria among those forced to make the dangerous walk to the border.

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 our coverage of the latest news and views from around the continent.

That's all from BBC Africa Live until 08:00 GMT. 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 a photo of a woman in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Kasai region, walking to the market carrying bread on her head:

The BBC World Service's David Baker explores whether Israel, which gives all Jews the right to citizenship, has become less welcoming to African Jews.

Since its founding in 1948, after the horrors of the Holocaust, Israel has seen itself as a safe haven for Jews from anywhere in the world to come to escape persecution.

But now that policy is under threat. As Jewish communities in Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya are finding, a debate has arisen about who is “Jewish enough” to qualify.

Image source, Science Photo Library

The number of people who have died in South Africa's listeria outbreak has risen to more than 200, according to the latest official statistics.

The outbreak is the worst-ever in the world, claiming at least 204 lives since January 2017.

In March, health officials said they had traced the outbreak to an Enterprise Food plant, 300 km (185 miles) north-east of the Pretoria, and immediately ordered a nationwide recall of the affected products.

In a statement, the government said that the number of listeria cases had fallen "drastically" since then.

Dozens of homeless people have been removed from Kenya's capital Nairobi in a bid to clear the business district of beggars.

The sweep started on Thursday morning and according to Kenyan newspaper Standard Digital, external more more than 200 homeless people have been taken out of the area.

Many of them have been sent by the Nairobi County government to a rehabilitation centre in the city. Those from other countries will be deported, an official told Standard Digital.

"There is an influx of beggars particularly the disabled ones in the city but we will no longer allow them to operate in the CBD [central business district] " Janet Ouko, an education and social services county executive, told the Standard.

Mohammed Gabbow, the National Council for Persons with Disability chairman, said that most of the beggars detained were not registered with the body and their nationalities could not be ascertained.

He added that "efforts to kick them out" will be handled humanely.

The current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has reached the city of Mbandaka, prompting the World Health Organization to call an emergency meeting to discuss the risk of the disease spreading.

Mbandaka's Ebola case has sparked fears of the disease spreading to the capital or to neighbouring countries.

Here's BBC Afrique's Jacques Matand' brief overview of the city:

Mbandaka is a poor city on the banks of the River Congo, which is the only way of reaching the rest of the country, as there are no roads or railways.

Those residents who can afford electricity only get it for three to four hours a day, otherwise people use generators or solar panels.

The city has two hospitals, which have been given money for renovations.

Even they don’t have a regular electricity supply but have to reply on generators.

For water, Mbandaka's residents use wells or the river.

Many people also use the river as a toilet, meaning there is a high risk of spreading disease.

Passenger boats used to operate along the river to Kinshasa but these are no longer working.

However, traders still use wooden canoes to reach the capital to buy and sell their goods - and this is how it is feared Ebola could spread.

Image source, AFP

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has condemned his soldiers and police officers for robbing and killing civilians, Bloomberg news agency reports.

“Shame on you - you are the custodians of the law,” Mr Kiir told a police conference in the capital, Juba.

He added that in the city “people are still being killed in their homes at night".

“By day-time they are soldiers and by night they are criminals,” Mr Kiir added.

South Sudan became independent in 2011, but has been hit by a civil war since 2013.

The conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives and forced more than 4 million people from their homes.

Five suspects have been arrested after allegedly blowing up cash vans and shooting at security officials in South Africa on Thursday.

Two security guards were injured during the shoot-out.

The five were caught in the commercial capital of Johannesburg after the police launched a helicopter chase, South African daily TimesLIVE reports, external.

A police spokesperson said the attack began on Thursday morning after more than 10 suspects allegedly approached two G4S security vans in Boksburg.

"They started shooting at the vans," Captain Mavela Masondo told TimesLIVE.

"Then there was a shoot-out between the security officers and the suspects. The suspects managed to blow up the cash vans and take some cash."

A bystander managed to capture one of the vans being blown-up on video.

The World Health Organization has called an emergency meeting to discuss the risk of Ebola spreading internationally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This comes after a new Ebola case was discovered in Mbandaka, a city of more than a million people, which has sparked fears of it spreading downstream to the capital Kinshasa or to other countries.

The WHO is preparing to distribute an experimental vaccine which needs to be stored at extremely low temperatures - something that will prove to be a major challenge in areas with an unreliable electricity supply.

This is the ninth outbreak to hit the DR Congo since the disease was identified and named after a local river more than 40 years ago.

Read more: DR Congo Ebola outbreak

Image source, British museum

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah will be honoured with his own exhibit in the British Museum's Egyptian collection.

His boots will go on display in the run up to Liverpool's Champions League final match against Real Madrid on 26 May.

"The boots tell a story of a modern Egyptian icon, performing in the UK, with a truly global impact," exhibit keeper Neal Spencer said.

The Egyptian's impressive season has seen him win the Premier League golden boot with a record 32 goals.

• Read more about the exhibit here

Kennedy Gondwe
BBC News, Lusaka

A female police officer in Zambia has won herself a promotion after she braved a heavy downpour - without a raincoat - and stood in the middle of a busy intersection to control traffic on Wednesday in the capital, Lusaka.

The police service in the country is often riddled with accusations of corruption. But pictures of constable Charity Nanyangwe standing between the intersection of Ben Bella and Lumbumba roads became a talking point on social media as she relentlessly controlled traffic whilst getting soaked.

It would appear the police command did not want to be left out in the excitement. On Thursday, they promoted her to the rank of sergeant.

Ms Nanyangwe’s dedication to duty has won her many hearts.

One user wrote: "I do not agree with the idea of rewarding anyone to do their job but Charity Nanyangwe...went above and beyond her call of duty."

George Chomba, a journalist, shared his praise on Faceboook:

Human rights' groups in Sierra Leone have filed a case with West African regional group Ecowas in a bid to lift a ban on pregnant girls attending schools in the country.

The case also seeks to hold the Sierra Leone government to account for "their failure to respect, protect, and fulfill the girls’ right to education", Equality Now, on of the rights groups that have brought the case to Ecowas, wrote in a press statement.

In April 2015 - just as schools re-opened after the Ebola crisis - the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology issued a statement banning pregnant girls from mainstream education and from sitting exams.

The girls were thought to be a bad influence on their peers.

“Today marks the beginning of the realization of rights for girls in Sierra Leone,” Judy Gitau-Nkuranga from Equality Now said.

• Read more about being young and pregnant in Sierra Leone

Image source, Getty Images

Striker Ayoub El Kaabi further staked a claim for a place in Morocco's final World Cup squad with two more goals in the Confederation Cup.

The goals earned Renaissance Berkane a 2-0 win over hosts UD Songo of Mozambique in Group B on Wednesday.

In the other match in the group Sudan's Al Hilal were held to a 1-1 draw by visiting Egypt's Al Masry, who took the lead after just 10 minutes through Islam Issa.

Hosts Hilal, played the final 65 minutes with 10 men after the dismissal El Tahir Hassan, equalized when Brazilian Geovane Maranhao converted an 82nd minute penalty.

The results mean El Kaabi's Berkane top the group with six points, Masry are on four, Al Hilal have just one while Songo are pointless.

Jessica Nwankwo
BBC Igbo, Lagos

A school principal and two others have been arrested in south-western Nigeria for allegedly tying two students to a cross and whipping them for being late.

The punishment was barbaric, and would not be tolerated, Ogun state police spokesman Abimbola Oyeyemi said.

He confirmed the arrest of the principal, a teacher, and proprietor - usually a reference to the owner of a school or deputy principal.

A policeman who saw the children being flogged with horsewhips on a cross tried to intervene but was allegedly attacked by the proprietor of the privately owned Metorite Standard School.

The policeman called for back-up and got the proprietor arrested.

Mr Oyeyemi said one of students was female and wore a hijab, but said the police did not know the religious beliefs of the children.

Daniel Semeniworima
BBC Pidgin

A video of Nigerian oil magnate Femi Otedola has gone viral on social media in the West African state.

In a video posted on Mr Otedola's Instagram account on Wednesday, the billionaire was seen on board a rickety commercial bus, popularly called 'molue'.

He was traveling from the suburb of Sango to Agege in Nigeria's commercial city, Lagos, according to the video's caption.

None of the passengers recognized the billionaire until he alighted from the vehicle.

The post on Mr Otedola's account did not explain why he took the trip. But people had a lot to say about it on Twitter:

Tributes have been flooding in for Nollywood movie star Aisha Abimbola following her death in a Canadian hospital.

She was popularly called Omoge Campus after a 2001 Yoruba film of the same name, which shot her into the limelight.

The cause of death has not yet been disclosed by her family.

Nollywood actress Bisola Badmus broke the news of her colleague's death on Instagram:

Actress Ronke Odusanya, also known as Flakky Ididowo, said she was "still in shock".

Actress Opeyemi Aiyeola said the news was "too painful to bear".

Ayo Desanya said that she "did not see this coming".