BBC Africa Live
Tara John & Dickens Olewe

That's all from BBC Africa Live this week. 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 of a man praying after breaking his Ramadan fast at the Sheikh Dafallah Mosque in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. It is one of our best photos from this week.

Image source, Reuters

It's 13 days to the World Cup in Russia. Are you feeling the excitement yet?

Well, if you are not, then this song might get you jumping and cheering for the Nigerian national team.

It's the anthem that Kayode, a Canadian Nigerian singer, hopes will get the Super Eagles soaring in Russia.

The other representatives from Africa who qualified to play at the World Cup are: Senegal, Morocco, Egypt and Tunisia.

The residential building where Malian Mamoudou 'Spiderman' Gassama scaled to save a small boy dangling from a balcony in the French capital, Paris, has become a tourist site, news agency AFP reports.

A local resident identified as Chantal told AFP: "since Saturday, it hasn't stopped.... every day people have been coming to look at it themselves."

AFP reports that its team saw crowds gathering at the site, taking photos of themselves, and expressing wonder at Mr Gassama's antics.

The 22-year-old migrant's life has changed dramatically since the video of his rescue was shared online.

On top of admirable skills, he is set to be made a French citizen and recently began his life as a trainee fireman with the Paris service.

Here's another chance to watch the Malian spiderman in action:

The UN mission in Central African Republic has fired one of its lawyers after he accused Rwandan peacekeepers of massacring 30 civilians in the capital last month.

Juan Branco was hired by Minusca to work as an independent expert to advise a new special criminal court, charged with investigating war crimes and crimes against humanity.

He says his firing is part of a cover up by the UN. They say he broke the terms of his contract. So what triggered this?

Mr Branco has been speaking to Focus on Africa's Rob Wilson:

Image source, EPA

Zimbabwe's main opposition parties are planning street protests in the capital, Harare, on 5 June to demand electoral reforms ahead of the country's first ballot since the ousting of former President Robert Mugabe.

"We will be flooding the streets," Tendai Biti, spokesman of the main opposition alliance the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) told AFP. "We want free, fair, credible elections," he said.

The opposition accuses the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) of not addressing their demands for a free and fair vote.

This includes military officials working at the electoral commission to be removed, for soldiers to stay away from electoral campaign meetings, an external audit of the voter register and equal coverage on state media.

"Every rally we are having in the rural areas, people are complaining about the presence of military soldiers that are dressed in civilian clothing that have been deployed to interfere with the electoral processes," Mr Biti said.

The July 30 vote will see President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took over from Mugabe during a coup, go against opposition politician Nelson Chamisa.

Mr Mnangagwa's administration has invited foreign observers, including the EU, to observe the elections.

Image source, Reuters

The endangered mountain gorilla population - which lives in the mountainous forests in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, northwest Rwanda, and southwest Uganda - has exceeded 1,000 for the first time since 2010.

The latest 2016 census says 1,004 mountain gorillas now exist in the world, with 604 living in the Virunga Massif - that spans the three countries - and 400 in Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

The survey was conducted by the Protected Area Authorities of DR Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda, Rwandan newspaper New Times reports. , external

It attributes the increase in the mountain gorilla population to effective conservation policies, collaboration between all three countries, regulated tourism, and veterinary interventions.

Mountain gorillas remain under threat of encroachment of farmers, poachers and armed groups.

The survey comes weeks after rangers banned tourists from entering the park in May after the death of a park ranger in DR Congo and the kidnapping of two British nationals by an armed militia.

British citizen Andargachew 'Andy' Tsege, who spent four years in an Ethiopian prison, returned to London on Friday, reuniting with his partner and children.

Human rights groups Reprieve, which has campaigned for his release, shared photos and videos of his return to Britain's capital.

Mr Tsege was accused of plotting a coup, which he denied, and was sentenced to death in absentia in 2009.

He was later apprehended in 2014 at a Yemen airport while on his way to Eritrea, and was handed over to Ethiopian authorities.

Ethiopian Attorney General Berhanu Tsegaye said his pardon was part of an initiative to "widen the political space".

Image source, HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

Uganda hopes to attract tourists with a war museum showcasing some of the darkest moments from its history.

Atrocities committed under ex-President Idi Amin's brutal eight-year rule and by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) are to be documented.

"We want to put the record straight," Uganda Tourism Board Chief Executive Stephen Asiimwe told the BBC.

The Uganda war museum, which has yet to be built, will also showcase pre-colonial and colonial history.

"History gets richer, it's like red wine - it gets more interesting as the years go by," Mr Asiimwe said.

Read the full story

The family of the late singer South African singer Miriam Makeba, known as Mama Africa, has won a legal victory over her former business manager for control of her legacy, South African daily Independent Online, external reports.

Siyandisa Music, which is the company of business manager Graeme Gilfillan, had gone to a high court in Pretoria to block Makeba's two grandchildren, Lumumba and Zenzile Lee, and Miriam Makeba Foundation from being the proprietors of her intellectual property and associated rights.

Siyandisa Music also wanted the South African Hall of Fame to be blocked from inducting Ms Makeba into the hall of fame as it lacked prior written approval from the company.

Judge Hans Fabricius ruled that Siyandisa Music's application had failed over a technical point of law in South Africa's Trust Property Control Act.

The company alleged its rights to her legacy stemmed from Ms Makeba taking steps to commercialise her intellectual property during her lifetime, which would persist after her death.

But Ms Makeba's family argues that the Grammy award-winning artist had signed an allegedly "fictitious" licence contract, called ZM Makeba Trust, with Siyandisa Music.

The alleged contract was signed by Makeba and one of her grandchildren, Dumisani, according to Zenzile Lee.

The Judge said Siyandisa Music could launch another application, based on other grounds, if it wanted to.

After a BBC investigation in April showed the extent of codeine addiction in Nigeria, the production of codeine-based syrups was banned.

But codeine is not the only opioid scourge spreading across west Africa.

Another painkiller, Tramadol, is fuelling widespread opiate abuse and addiction.

As the BBC’s Stephanie Hegarty found out, it may even be fuelling the Boko Haram insurgency in the north-east.

Watch:

Smarting from a slew of corruption scandals that have rocked his administration, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta has now suggested that government officials in charge of procurement should take a polygraph test to help deal with graft, Daily Nation reports., external

He said the test was just one of new measures that would be unveiled to deal with corruption.

He made the announcement in his speech at the official celebration of Madaraka day - the day Kenya assumed self rule.

He said Kenya had to eliminate "corruption in our country before it fully destroys us and the future of our children".

The latest corruption scandal to hit Mr Kenyatta's administration is the theft of 8bn Kenyan shillings (£59m; $78m) in one of his signature projects that was set up to address youth unemployment.

Some 40 civil servants are facing charges over the stealing of the money from the National Youth Service.

There have been numerous corruption cases since Mr Kenyatta took power, but little in the way of high profile convictions.

According to a March report by the auditor general, some $400m of public funds could not be accounted for.

The news of a polygraph test has been met with scorn on Twitter:

Image source, Reuters

Taiwan has lost all but one African ally - and now China has urged Swaziland to drop ties with Taipei ahead of a summit of African leaders.

In May, the self-ruled Taiwan lost ally Burkina Faso, which chose to instead re-establish ties with Beijing, leaving Swaziland - which has announced it is changing its name to eSwatini - the region's sole African diplomatic ally.

And China's foreign ministry is now pushing for Swaziland to follow suit.

"We of course welcome Swaziland to join the family of China-Africa cooperation at an early date, and hope that by the time the China-Africa cooperation forum Beijing summit happens, we can have a happy picture of the whole family," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, according to news agency Reuters.

"Of course, this hinges upon Swaziland's own decision."

Swaziland told Reuters on Friday it will maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan, despite Chinese pressure.

China will be hosting the summit from Beijing in September. And Chinese leaders are expected to give out loan packages for the African continent.

The United Nations says more than 12 African migrants were shot dead by human traffickers while attempting to escape a camp in Libya, where some were subjected to "torture" and "abuse and exploitation".

"Human traffickers in Libya reportedly killed more than a dozen people and wounded many others after a group of some 200 Eritreans, Ethiopians and Somalis, being held captive, attempted to escape," the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said in a statement.

The May 23 incident occurred in Bani Walid, approximately 180 km (110 miles) southeast of the capital Tripoli, which is a transit point for migrants trying to reach Europe.

People traffickers and kidnappers are believed to run 20 detention centres in the town, AFP reports.

"This latest deadly incident demonstrates, once again, the huge challenge of providing protection to refugees in Libya, where many people fleeing war and persecution fall prey to criminal networks," UNHCR said.

Catherine Byaruhanga
BBC Africa, Kampala

Image source, Getty Images

Uganda’s parliament has passed legislation banning the import of vehicles older than 15 years.

The policy is meant to fight environmental pollution and help reduce road accidents, which have been blamed on older cars.

Curbing pollution and improving road safety have become major points of debate in Uganda.

Uganda observed three days of national mourning this week following a bus accident over the weekend, which killed more than 20 people.

Recent surveys have named the capital, Kampala, as one of the most-polluted cities in Africa.

But car importers warn banning old vehicles will lead to job losses and make it harder for poorer Ugandans to afford a car.

A new car, which is often expensive, incurs taxes of more than 50%.

To encourage Ugandans to buy newer cars, lawmakers removed an environmental levy on cars below eight years of age.

Last year, Ugandans imported an average of 2,500 used cars per month.

Neighbouring Kenya stopped the importation of vehicles older than eight years old earlier this year.

South Africa's former President Jacob Zuma has defended himself against charges of corruption he is facing saying he "has never committed a crime".

Mr Zuma made the comments during a prayer event organised by an interfaith group at his private home on Thursday in Nkandla village in KwaZulu-Natal province.

He said that he was not afraid of being convicted of corruption‚ saying that judges sometimes convict people wrongly, TimesLive reports., external

Mr Zuma is set to appear in court next week after corruption‚ fraud‚ and racketeering charges were reinstated against him earlier in the year.

The charges are related to corruption linked to a 1990s arms deal.

But Mr Zuma said the cases stemmed from jealousy over his private home, Nkandla.

"They were upset because they could not believe I could build such a house in Nkandla, a village. So they decided that I stole the money but I did not steal it. They investigated and found nothing, " he said.

The public protector, an anti-corruption body, ruled in 2014 that $23m (£15m) of public money had been improperly spent on Mr Zuma's rural home and ordered him to reimburse part of the expense which he did.

He told the gathering on Thursday his only crime was "fighting for freedom during apartheid and they arrested me".

Watch his full comments below:

The Islamic month of Ramadan, which started in mid May, sees millions of Muslims around the world abstaining from food or drink between dawn and sunset for 30 days.

Here's a video from BBC's North Africa correspondent Rana Jawad of a performance in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia.

Tara John
BBC News

Dozens of people queued outside Nike's flagship store on Oxford Street, London, before it opened at 10:00 ( 09:00 GMT) in a bid to get their hands on a Nigeria's Fifa World Cup football kit.

The Nigerian Football Federation revealed that the Super Eagles' kit has received over three million pre-orders.

Fans of the national team told the BBC they went to the London store after hearing the kit was sold out online.

They are only allowed to pick two items from the London store, and many of them were gunning for either the home and away kits, which are priced at $86 (£64).

Steven Chester, who is half Nigerian, says he had to get the kit ahead of 2 June friendly match between the Super Eagles of Nigeria and England.

He says the kit reminds him of "the old 90s kit that used to be in the premiership and that was when the best kits were around," he said.

"It is good to see Nigeria on the world stage."

Image source, bbc

Christina Tubes, who had been queuing up since 6am, said she could not buy the kit online.

She calls herself a true fan of the Nigerian team but says she was let down by the lack of kits and jerseys for women and children.

"I am saddened by that, but I am a true Nigerian fan and that is why I am here," she said.

Damola Timeyin, 33, who is works in an advertising agency, told the BBC that as a Nigerian it was imperative he got his hands on the kit.

"As a Nigerian passport holder I think it is my duty to get this kit for the World Cup.

"To be honest it is going to be the best looking team in the World Cup, hopefully our team gets past the group stages so we can actually wear this into the knock out [stages]," he said.

The Fifa World Cup begins in Russia on 14 June.

Female lawmakers in Zimbabwe criticised a male colleague after he referred to them as "bench warmers", news site Chronicle reports. , external

Temba Mliswa made the comment while contributing to a debate about the welfare of war veterans, saying the 60 special seats held by female MPs had "made us lose money" and that "most of them do nothing".

"The only thing that we have seen coming from them is having nice make up and nice wigs," he added.

He said if women had special representation seats then people with disabilities should also have the same.

His colleagues called his comments "unparliamentary" and said they denigrated women.

Female MP Jessie Majome said, "he [ Mliswa] must not take cheap shots at women to get popular mileage. We are women MPs of this house that represent our constituencies and the men in this house are also required to represent women".

“He must respect women because he was born by a woman. At night you look for us women, yet at Parliament you insult us. We gave birth to you,” MP Thabitha Khumalo said.

The Chronicle reported Mr Mliswa left parliament with women MPs hurling insults at him.

The MP tweeted a video of his performance:

Image source, Getty Images

Three-time athletics world champion Asbel Kiprop has told BBC Sport he paid drugs testers because he "thought they wanted the money for fuel or tea".

Kiprop, who won 1500m gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, tested positive for blood boosting agent EPO out of competition in 2017.

The 28-year-old Kenyan alleged his sample "turned positive" because he did not give the testers enough money.

"It is rare for them to ask for money. They didn't specify the amount," Kiprop told BBC Sport.

"To me, I could trust them. It didn't even come into my mind that I was in a sensitive position."

Read the full story.

Ishaq Khalid
BBC Africa, Abuja

The Nigerian military says five soldiers were killed on Thursday during a gunfight with Islamist militants Boko Haram in Gwoza area, in the north-eastern state of Borno.

The soldiers were ambushed and some of them stepped on explosives during clashes with the militants, the army said in a statement.

A number of Boko Haram militants were also killed during the gun battle.

Despite repeated claims by the Nigerian authorities that Boko Haram has been significantly degraded, the militants still carry out deadly attacks on civilian and military targets.

Read: Nigeria's Boko Haram attacks in numbers - as lethal as ever