Our African proverb of the day:

Image source, BSIP

Click here to send in your African proverbs.

Welcome back to the BBC Africa Live page, where we'll bring you news and views from around the continent.

BBC Africa Live
Lucy Fleming & Farouk Chothia

That's all from the BBC Africa Live page on Thursday. Keep up-to-date with what's happening across the continent by listening to the Africa Today podcast or checking the BBC News website.

A reminder of today's wise words:

Click here to send in your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this photo of miners sitting around a fire in Kimberley, the diamond city of South Africa:

Image source, AFP

Gen Samora Yunis has been replaced as Ethiopia’s chief of defence staff.

A top aide to the country’s new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed described the outgoing chief of staff as Ethiopia’s “most prominent military figure”.

In a tweet he said that Gen Seare Mekonen would be his replacement.

The move comes a few months before Gen Samora was due to retire.

He fought with the rebels who overthrew Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991 and brought Meles Zenawi to power.

For the next few decades he was Mr Meles’ close ally and the key figure in the much-feared security establishment.

He leaves his post just two months after Mr Abiy came into office in a bid to end anti-government protests.

The prime minister has brought in many reforms since April.

The BBC's Emmanuel Igunza in the capital, Addis Ababa, says the retirement of Gen Samora gives Mr Abiy an opportunity to redefine the relationship with the military, which has always been seen to be deeply involved in politics and the economy.

Earlier this week, the governing coalition announced it would fully accept and implement the peace deal that ended its border war with Eritrea.

This will end a dispute with Eritrea that sparked Africa's deadliest border war in 1998.

Robert Misigaro
BBC Great Lakes

Image source, Getty Images

Burundian President Pierre Nkuruniziza's announcement that he will not run for re-election in 2020 does not come as a surprise.

Since he won a controversial third term in 2015, he has consistently said that this would be his last term.

It was the opposition and sections of the media which did not believe him, maintaining that recent changes to the constitution were aimed at giving the 54-year-old Mr Nkurunziza another shot at the presidency.

But the ruling CNDD-FDD party had denied this, arguing that the main aim of the changes were to give a president more time - seven rather than five years - to implement policies.

As far as key members of the party are concerned, the man to watch is Evariste Ndayishimiye, the CNDD-FDD's general-secretary .

He seems to be given special treatment at events, suggesting that Mr Nkurunziza, in power since 2005, may be grooming him as his successor.

See earlier post for more details

BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr saw plenty of positives from his side's 1-0 friendly defeat by the Czech Republic on Wednesday.

He has promised that his players will deliver better performance against Croatia at the World Cup on 16 June.

Despite losing three of their last four warm-up games and drawing the other, Rohr told BBC Sport he is focusing on the World Cup:

Nigeria will face Argentina, Croatia and Iceland in Group D in Russia.

Read the full BBC story here

Rescue workers in Kenya have been recovering bodies from the site of the plane crash in the Aberdare mountains.

According to Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper, nine of 10 bodies have been brought down from the wreckage, external.

Journalist Macharia Gachuru has sent the BBC some photos of the site, where wildlife rangers, police and soldiers are among those who have been working in windy conditions on the slopes:

Image source, Macharia Gachuru

Image source, Macharia Gachuru

Image source, Macharia Gachuru

Officials said the aircraft's black box had also been recovered, the Daily Nations reports.

The plane went missing on Tuesday just over an hour after taking off from the western town of Kitale.

Rescue efforts have been hampered by rain and foggy conditions.

Jose Tembe
BBC Africa, Maputo

Image source, AFP

A large group of militant Islamists has raided a village in northern Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province, killing five people and wounding two others, the private television station STV has reported.

About 70 homes were also set ablaze and a health centre vandalised in the attack in the Namuluco area, it added.

This is the third deadly attack against civilians that the insurgents have carried out in Cabo Delgado in the past two weeks, killing about 25 people.

It is unclear who exactly the militants are or what their demands are.

Cabo Delgado's governor, Julio Parruque, said the government was doing its best to guarantee security in the province.

Many of the attackers were surrendering to the security forces, following the weekend police operations that resulted in the killing nine insurgents in Cabo Delgado's Palma district, he added.

Read more: How Mozambique’s smuggling barons nurtured jihadists

A bust of India's most famous independence campaigner, Mahatma Gandhi, has been unveiled at a railway station in the South African city of Pietermaritzburg.

The unveiling coincided with the 125th anniversary of Gandhi being thrown off a train at the station because he had boarded a coach reserved for white passengers.

“What went through Mahatma’s mind as he spent the night in the waiting room is not really known to us. But we do know that it led to the evolution of a force not seen before in any political movement,” India's Prime Minister Narenda Modi said in a message, referring to how Gandhi organised a passive resistance campaign to fight colonial rule.

India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj attended the event:

Jose Tembe
BBC Africa, Maputo

Three young Mozambican men have been shot dead in neighbouring South Africa's world-famous Kruger National Park, where they were suspected of trying to poach animals.

Mozambican official Lazaro Mbabamba said the three were part of a group of poachers who "systematically" crossed into South Africa to kill rhinos for their horns or elephants for their tusks in the hope of selling them on the black market for huge sums of money.

He added that poaching was a big problem among youth in Mozambique's Magude district, and job opportunities are being created for them.

Mr Mbabamba said:

Image source, AFP

Rhino horns and elephant tusks are either used as ornaments or to make traditional medicines in Asia.

Read: The strange figures behind a secret trade

Stanley Kwenda
BBC Africa

Image source, Reuters

Zimbabwe’s main opposition party leader, Nelson Chamisa, has launched his political party's manifesto in preparation for next month’s general election.

At the event in the capital, Harare, the 40-year-old politician announced that he would re-establish relations with Israel should he become president.

His statement immediately elicited a lot of discussion among Zimbabweans on social media.

The ruling Zanu-PF government traditionally supports Palestinians in their struggle against Israel.

The manifesto was launched under the banner of the MDC Alliance, a political partnership with other fringe political parties in Zimbabwe.

The document is titled Smart - Sustainable and Modern Agenda for Real Transformation.

Interestingly the event was covered live by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), the state broadcaster - the first time this has happened.

On Tuesday, the MDC held a protest march in Harare to among other things press for equal access to state media.

Below are some of the manifesto highlights:

• Scrap local “bond notes”, and introduce the South African rand as the main currency to deal with the cash shortages and eventually join the Rand Monetary Union
• Devolve power to the provinces and rename them to get rid of divisive, ethnic names.
• Establish specialised anti-corruption courts
• Launch an agreed Zimbabwean national dress
• Run a lean cabinet of 15 ministers or fewer
• Establish a $100bn economy within the next 10 years
• Improve trade and investment policy to cut immigration and administrative red tape.

Image source, Getty Images

English-speaking Cameroonians have condemned a plan by the international football star, Samuel Eto'o, to visit their troubled parts of the country.

Eto'o, who is a United Nations goodwill ambassador, was due to spread messages of peace and encourage children to go back to school. He is a Francophone Cameroonian.

Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds displaced during months of violence in English-speaking areas.

Anglophone separatists, who call themselves Ambazonians, say they are marginalised by the French-speaking majority.

The BBC's Cyriaque Muhawenayo has been at the event where Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza vowed to step down in 2020 (see earlier post).

He took a photo of the president signing into law the new constitution, which increases presidential terms from five to seven years.

But the former rebel leader, who first came into power in 2005 after a brutal ethnic civil war, appears to have defied his critics with this surprise announcement.

Our reporter says the president also promised to support whoever was put forward by the ruling party as the presidential candidate for the next election.

Crowds turned out in force to see the president in Bugendana, in the centre of the country:

BBC Sport

Image source, AFP

Cameroon, Zimbabwe and reigning champions Nigeria are all on the verge of qualifying for this year's Women's Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana.

All three recorded away wins in the first legs of their final round qualifying matches on Wednesday.

The biggest winners were 2016 runners-up Cameroon who beat Congo 5-0 in Brazzaville.

Read the full BBC story here

Image source, Reuters

Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza has said he will not seek another term in office after the end of his current mandate in 2020.

He made the announcement in Bugendana, in Gitega province, where the country's new constitution was signed into law, reports BBC's Cyriaque Muhawenayo from the ceremony.

Last month, Burundians voted overwhelmingly in a referendum to back constitutional reforms, which include extending presidential terms from five to seven years.

Many had believed Mr Nkurunziza actively sought the change to term limits so that he could stay in office until 2034.

The 54-year-old leader ran for a controversial third term in 2015, a move which set off a wave of violence and an attempted coup that was foiled by government forces.The political crisis led to hundreds of deaths and more than 400,000 people fled the country.

Read more:

• Contentious referendum vote
• The footballing president

Image source, AFP

A daughter of Moshood Abiola - who was a symbol of the fight for democracy in Nigeria - has welcomed President Muhammadu Buhari's decision to posthumously award him the highest honour of the land.

"I stopped expecting my country to do the right thing for my father and instead began to understand why Nigeria struggles to find patriots among its leaders, until today," Hasfat Abiola-Costello told BBC Pidgin.

"There are no words that can capture the depth of my gratitude nor the breadth of my joy," she added.

Mr Buhari has awarded Mr Abiola the Grand Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (GCFR) and has named 12 June as Democracy Day - the date in 1993 when the military annulled his victory in presidential elections.

Mr Abiola was then detained for four years. Aged 60, he died in suspicious circumstances on the day he was due to be released.

In a BBC Yoruba interview, Mr Abiola's son Abdulmumuni Abiola welcomed Mr Buhari's decision to honour him, saying it showed his father did not die in vain.

"I just want the country to be moving in a better direction now. I think that is the most important thing," he added.

All 10 passengers of a small plane that went missing two days ago in central Kenya died in the crash, the government has said.

The transport ministry's Paul Maringa said:

Images on local television showed the plane was destroyed on impact.

Bad weather, including fog, had hampered rescue efforts.

See previous post for more details

Kenya wildlife rangers, police and soldiers are now heading up by foot towards the plane that crashed on Tuesday in a mountainous forest conservancy about 80km (50 miles) north of the capital, Nairobi.

The wreckage was spotted in the Abedare mountains from the air on Thursday morning by a search team.

Journalist Macharia Gachuru sent the BBC these photos of the rescue teams as they headed up the slopes:

Image source, Macharia Gachuru

Image source, Macharia Gachuru

Image source, Macharia Gachuru

The government is now investigating the cause of the incident.

Officials say heavy rain and fog have hampered their search for the plane and its passengers and crew.

The aircraft disappeared from radar screens on Tuesday afternoon, just over an hour after it had taken off from the western town of Kitale.

Image source, AFP

Nigeria's opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) says that President Muhammadu Buhari's decision to change the date of the Democracy Day public holiday to 12 June “smacks of hypocrisy and political desperation" ahead of elections in 2019.

Mr Buhari said he had shifted the date from 29 May in honour of politician Moshood Abiola, whose victory in presidential elections on 12 June 1993 was annulled by the military.

In a statement, the PDP said Mr Buhari had "served in the military administration of General Sani Abacha during the travails of Chief Abiola" and had failed, at the time, to "associate" with him.

The president's decision to now honour the late Chief Abiola was a sign of "political desperation" on the part of a "failed" president who was trying to influence voters ahead of elections next year, the PDP added.

See earlier post for more details

Sudan's government says it has cut its defence ties with North Korea.

"Sudan's defence manufacturers have cancelled all contracts signed with North Korea and also ended their relations, direct or through third parties, with North Korea," the AFP news agency quotes the foreign ministry statement as saying.

The United States has been stepping up pressure on Sudan to cut all of its ties with North Korea.

In October, US sanctions imposed on Sudan were lifted, but the country was kept on the US' list of "state sponsors of terrorism", along with North Korea, Iran and Syria.

Analysts say Sudan is facing a severe economic crisis and this is likely to have influenced its change of policy.

Image source, AFP

US President Donald Trump is expected to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un next week, though the US has said sanctions would not be lifted against Pyongyang unless it gave up its nuclear weapons.

• Read more about Sudan and the lifting of US sanctions: Cancer patients and businesses hopeful