BBC Africa Live
Lucy Fleming

That's all from the BBC Africa Live page this week, we'll be back on Monday. 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 our wise words of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this photo from our gallery of the week of a Ugandan swimmer, outed as a lesbian by a local newspaper against her will, competing at the 2018 Gay Games in Paris:

Image source, AFP

Busayo Akogun
BBC Yoruba, Lagos

Many worshippers are attending Nigeria's yearly festival dedicated to the Yoruba fertility goddess, Osun. Friday is the most important date of the two-week event.

They travel to the Osun Sacred Grove on the outskirts of Osogbo city, where the river is dotted with sanctuaries and shrines to mark what believers say is the settlement point for the ancestors of the Osogbo people over 400 years ago.

People say that the river saved Osogbo during a pre-colonial war between locals and the Fulani warriors. So the river is worshipped as a way of showing gratitude.

It's also the Unesco-protected home of 400 plant species, at least half of which have medicinal uses.

Many top Ugandan DJs have agreed to play Bobi Wine music at the top of every hour in protest at the detention of the Afrobeats star and opposition politician.

The BBC’s Joseph Ngigi, who’s in the capital, Kampala, says he has heard Wine's songs being played.

Here's one of the hits, Freedom:

Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, was elected to parliament last year - and is proving a popular opponent to President Yoweri Museveni.

He was arrested earlier in the week amid violence in the run-up to a by-election in the north-west of the country where he and the president were campaigning.

He appeared at a military court in the northern town of Gulu on Thursday on charges of unlawfully being in possession of ammunition and weapons. His lawyers said that he had been severely beaten.

His brother Eddy Yawe told the BBC he had managed to see Wine on Friday after he had been transferred to a military barracks in Kampala.

He said his brother had recounted how he had been brutally tortured by a group of soldiers, including on his genitals, and that they had injected him several times with an unknown substance.

The army has not commented on the allegations.

Kennedy Gondwe
BBC News, Lusaka

Image source, Zambia Reports

Zambia’s police force has suspended four officers caught collecting bribes in the capital, Lusaka.

Provincial minister Bowman Lusambo carried out an impromptu check of roadblocks on Thursday and said he had caught them red-handed.

The police say the officers had mounted an illegal roadblock in an industrial area of the city and were charging motorists without issuing them with receipts.

Police chief Kakoma Kanganja announced the officers had been suspended with immediate effect and investigations into the matter had begun.

He wanted the public to know that the police had introduced a “direct deposit system” for fees and fines to go directly into bank accounts to curb corruption.

Zambia’s police force is perceived to be one of the most corrupt institutions in the country.

Jose Tembe
BBC Africa, Maputo

Image source, Reuters

Graça Machel, Nelson Mandela’s widow, is backing her adopted son’s bid to become mayor of Mozambique’s capital, Maputo.

She is a renowned women’s rights activist and prominent politician in Mozambique – and is a senior member of the ruling Frelimo party, belonging to its central committee.

She was married to Mozambique’s first President Samora Machel, who was killed in a mysterious plane crash in 1986.

Her son’s mayoral ambitions are controversial because he was not chosen as a candidate for Frelimo, so Samora Machel Junior, known as “Samito”, will be running as an independent in the elections in October.

Samito is the son of President Machel’s first wife, Josina, who died in 1971.

But Graça Machel has always taken responsibility for all of Samora’s children, treating them as if they were her own. Since his death, she has been the head of the Machel family.

Ms Machel said she was backing Samito in her role as mother not as a politician:

Ms Machel married Mr Mandela on his 80th birthday in 1998, when he was still serving as South Africa’s first black president.

A multi-storey building has collapsed in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.

Rescue workers are at the scene as you can see in this video posted on Facebook by the Daily Trust newspaper:

According to Sahara Reporters, external, it was a shopping complex that was under construction in the Jabi area.

Local media say one person has died and several others are trapped in the rubble.

Kennedy Gondwe
BBC News, Lusaka

Image source, Getty Images

South Africa has banned the importation of honey from Zambia.

In a letter to South African honey importers, the agriculture department said American Foulbrood disease had been detected in samples from two locations in Zambia.

American Foulbrood is a serious bacterial disease capable of killing a bee colony.

There is no cure – and it contaminates beekeeping equipment, so once detected that must be destroyed to prevent the disease spreading.

Zambia’s High Commissioner to South Africa Emmanuel Mwamba told the BBC that he would fight the ban.

“We export to other markets with stringent regulations such as the European Union, and if Zambia's honey had such a disease, it would have been difficult for us to do so.

“We will pursue this matter through bilateral and diplomatic means and urgently to ensure that the ban is lifted as soon as possible.

"Our farmers have been benefiting from the export since 2015 when the earlier ban was lifted and this will hurt their income.”

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

In the east of Ethiopia more than 100 vehicles have been returned to their owners after they were looted during ethnic clashes earlier this month.

Religious leaders and elders have been calling for reconciliation and urged people to return whatever they had seized during the unrest.

Officials in Jigjiga city say looted cash has also been returned to banks following the appeal.

When government soldiers deployed in the city as part of an effort to remove the president of the region, people from the Somali ethnic group attacked non-Somalis, set fire to a church and stole property.

The region has been calm since the president of the Somali region, who had been accused of fomenting ethnic tensions and backing a controversial state militia, was replaced last week.

A Nigerian journalist who was held without trial and denied family visits for two years was released on Thursday - but he still faces serious charges.

Jones Abiri denies accusations that he threatened to bomb the Shell oil company in the Niger Delta. He appeared in court earlier this month.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which is calling for all the charges to be dropped, says he was refused access to a lawyer and not allowed to see or speak to his family, who didn't even know if he was dead or alive.

CPJ's Angela Quintal told BBC Newsday more about Abiri's ordeal:

Image source, AFP

The United States and the European Union have condemned the brutal treatment of members of parliament by the military in Uganda.

The US embassy statement, posted on Twitter, asked the Ugandan government to respect the human rights of all of its citizens:

The EU called for an end to oppression, external, saying the events had harmed Uganda's global reputation.

On Thursday, lawyers for the opposition MP and Afrobeats pop star Robert Kyagulanyi, known as Bobi Wine, said he had been so badly beaten in military custody that he could barely see, talk or walk when he appeared before a military court.

He was charged with unlawful possession of firearms after being arrested in the run-up to a by-election where he and President Yoweri Museveni were campaigning.

Several other MPs and supporters also showed signs of having been assaulted after their arrest.

Read more: The Afrobeats MP standing up to Museveni

Police in South Africa are clashing with university students protesting about slow wi-fi and poor living conditions in the coastal city of Durban.

The trouble is taking place at the Westville Campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN).

According to South Africa’s East Coast radio, external, students have set a guard house on fire.

A UKZN student has posted this video of police chasing students:

Several students have reportedly been arrested.

This tweet shows a fire engine putting out a fire allegedly started by the protesters:

Classes were halted at Westville earlier this week because of the protests.

As well as slow wi-fi, students are angry about the state of various residence blocks.

They have been complaining about leaking roofs, broken showers and a lack of kitchens, the Mercury paper reports, external.

One student posted a video of rats scurrying around a kitchen in residential P Block:

Aboubakar Famau
BBC Africa, Dar es Salaam

Image source, Getty Images

Police in south-western Tanzania have started arresting the residents of a village for vandalising some water pipes.

The arrest of the entire village of Ngola was ordered by the area's regional commissioner Albert Chalamila on Wednesday.

The residents are suspected of destroying a water facility worth about $20,000 (£16,000) in Masheye village, which is in a valley in Mbeya region.

Ngola is situated on a slope and does not have access to the water supply, which is thought to have angered the estimated 1,600 inhabitants.

Mr Chalamila told the BBC's Maximiliana Mtenga that the entire village should bear responsibility. A village councillor is among those arrested so far.

"I felt it was important for police to go there and make the arrests. In future they will protect public infrastructure."

He also said some of culpability lay with Masheye village.

"When we set up projects, we let the citizens protect them.

"Water committees in the villages are also responsible for protecting the project."

The police have permission to keep those arrested in detention for 48 hours before taking them to court.

The authorities in Ethiopia say heavy rains causing floods and mudslides have so far killed 51 people this rainy season, the country’s independent news site Addis Standard is reporting.

Eight people died on Thursday in Amhara state in northern Ethiopia in a mudslide, including six people from one family. Houses and crops were swept away as well, the Addis Standard says.

Beletu Bulbula Sorsu, the editor of the BBC Afaan Oromoo service, says the rains this year started very early in May, particularly in central part of the country. Usually the season begins in June.

Rain is expected to continue to fall until mid-September, she says.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

The World Health Organization (WHO) says it has identified 1,500 people who have potentially come into contact with Ebola patients in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, but says its staff cannot reach some areas because of the conflict.

During an Ebola outbreak it is critical for health workers to find all the people who may have come into contact with the virus - they are then carefully monitored each day in case they show symptoms including a high fever.

The WHO says there are potentially more cases in those inaccessible areas.

A WHO spokesman said 44 people have died during the current outbreak in North Kivu Province, a volatile area where various rebel groups are active.

Earlier this week the charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) opened an Ebola treatment centre in Mangina, the small town which is the epicentre of the outbreak.

MSF says ongoing violence and displacement of civilians in the area are having a significant impact on the humanitarian response.

Read more: Why Ebola is so dangerous

Cartoonists in Africa are showing their respect for Aretha Franklin, the music legend who died on Thursday aged 76, including South Africa's Zapiro and Kenya's Victor Ndula.

Many of her songs became anthems of the US civil rights movement and the sound track for those around the world fighting for their freedom.

Read more: Sound of the civil rights movement

Ghana's government has pledged to stop the process to dissolve the country's football association (GFA) over corruption allegations, Fifa has said.

Earlier this week, football's world governing body gave Ghana until 27 August to withdraw a court case or face a global ban from football.

A Ghana high court petition, brought by the attorney general to have the football association liquidated, came in the wake of a film alleging corruption:

Fifa said the two sides had on Thursday agreed to work together "to offer leadership in reforming football administration in Ghana and in Africa".

Read the BBC Sport story for more.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

The authorities in Niger have encouraged people to burn less firewood during next week's Eid al-Adha Muslim festival - an occasion when families often sacrifice sheep.

Next week the captial, Niamey, is expected to burn close to one fifth of the amount of the wood normally used in an entire year.

The chopping down of trees is linked to desertification, which in recent decades has had a drastic impact in Niger - one of the world's poorest countries

During Eid, known locally as "Tabaski", the authorities in Niger expect close to 400,000 sheep to be sacrificed in Niamey alone.

To roast them, almost 50,000 tonnes of firewood will be used.

The head of the city's environment agency, Col Oumarou Alou, called on people to use coal instead and said officials would be stopping trucks, donkeys and camels to prevent excessive loads of wood being brought into the capital.

Kennedy Gondwe
BBC Africa

Image source, Reuters

The Democratic Republic of Congo has issued an international arrest warrant for opposition leader Moise Katumbi, who has been in self-imposed exile since 2016.

Justice Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba said on Thursday that he should be arrested wherever he was found.

But Mr Katumbi told the BBC the warrant made no sense.

Mr Katumbi was hoping to get into DR Congo ahead of a deadline earlier this month for candidates to register for long-delayed elections in December.

But as he tried to cross over the border from Zambia, he was blocked by the Congolese authorities.

A wealthy businessman and former governor, Mr Katumbi left DR Congo in 2016.

He was later sentenced in absentia to 36 months in prison on charges he says are politically motivated.

Who is Moïse Katumbi?

• Was governor of the south-eastern Katanga province for almost a decade
• In 2015 he broke ties with the ruling party when he accused President Joseph Kabila, his former ally, of wanting to cling to power
• His popularity is partly down to his role as the president of a great source of Congolese pride - football club TP Mazembe.

Our proverb of the day:

Image source, Getty Images

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Welcome back to BBC Africa Live where we'll be keeping you up-to-date with news and views from around the continent.