BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

A new law criminalising sexual violence and harassment has come into force in Morocco.

The law - which includes a ban on forced marriage - follows growing concern in recent years about levels of abuse against women.

One survey found that six in 10 Moroccan women had suffered some kind of violence. Recent rape cases have received wide coverage on social media.

BBC Arabic's Mouna Ba says the new law has been widely welcomed, but it has also been criticised because it does not provide a definition of domestic violence or a specific ban on marital rape.

Our proverb of the day:

Image source, AFP

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

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

BBC Africa Live
Dickens Olewe

That's all from BBC Africa Live until Wednesday. You can 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 African proverb:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with a photo from Instagram of two women in Zimbabwe dehusking maize.

Image source, AFP

Zimbabwe's opposition leader Nelson Chamisa may take a mock presidential oath on Saturday, news agency Reuters quotes his spokesman as saying.

Nkululeko Sibanda said: "We will do everything that resembles an inauguration but everything will be within the law."

Deputy Minister of Information Energy Mutodi said the government would not allow "anarchy".

"Any attempt to de-legitimise government will not be tolerated and those bent on causing anarchy will be dealt with mercilessly," Mr Mutodi wrote on his official Twitter page, external.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa won 50.7% of the vote, compared to 44.3% for Mr Chamisa in the 30 July election.

Mr Chamisa's subsequent legal challenge was dismissed by Zimbabwe's Constitutional Court.

However, he has maintained that he was cheated out of victory by the electoral commission.

The plan for a mock inauguration has drawn comparisons to one taken by Kenya's opposition leader Raila Odinga in January.

He took an oath as "the people's president" before his supporters in a park in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, following a contentious election in 2017.

Mr Odinga and his political nemesis President Uhuru Kenyatta later called a truce and resolved to work together.

Read more: Nelson Chamisa - Zimbabwe's young political crusader

Stanley Kwenda
BBC Africa

Kenyan football club Gor Mahia will play English Premier League side Everton at the Goodison Park in the UK in November.

The 6 November match is part of Kenyan betting firm SportPesa's sponsorship deal with Everton.

"The historic fixture will kick-off at 7pm and will mark the first occasion an East African club side has contested a match in the UK," Everton said in a statement.

The match is part of the SportPesa Trophy, which is contested by clubs in Kenya and Tanzania. Winners of the competition play Everton in the final.

Last year, Everton travelled to Tanzania for the inaugural SportPesa Super Cup and played Gor Mahia at the National Stadium in Tanzania.

The Kenyan betting company is Everton football club's main sponsor. It also sponsors Torino FC in Italy as well as Hull City and Southampton FC in England.

Since its inception in 2014, it has supported various sporting disciplines and teams at home and abroad.

Watch a video of Ethiopians and Eritreans celebrating the reopening of two key crossing points more than 20 years after a border war shut them.

Hundreds of people from the two countries hugged each other and some wept as their leaders led celebrations to mark the reopening:

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, AFP

Controversial South African artist Ayanda Mabulu has told the BBC that he stands by his caricature of former president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela doing a Nazi salute.

The artwork was put up briefly during an art fair in Johannesburg last week (see earlier post).

He said that he had depicted Mr Mandela on a banner with swastikas because he had failed "the country's poor".

Mr Mandela became South Africa's first democratically elected president in 1994, ending white-minority rule. He served one term, stepping down in 1999, and died nearly five years ago aged 95.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation called Mr Mabulu's work deeply offensive.

But the artist said:

He explained that he chose to briefly showcase the work as he wanted to talk about the "hardships that black South Africans are dealing with due to empty promises made by the Mandela regime".

Head of the Nelson Mandela Foundation Sello Hatang told local media that the art had tested the limits of freedom of expression.

Mr Mabulu said he was only giving a voice to the voiceless:

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has said his country’s troops will start withdrawing from border areas with Eritrea from today.

Mr Abiy made the announcement amid the reopening of Burre and Zalambessa border crossings by the leaders of the two countries, which have been in a state of war over the last 20 years due to a border dispute.

Despite the recent rapprochement with Eritrea, Ethiopia had remained in violation of a resolution reached by a boundary commission in 2000 which ordered it to withdraw its troops.

Last week, soldiers from both sides took part in an exercise to clear mines and road blocks that had hindered trade and movement of people between the two countries.

But both countries signed up to a new peace deal in July - dramatically changing the relationship between Eritrea and Ethiopia which have had no diplomatic or trade relations since the late 1990s.

Ghanaians have been filing past Kofi Annan's remains to pay their last respects, as his body lies in state at the International Conference Centre in the capital, Accra.

The Ghanaian diplomat, who became UN Secretary General, died on 18 August in Switzerland where he lived. His body was flown to Ghana on Monday evening ahead of Thursday's official funeral.

The viewing started at 10:00 GMT and will end at 16:00 GMT. It will open again on Wednesday.

The BBC's Thomas Naadi has snapped these pictures of mourners:

Kennedy Gondwe
BBC News, Lusaka

Police in northern Zambia have charged two Chinese nationals with murder for allegedly beating a Zambian man to death after accusing him of theft.

The two Chinese men are alleged to have punched, kicked and used planks to beat up Evaristo Chileshe to death on Sunday, Richard Mweene, the Northern Province Police Commissioner, said.

The police boss told me investigations are still ongoing and the suspects are expected to be taken to court before the end of the week.

The Chinese community in Zambia is growing and its relationship with Zambian nationals has often been fractious.

China has invested heavily in Zambian copper mining and other sectors.

The number of people suffering from hunger has increased during the past three years, after years of decline, a UN report suggests.

According to the analysis, 821 million people globally were undernourished in 2017 - about one person in every nine.

And nearly 151 million under-fives - 22% of the global total - have their growth stunted by poor nutrition.

The authors say extreme climate events are partly to blame for the rise and call for urgent global action.

The report, The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, also says difficulties accessing nutritious food is contributing to the growing problem of obesity in the world, with one in eight adults - more than 672 million - being classified as obese.

Read the BBC News story for more.

In certain parts of Nigeria "rainmakers" or "rainpushers" are held in high regard.

People pay them to keep rain away from events, such as weddings, but can they really control the weather?

BBC journalists Nduka Orjinmo and Joshua Akinyemi went to find out - watch their video:

A key crossing point between one-time bitter enemies Ethiopia and Eritrea has reopened after a border war shut it more than 20 years ago.

The leaders of the two countries witnessed the reopening at Burre, as part of their ongoing rapprochement.

This will give landlocked Ethiopia access to the port of Assab.

Another border post, near the Ethiopian town of Zalambessa and on the main road linking the two countries, is also set to reopen.

This follows a peace deal signed by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki in July restoring diplomatic and trade relations.

The reopening coincides with the Ethiopian New Year, adding to the festive atmosphere.

The war, fought over the exact location of the boundary between Ethiopia and Eritrea, began in May 1998 and left tens of thousands of people dead.

Read the full story on the BBC website

An MP in Zimbabwe has taken a public HIV test to counter accusations made on social media that he had the virus.

Temba Mliswa, an independent legislator, tweeted a photo of a medical slip showing his negative result:

He also denied allegations made on Twitter that he had been "having sex with children".

He said in a statement:

Mr Mliswa urged Zimbabweans to get tested and not to stigmatise those who have HIV.

Milton Nkosi
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

Image source, AFP

South Africa recorded 20,336 murders in the last year, an increase of 1,320 murders compared to the same period the year before, Police Minister Bheki Cele has said.

“This means 57 murders a day. It borders on a war zone,” the visibly angry minister said.

Police records show that murder rates have increased in the past six consecutive years.

Francois Beukman, who heads the police oversight committee in parliament, described the numbers as "alarming and totally unacceptable".

Admitting that the police haven’t done as well as they should have, Mr Cele said the security officers had “dropped the ball.”

"South Africans must not take it as a norm that they can be hijacked, robbed and killed every day. We have to pick up the ball and change the situation for the better."

He promised to work hard to change the situation: “Our bottom line is that this situation must reverse," he said.

The motives and circumstances behind killings range from gangsterism to vigilantism.

Image source, AFP

Officials in Zimbabwe have declared a health emergency in the capital, Harare, after the death toll of people infected with cholera rose to 20, news agency Reuters reports.

At least 2,000 people have been infected after drinking contaminated water.

It came about after burst sewers contaminated water in boreholes and open wells, which are used by residents of Budiriro and Glenview suburbs, Health Minister Obadiah Moyo said.

"We are declaring an emergency for Harare. This will enable us to contain cholera, typhoid and whatever is going on. We don't want any further deaths," Mr Moyo said after touring a hospital treating patients in the capital.

Harare city council has struggled to supply water to some suburbs for more than a decade, forcing residents to rely on water from open wells and community boreholes, Reuters reports.

More than 100 migrants died in a shipwreck off the Libyan coastline earlier this month, an aid agency says.

According to Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) two rubber boats set off on 1 September, but one of the vessels deflated and sank.

The 276 survivors were eventually taken to the Libyan port city of Khoms, around 100km (62 miles) to the south-east of the capital Tripoli.

MSF says the group is now being held in "arbitrary detention".

The survivors, including pregnant women, children and infants, have been treated by MSF for pneumonia or burns from leaked fuel.

More than 1,500 migrants have died while attempting to cross the Mediterranean so far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Read the full BBC News story.

Image source, Reuters

South African artist Ayanda Mabulu has caused controversy again - and this time his target is Nelson Mandela.

He has caricatured the anti-apartheid fighter and South Africa's first democratically elected president doing a Nazi salute.

The art work was briefly showcased at the FNB Joburg Art Fair, which ran from 6-8 September.

It's believed Mabulu caught organisers off-guard as he was not set to showcase any of his work at the fair, TimesLive reports. , external

A Twitter user captured the moment the artist put it up - although it does not show the derogatory words written at the bottom of the work:

On Monday, the Nelson Mandela Foundation criticised the artist saying they found the painting deeply offensive and that "there are limits" that should be respected.

Many people supported this view on social media but others disagreed, including Facebook user Nkosinathi Quwe who said: "Ayanda Mabulu is our Fela Kuti. Either you like him or you don't. Either way, his disruptions will be echoed in the history books one day..."

Mabulu's previous works have included graphic images of former President Jacob Zuma, including one of Mr Zuma performing a sexual act on one of the controversial Gupta family.

The body of the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will lie in state on Tuesday at the International Conference Centre in Ghana's capital, Accra, to allow fellow Ghanaians to pay their respects.

The casket arrived at the city's international airport on Monday evening from Switzerland ahead of his official burial ceremony on Thursday.

The viewing will take place between 10:00 GMT and 16:00 GMT.

Diplomats, government officials, traditional leaders and other dignitaries will also pay their last respects, the BBC's Thomas Naadi reports.

Mr Annan, the first sub-Saharan African to become the UN chief, died on 18 August aged 80 after a short illness.

Our reporter snapped these pictures:

Read: Kofi Annan's obituary