That's all from BBC Africa Live for today. 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 Thursday's proverb:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this photo of two men meeting on the road between Eritrea's capital Asmara and the second city, Keren:

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

Officials in Mali say seven soldiers and a civilian driver have been killed in a region badly affected by Islamist violence.

The men died when two of their vehicles hit improvised explosive devices in central Mali.

Much of the country is affected by jihadist violence and communal clashes.

On Thursday, France deployed 120 extra troops to Mali to fight the Islamists.

They landed by parachute in the north-eastern region of Menaka.

Six years ago much of northern Mali was seized by jihadists but they were pushed back by French forces.

Image source, Getty Images

South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been admitted to hospital for a series of tests, his office has said.

The 86-year-old was in "good spirits after settling into his ward" and hoped to be back home in a few days", his office added in a statement.

It is unclear what tests the anti-apartheid icon will undergo. He will turn 87 on 7 October.

Patience Atuhaire
BBC Africa, Kampala

Jane Ndagire blames illegal skin-lightening products, smuggled into Uganda over a dangerous border, for ruining her complexion.

She was approaching her 40s, when the women in her circle started hinting at how they could look younger.

Someone mentioned a cream called Caro Light saying a close friend had a glow on her face within a week of using it. Ms Ndagire wanted in.

"Within three days, I could see a difference. My face had this radiance I had never seen before. I applied it all over my body," she says.

Several months in, she started to feel the heat of the sun more, and the skin on her cheeks felt taut. Her supplier recommended mixing the lightening cream with petroleum jelly.

"My complexion became too light. But I could not reverse the effects. Then I started getting pimples, which take long to heal.

"When I get a small bruise, it takes weeks to dry up. My skin feels flabby to the touch," she adds, staring at her hands which are visibly darker than her face.

Ms Ndagire, now 45, has raw red cheeks. She finally quit lightening her skin five months ago.

"I didn't know there would be long-term side effects. Sometimes I feel like covering my face. I just pray that I didn't damage my skin to the extent of getting cancer."

Read my full story here

Image source, Getty Images

Last week, the Liberian government announced it had lost $104m (£79m).

This wasn't through any bad investment decision or some accounting fraud, the money - in cash - had literally gone missing.

The banknotes had been ordered by Liberia's central bank from printers overseas and had disappeared after passing through the country's main port and airport.

It raises the question of whether we should care where our money is printed.

Some countries, like India, do manufacture all their cash at home. And the US is legally obliged to print its banknotes within its territories.

But for most it's actually a common practice to print some of their money abroad, while others like Liberia don't even have their own mint.

Read the full BBC article here

BBC Sport

Image source, SSFA on Facebook

The Algerian-born German head coach of South Sudan's football team has quit due to questions over his team selection by football association officials.

Ahcene Ait Abdelmalek signed a two-year contract with the South Sudan Football Association (SSFA) in March this year.

"They [unspecified officials in the SSFA] interfere and say this player must play and this player should not play, and why is this player not playing?" he told BBC Sport.

The SSFA declined to comment immediately on the matter, saying they will issue an official statement concerning the resignation in the next few days.

Read the full story here

BBC World Service

Many health workers helping with an Ebola outbreak in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo are in lockdown in the city of Beni.

Despite calls for them to resume work, the United Nations says it is not safe for them to move around.

This means they are unable to vaccinate people, monitor possible cases and educate the community about the disease.

There was a violent protest in Beni on Wednesday, calling for an end to insecurity. Earlier this week, health workers suspended activities following a deadly rebel attack on Beni.

More than 100 people have died in the current Ebola outbreak in DR Congo, including 35 in Beni.

Andrew Harding
BBC News, Johannesburg

Two whistle-blowers who leaked explosive emails revealing alleged corruption by powerful elites in South Africa fled the country because they couldn’t trust the authorities to protect them.

This, and other details, have been revealed at a judicial inquiry into the corruption that flourished under former President Jacob Zuma.

Image source, Getty Images

In dramatic testimony, lawyer Brian Currin said he had helped the two terrified whistle-blowers, who leaked hundreds of thousands of explosive emails, to flee.

The whistle-blowers are still too scared to return, unable to trust the police, he added.

The emails were contained on a hard drive that was smuggled out of South Africa last year to be verified by independent experts.

The emails, now widely reported on by the media, appear to show a corrupt conspiracy involving Mr Zuma, his son, ministers, civil servants and the powerful Gupta family. All deny any wrongdoing.

But the inquiry, established to get to the bottom of what is known in South Africa as “state capture”, is rattling the political establishment and is widely expected to lead to arrests and criminal trials.

Oluwashina Okeleji
BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

Guinea international striker Mathias Pogba has joined French third division side Tours after almost 18 months out of the game.

The deal comes just five weeks after he failed to secure a deal in Germany for reportedly being 'overweight'.

The 28-year-old, brother of Manchester United and France star Paul Pogba, is fit again after an Achilles tendon injury.

"I chose Tours, because of all the different discussions I had with interested clubs, only the management of Tours understood me and convinced me to join their project," Pogba told the club website., external

Ishaq Khalid
BBC Africa, Abuja

Government offices are shut in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, after the country's two main trade unions called an indefinite strike to demand higher wages.

Many of the city's banks are also closed.

Union leaders are going around to monitor the effectiveness of the strike.

There is hardly anyone in the vicinity of the Federal Secretariat, where government ministries are based.

A few security personnel are guarding the building.

Unions want the government to triple the monthly minimum wage to $164 (£125).

The government had promised to review the wage in the face of the rising cost of living.

Nigeria - which emerged from a recession last year - is due to hold elections next year.

Athuman Mtulya
BBC Africa

Tanzania has opened its first ever flyover in the business capital, Dar es Salaam.

It has been named after Roads Agency CEO Patrick Mfugale, who is widely credited for improving Tanzania's roads.

The $45m (£34m) flyover has been built at the Tazara intersection, which is a notorious point for gridlocks and it connects traffic to the central business district, airport and the port.

President John Magufuli was at the colourful ceremony, which was televised live, to mark the opening of the flyover.

Its construction took two years and was financed by the government of Japan.

BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

Tanzania's football coach Emmanuel Amuneke admits leading the Taifa Stars is a challenge but his team is ready to build.

The former Nigeria international is now preparing to face Cape Verde in Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in October.

The 1994 Caf African Footballer of the Year is confident he has the strategy to lead Tanzania to a first Nations Cup finals since 1980, telling BBC Sport:

Read the full story here

Nigeria's government is concerned about fake news and hate speech being spread via social media in the run-up to elections next year, Tolu Ogunlesi, who is in charge of President Muhammadu Buhari’s social media and digital strategy, has told the BBC.

The information ministry had embarked on a campaign to "sensitise" people to ensure that social media was not used to incite violence in a country where "there are just so many possible nodes of conflict", he added.

Image source, Getty Images

On whether social media would be censored during the election period, Mr Ogunlesi said: "I can safely say that there will be no censorship as far as I know but that doesn't mean that there are no temptations."

Mr Ogunlesi made the comments during a BBC panel discussion hosted by Kenyan journalist Waihiga Mwaura, the winner of this year's BBC World News Komla Dumor Award.

President Buhari and his All Progressives Congress (APC) party will seek a second term in what are expected to be fiercely contested elections next year.

The government is battling a brutal insurgency by militant Islamists in the north, and clashes between farmers and cattle herders in the centre.

Tosin Oshinowo is an architect in Lagos, Nigeria, who describes her style as "afro-minimalism".

A BBC Africa One Minute Story by Grace Ekpu.

Sierra Leonean referee Victor Marah died after collapsing while officiating a community league football match in Freetown on Tuesday.

The incident happened a few minutes before the end of a well-attended match between Kroo Bay and Falcon 12 FC.

Attempts were made to revive the 27-year-old but he was pronounced dead after being rushed to hospital.

The exact cause of death is not yet known.

Marah took part in a Confederation of African Football (Caf) referees' course in Cairo just a few weeks ago.

Image source, Getty Images

An elephant has trampled to death a 49-year-old German woman in a famous game reserve in Zimbabwe, a wildlife official has said, AFP news agency reports.

The unnamed woman was attacked after she photographed a herd of elephants at the Mana Pools park in northern Zimbabwe, Tinashe Farawo, a spokesman for the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, said, AFP news agency reports.

Mr Farawo added:

Image source, Getty Images

Cameroon's French-linked rail operator, Camrail, and its top executives have been convicted of involuntary manslaughter after 79 people were killed and about 600 others were injured when a train derailed in October 2016.

Camrail's former chief executive, Didier Vandenbon, was among those convicted by a court in Cameroon's central town of Eséka. He was sentenced to six months in jail, Reuters news agency reports.

A lawyer for one of the victims welcomed the ruling.

"It's a historic day after a time of tears. Now is the time to hope," Me Massi Ngakele was quoted by Reuters as saying.

The train was travelling from the capital, Yaoundé, to the main commercial city, Douala, when it derailed on 21 October 2016, in one of the worst rail disasters in Cameroon.

Last year, a Cameroonian government inquiry found that the Camrail-operated train was travelling at more than twice the speed limit, its breaks were defective and it was overloaded.

Camrail is a unit of French industrial group Bolloré.

BBC World Service

The head of the Saudi sports authority, Turki Al al-Sheikh, has decided to withdraw all his investments in Egypt.

Image source, Getty Images

At the end of last year, Mr Al al-Sheikh, who's a royal adviser and head of the Saudi Olympic Committee, was named an honorary president of Egypt's biggest football club, Al-Ahly, and he bought another football club and a television station.

He left Al-Ahly after five months of rows with its board of directors.

Al-Ahly fans chanted obscenities against him during the club's latest match - an action condemned by the Saudi Royal Court.

Saudi Sela Sport, which sponsors Al-Ahly, has announced it's also pulling out of Egypt.

Anne Soy
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Image source, Getty Images

A new study has found that nearly half of Kenyan mothers with disabled babies were pressured to kill them.

The two-year research, carried out by the charity Disability Rights International, also found that such mothers are often blamed for the conditions of their children.

More than two thirds of mothers interviewed said disabled children were considered a curse.

They told researchers they were accused of having sinned - and brought it upon themselves.

One said her grandmother suggested she put needles in her son’s veins to kill him slowly. Another that she should feed her child acid.

The study did not however reveal the proportion of parents who actually ended their disabled babies’ lives.

But the BBC was told that infanticide is carried out secretly and often goes unreported.

Many communities across the world which carried out infanticide in the past have ended the practice. It is illegal in Kenya.

Our proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.