Tomi Oladipo
BBC Africa security correspondent

Image source, AFP

Ethiopia has had yet another shake-up relating to its security and military outfits, with the recent arrests of former intelligence agents and army officers accused of abuse and corruption.

This continues the trend of reforms Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has carried out since he took office in April.

While it has not been smooth sailing - ethnic and political tensions have risen - the prime minister is bent on maintaining control.

Back in June, he purged sections of the military leadership, but did not go the whole hog to avoid damaging his relationship with the army, especially as he needs their loyalty in keeping watch on the former rebel groups which are returning in the open atmosphere he has fostered.

Just last week, Mr Abiy warned the current military chiefs to respect the constitution, a sign that he wants keep the stalwarts in uniform from undermining the reforms and control of his civilian government.

He has offered them a firm but conciliatory hand.

Amid the praise for recently appointing so many women to his cabinet, some eyebrows were raised as two key security ministries are now being headed by people with little background or experience in military-related fields.

Aisha Mohammed is the country’s first female defence minister and Muferiyat Kamil is at the helm of the new Ministry of Peace, which controls the intelligence agency.

It could be that he is seeking fresh minds to help handle the ongoing tensions.

Ultimately, to successfully run the show from the background, the prime minister needs people he can trust.

Image source, EPA

Denmark is withholding 65m krone (£7.5m; $9.8m) in aid to Tanzania after "unacceptable homophobic comments" from a senior politician, a minister says.

Development minister Ulla Tornaes did not name the official but said she was "very concerned" by the comments.

Last month, Paul Makonda, commissioner for the commercial capital Dar es Salaam, called on the public to report suspected gay men to the police.

He said he would set up a surveillance squad to track down gay people.

However, the government later distanced itself from his views, saying that he "was only airing his personal opinion", not government policy.

Homosexual acts are illegal in Tanzania and punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

Read more on the BBC News website.

Catherine Byaruhanga
BBC Africa, Kampala

Uganda's president has ordered the army to protect Chinese companies.

It follows a meeting he held with over 120 Chinese investors who say some of their factories have suffered a spate robberies where large sums of money were taken.

The measures proposed by President Yoweri Museveni include increased patrols in industrial parks and the installment of CCTV cameras.

The country generally has seen a rise in violent crime and in recent weeks, the military has begun patrols in and around the capital, while the government is also setting up new local defence forces.

Image source, Getty Images

Our proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

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

Lucy Fleming
BBC Africa Live

That's all from BBC Africa Live for now. 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 Wednesday's proverb:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And as Zimbabwe marks a year since the dramatic events which led to the departure of long-time leader Robert Mugabe, we leave you with this Instagram post from photographer Ralph Kuda Chikambi of children going to school in an over-crowded suburb of the capital, Harare.

A nurse in Malawi has been suspended pending further investigation after a selfie of her in a labour ward was posted on social media.

The selfie was widely shared provoking an uproar:

Joshua Malango, public relations officer for Malawi's Ministry of Health, told the BBC Focus on Africa radio programme the photo was shocking.

But he said the case had been referred to the Nurses' Council, which was investigating to see who took and circulated the photo.

Kweku Adoboli, the former UBS trader convicted of fraud, will be deported to Ghana from the UK on Wednesday, campaigners have said.

His MP, Hannah Bardell, said he would be flown out of London's Heathrow airport in the early evening after being detained in Scotland on Monday night.

She said Adoboli, aged 38 and who has lived in the UK for 26 years, was in a distressed state.

The UK Home Office declined to comment on the reports.

Read the BBC News story for more.

Image source, AFP

A Nigerian judge has said she wants missing pro-Biafra leader Nnamdi Kanu back in court after he resurfaced in Israel following his disappearance last year, the AFP news agency reports.

The head of the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) has been charged with treason after campaigning for an independent state called Biafra in south-eastern Nigeria.

In 2009, he set up Radio Biafra, a station that broadcasts to Nigeria from London calling for an independent state for the Igbo people.

He was released on bail last year after spending more than 19 months without trial.

He went missing after his house in the south-eastern Abia state was raided by the military.

But last month a video of him appeared on social media showing him praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

At the hearing in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, judge Binta Nyako ordered the three people who stood surety for Mr Kanu when he was granted bail to produce him in court or forfeit their money, AFP reports.

"I want you to go out to look for Nnamdi Kanu, I gave you a Nnamdi Kanu and you have lost him and I'm not happy with you. I want him back," she is quoted as saying.

Zimbabwe’s second city Bulawayo is considering mandatory cremation for people who die aged 25 and below because of a shortage of burial space in the city, the state-run Chronicle newspaper reports.

Bulawayo City Council debated the contentious issue at a recent meeting, external, the paper quotes the minutes as saying.

One of the city’s six cemeteries – West Park Cemetery – only had space for 200 graves, it said.

The Chronicle says city residents have opposed the idea of cremation in the past, saying it was "unAfrican".

In Bulawayo, it costs about $63 (£49) to cremate a body, while conducting a burial without a funeral policy is about $1,000, the report says.

Simon Gongo
BBC Afrique, Ouagadougou

Image source, AFP

Schools in Burkina Faso near the borders with Mali and Niger are coming under increasing threat from jihadist groups demanding the schools abandon secular education.

On Monday, four armed men on motorbikes pulled up to a school in the small northern community of Toulfé.

Burkina Faso's Minister of Education Stanislas Ouaro told BBC Afrique the gunmen forced everyone on to the floor before whipping four of the teachers and the school director in front of the students.

The director got six lashes and each teacher got two, he said.

The gunmen reportedly introduced themselves as Ansarul Islam members, an extremist group launched in 2016 by Malam Dicko and considered active in the northern part of the country.

Meanwhile, a public school closed this week in the eastern town of Gayeri, after teachers reported seeing a threatening message written in French on an announcements board of the school.

"We will come back on 14 November to empty the school of its students. If we find a teacher, he is dead," the threat read, according to the education minister who spoke to the teachers.

The minister told the BBC more than 560 schools had not been operational in border areas since October as teachers had fled or not shown up to work because of security concerns.

BBC World Service

Image source, Libyan Interior Ministry

Libya's prime minister says his country expects to extradite to the UK the brother of the Manchester bomber before the end of this year.

Twenty-two people died in the suicide bombing at a concert at the Manchester Arena 18 months ago.

The perpetrator, Salman Abedi, a Briton of Libyan parentage, died - but his brother Hashem was taken into custody in Libya.

He's suspected of involvement, and is wanted by Manchester police on charges of murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy to cause explosions.

Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj told the BBC his country was completing the legal moves for his extradition and understood the anguish of the victim's families.

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

The lifting of sanctions against Eritrea is the latest in a series of dramatic developments in the Horn of Africa.

They were imposed in 2009 after Eritrea was accused of supporting the Somali jihadist group al-Shabab.

But the UN Security Council has adopted a resolution after UN monitors found there was no longer evidence Eritrea was backing the militants.

Until a few months ago, Eritrea was a global pariah - some even called it “Africa's North Korea”.

A politically repressive closed state, Eritrea has been a major source of migrants to Europe.

Change started when a new prime minister came to power in Ethiopia, a close ally of the West.

Abiy Ahmed spearheaded a peace deal with Eritrea after two decades of hostilities.

Image source, Getty Images

But Eritrea will have now to step up.

It can no longer use enmity with its powerful neighbour or UN sanctions as an excuse for a near complete lack of political freedom, indefinite national service and a refusal to hold elections.

Read: Behind the smiles of Eritrea's president

The governor of Nigeria’s oil-rich Delta State has promised the Super Eagles $25,000 (£19,000) for every goal scored on Saturday when the national football team plays South Africa.

It is an important match – to be played in Johannesburg – and a win against the Bafana Bafana would guarantee Nigeria a place at the Africa Nations Cup in Cameroon next year.

Ifeanyi Okowa made the pledge when he visited the Super Eagles at a training session in his state on Tuesday:

BBC Africa Sport’s Oluwashina Okeleji says it is not unusual for Nigerian governors to offer rewards to footballers.

The Super Eagles have been affected by rows over payments in the past, but recent sponsorship deals have resolved issues over bonuses.

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has thanked the UN Security Council for responding to his country’s call to lift sanctions against neighbouring Eritrea.

The UN vote comes a few months after the two countries agreed a peace deal.

In his tweeted statement, Mr Abiy said the lifting of the sanctions were important for the whole of the Horn of Africa:

The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to lift sanctions on Eritrea, which were imposed nine years ago.

An arms embargo, asset freeze, and travel ban were enforced amid allegations that Eritrea supported al-Shabab militants in Somalia.

The lifting of the sanctions comes after a thawing of relations in the region and a landmark peace deal with neighbouring Ethiopia.

Image source, Getty Images

Mountain gorillas are no longer “critically endangered”, according to the new extinction Red List.

However, the primates, who live in border area between the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda, still remain “endangered”.

When the list was last put together by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2008, the mountain gorilla population was estimated to be around 680.

IUCN says over the last decade estimates show that the population has increased to more than 1,000,the highest figure ever recorded, external.

This is thanks to conservation measures, including anti-poaching and veterinary patrols, and “positive engagement from communities” living around their protected habitat covering approximately 792 sq km (305 sq miles).

IUCN's Liz Williamson cautioned that such efforts had to be maintained:

The gorillas still face threats from poaching, recurring civil unrest and diseases passed on by humans, including Ebola.

Read the BBC News story for more.

Bekele Atoma Boru
BBC Horn of Africa

Image source, EBC

Ethiopia’s military-run conglomerate Metals and Engineering Corporation (Metec) is a hot topic in the Horn of Africa nation after a TV documentary alleged it was involved in illegal arms trading.

It was broadcast on state-run television ETV and other government-affiliated media just hours after the former head of the firm, Maj Gen Kinfe Dagnew, was arrested as he tried to flee to neighbouring Sudan.

The documentary alleges that among other things, Metec was involved in transporting arms to Somalia.

Suleiman Dedefo, Ethiopia’s former ambassador to Djibouti, told the programme that in 2016 Metec allegedly purchased two old ships from Ethiopian Shipping Lines to demolish and use the parts as scrap metal, but instead renovated and used them to transport weapons and other contraband between Iran and Somalia.

He said that he wrote letters to several government institutions including Ethiopia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, about the allegations, but received no response. His letter is circulating on social media.

On Monday, Ethiopia’s Attorney General Berhanu Tsegaye announced that vast corruption had been unveiled at Metec after a five-month investigation.

He said Metec had made foreign purchases, totalling $2bn (£1.5bn), without any bidding processes.

As a result, 27 officials of the firm are now under arrest, he added. Neither Maj Gen Kinfe nor officials at Metec have commented on the allegations.

The arrests are the biggest crackdown on corruption in Ethiopia, which is undergoing massive reforms since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power seven months ago.

In August, Mr Abiy took away work contracted to Metec to build Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam - a massive infrastructure project to dam the Nile River - and gave it to foreign firms.

Image source, AFP

Nigerians now have an official phone number to call to complain about sub-standard products, instead of bending the ears of their friends.

The government Twitter account posted the number:

First problem with this was that the number was wrong.

The Standards Organisation of Nigeria posted the correct number, but the phone looks like an antique (by phone standards):

And others have been quick to respond with their suggestions of sub-standard political products:

Others think that it would be easier to tell people which products were standard:

And there is the demand for a number to complain about the irregular power supply:

The mayor of South Africa’s largest city, Johannesburg, has apologised for suggesting that a meat trader pushing cows heads in a shopping trolley was responsible for spreading diseases, such as Ebola.

There was a backlash on social media to Herman Mashaba’s Monday' tweet.

He was accused of being insensitive to the struggles faced by informal traders.

In response to a suggestion that the trader be helped, he tweeted: “We are going to sit back and allow people like you to bring us Ebola in the name of small business.Health of our people first. Our health facilities are already stretched to the limit.”

In his apology, which he also tweeted, the mayor said that in future he would organise for health inspectors to work with traders so they could understand safety standards and why they were important.

He added: “For the insensitivity of my remarks about Ebola, I apologise unreservedly to those who my remarks have offended."

The BBC's Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg says meat from cow heads is enjoyed in many parts of South Africa.