Image source, AFP

A former defence chief in Nigeria has been killed in an ambush outside the capital, Abuja.

Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh died from gunshot wounds in an attack on his vehicle by unknown gunmen.

Air force spokesman Ibikunle Daramola said in a statement that Badeh's vehicle “was attacked while returning from his farm along Abuja-Keffi Road”.

It is unclear whether it was a targeted or random killing.

Badeh served as chief of defence staff under former President Goodluck Jonathan, who stepped down in 2015, and was on trial for money-laundering – allegations he denied.

Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) alleges he diverted Nigeria Air Force funds for his personal use, external.

His defence team had been expected to present their case in January, external, Nigeria’s Guardian newspaper reported.

Image source, Getty Images

South Africa's state prosecuting authority has issued an arrest warrant for Grace Mugabe, Zimbabwe's former first lady, local media reports a lobby group as saying.

Mrs Mugabe was accused of assaulting a young model, Gabriella Engels, in a hotel in South Africa's main city, Johannesburg, in 2017.

She was allowed to return home after she applied for diplomatic immunity - but in July this year a court annulled a government decision to grant her immunity.

Mrs Mugabe said at the time that she had acted in self-defence after the "intoxicated and unhinged" model attacked her in a hotel room where her two sons lived.

Times Live says the lobby group AfriForum, which has been pursuing the case, made the announcement about the arrest warrant at a press conference on Wednesday morning, external.

It quotes AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel as saying:

“It seems that justice is going to take place and we are looking forward to this matter going forward.”

The alleged assault took place about three months before the military takeover in Zimbabwe which saw Robert Mugabe resign as president after 37 years in power.

Raissa Ioussouf
BBC Afrique, Antananarivo

Image source, AFP

Voting is taking place in Madagascar in a run-off election between two former presidents - Marc Ravalomanana and Andry Rajoelina.

More than 10 million people are eligible to vote, but there was a 45% absentee rate in the first round of the poll on 7 November.

Mr Ravalomanana was elected in 2002 but was ousted seven years later after protests led by Mr Rajoelina, who then became president.

The two men were barred from entering the presidential race of 2013 because the international community feared it would reignite a political crisis.

During the first round of the election, Mr Rajoelina took 39% of the vote and Mr Ravalomanana 35%.

Their biggest challenge will be to convince undecided voters to turn out.

Some voters have said they are disappointed by what they feel was a lack of depth during the debates in the past two weeks.

Others have said they want to return a blank ballot paper to symbolise that voting for either candidate will make no difference.

Both men have invested a lot of money in their campaigns.

There is concern among some analysts that if the loser doesn’t accept the results, it could plunge the country into another crisis.

BBC World Service

The Polish government has confirmed the release of the crew of a container ship, who were kidnapped by pirates off Nigeria in October.

The eight Polish nationals were safe, the foreign ministry said.

In a statement, quoted by the Reuters news agency, it added:

Three other crew members of the Pomerenia Sky - two Filipinos and a Ukrainian - were also reportedly freed.

The crew of the German-owned vessel were kidnapped by pirates in motorboats when the ship was about 100km (62 miles) off Nigeria, en route from Angola.

It was the fifth case of kidnapping of Polish sailors in the Gulf of Guinea since 2013, the ministry statement said.

Read more: Chasing West Africa pirates

One of Africa's top musicians - Diamond Platnumz - has been banned from performing in Tanzania.

Basata, the regulatory arts board in the East African nation, said it had taken the decision because he had performed one of his songs that had been banned a few weeks ago.

On Sunday the singer, who popularised "bongo flava", Tanzanian hip hop, performed the song Mwanza to big crowds during a festival in the port city of the same name.

Mwanza was banned as the lyrics contained the Swahili word for “horny” and because the authorities considered some of the dance moves in the video to be lascivious.

The statement from Basata said Diamond Platnumz and another musician, Rayvanny, who also features in the song, had also been banned from doing shows outside the country – although it was not clear how this would be enforced.

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 trends from across the continent.

BBC Africa Live
Dickens Olewe

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 our Africa Today podcast or checking the BBC News website.

A reminder of Tuesday's proverb:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you this picture of a model in Kenya's informal settlement of Kibera in the capital, Nairobi.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Ahead of Sunday's elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the issue of vote buying is causing controversy.

Dozens of people waiting outside the first lady's home in the city of Goma told reporters they were hoping for money after cash donations were distributed there on Monday to supporters of the governing party candidate, Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary.

People who attended his rally over the weekend say they were given around $30 (£23) each as well as high quality fabric.

All candidates are reported to be giving out some money which is not illegal under Congolese law but anti corruption campaigners have criticised the practice and say voters should study the manifestos and not be influenced by gifts.

Shingai Nyoka
BBC Africa, Harare

Image source, Reuters

The use of live bullets by the military to quell Zimbabwe's post-election protests in August was "disproportionate and unjustified", an international inquiry into the violence has found.

Six people were killed and 35 were injured.

Former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe led a commission of inquiry into the violence.

Its report, made public today, called for compensation for the victims and punishment for the perpetrators.

The main opposition party was found to have orchestrated, incited and prompted the violence.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa's decision to deploy the military was found to be lawful, but the commission blamed the military’s use of live rounds for the deaths.

Both political parties emerged bruised from an election that was meant to set Zimbabwe on a democratic path.

Catherine Byaruhanga
BBC Africa, Kampala

Image source, AFP

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni says it will be a "pleasure" to take part in talks with people who have disagreed with him.

He was speaking at the inauguration of a committee set up to organise a national dialogue which would discuss a transition from his more than three-decade-long rule.

The talks would also focus on the country's ethnic and sectarian divisions and its economic development.

Civil society leaders worry that President Museveni’s rule - like that of his predecessors - will not end peacefully.

But Mr Museveni says he is not interested in what he described as such "petty issues" and instead is concerned about the long-term security and development of Africa as a whole.

The newly inaugurated committee will now put together a framework for the talks, which should begin after March next year.

A former head of football in The Gambia, Seedy Kinteh, has been given a four-year ban from the sport by Fifa.

World football's governing body said its ethics committee had found him guilty of corruption.

He was also fined $200,000 (£160,000).

An investigation found that he'd accepted cash from Mohamed bin Hammam, who has been banned from football for life.

Louise Dewast
Kinshasa, DR Congo

The electoral commission in the Democratic Republic of Congo says that the number of voters allocated to each polling station in the capital will have to increase after last week's fire at its warehouses destroyed election material.

More than two thirds of the electoral voting machines needed for Kinshasa were lost, raising fears many would not be able to vote.

The electoral commission now says it has replaced nearly all the machines needed for the city's four million voters.

It says it will plan for 700 voters at each polling station instead of 600.

The commission says at least 6,000 electronic voting machines will be operational in Kinshasa, and more than 1,000 will serve as backups in case of any technical failure.

Most of these machines were shipped from neighbouring provinces and the last batch is due to arrive shortly in the capital.

Read more: Why do voters mistrust electronic voting?

Jose Tembe
BBC Africa, Maputo

Three journalists, one local and two foreign, have been detained by Mozambique's army in Palma district in the restive northern province of Cabo Delgado, a statement from the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) says.

They were detained on Monday morning while on their way to Palma from Chitolo, in the neighbouring district of Mocimboa da Praia, where they had been working.

They told Misa they had been detained despite authorisation from the local and provincial military commanders to work there.

They said a group of soldiers ordered them to stop and told them that they were obeying orders from those who had authorised them to work there.

The soldiers then seized their equipment, including cameras, and detained them.

Mocimboa da Praia and Palma are two of the districts that have suffered from attacks by jihadists, known locally as al-Shabab, although it seems they have no direct connection with the militants based in Somalia.

The Palma district capital is also the nearest town to the massive offshore discoveries of natural gas in the Rovuma Basin.

The Afungi Peninsula, just south of the town, will be the site for gas liquefaction plants built by a consortium headed by the American company Anadarko Petroleum.

This the first time journalists in the region have been arrested since the militant insurgency began in August last year.

The government's information office, Gabinfo, which is responsible for authorising journalists to operate in Mozambique, has often denied foreign media permission to report in areas targeted by the jihadists because of alleged safety and security reasons.

Read: How Mozambique’s smuggling barons nurtured jihadists

After July's historic peace deal between Eritrea and Ethiopia, star Eritrean athlete Zersenay Tadese was able to compete in the Great Ethiopian Run in Addis Ababa for the first time.

The two countries had been at war with one another since until 1998, over a border dispute.

Despite the cessation of hostilities, the border had remained shut until a peace deal was signed between the countries leaders.

Our colleagues at BBC Sport Africa spoke to Zersenay:

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

A Rwandan woman who saved the lives of more than 100 people during the 1994 genocide has died.

Zura Karuhimbi was reported to be 93, although some suggest she was more than 100 years old.

Her husband and several of her children were killed during the genocide but she deployed unusual methods to protect the sheltering civilians, most of whom were ethnic Tutsis, from Interahamwe militiamen.

An estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed during 100 days of bloodshed in 1994.

Mrs Karuhimbi, a Hutu, hid dozens of people in her mud walled home in Musamo village - among them babies rescued off the backs of their dead mothers.

She said militiamen had surrounded her home waiving their machetes and insisted on searching inside.

But she had her own weapon - her reputation as a traditional herbalist.

The Interahamwe were scared of the herbal concoctions and were convinced she could put a curse on them so they fled.

For her extraordinary bravery President Paul Kagame later awarded her Rwanda's Medal of Honour.

A Twitter user has been mourning her:

Image source, iStock

A petition accusing Disney of "colonialism and robbery", external for trademarking a phrase used in the film The Lion King has attracted more than 30,000 signatures.

"Hakuna matata" means "no problem" or "no worries" in the Swahili language, which is spoken across East Africa.

Disney first applied to trademark the catchphrase in 1994, external - the same year it released The Lion King animation.

The row has arisen now amid hype over its live-action remake.

Petition organiser Shelton Mpala hopes he can persuade the US company to abandon its "hakuna matata" trademark.

"A lot of Swahili speakers have been utterly shocked, they had no idea this was happening," Mr Mpala told the BBC.

"Growing up in Zimbabwe, I always had an understanding that a culture's language was its richness."

Disney has not responded to the BBC's request for comment.

Read the full story

Image source, AFP

Dozens of European Union and African heads of state, foreign ministers and business leaders are in the Austrian capital, Vienna, for a meeting to boost economic ties between the EU and Africa.

Speaking at a news conference, African Union Commission Chaiperson Moussa Faki urged everyone present to look beyond the issue of immigration:

He said that migrants should be treated in a "humane way".

Mayeni Jones
BBC News, Lagos

A march has been held in the capital of Nigeria's southern state of Edo to mark this year's International Day of Migrants.

Hundreds of supporters and activists held banners and placards as they walked through the streets of Benin City.

The annual celebration highlights the plight of migrants and their families and their contribution to societies around the world, as well as a call to protect their rights.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) chose ‘Migration with Dignity’ as this year’s theme.

State authorities and IOM are using the event to sensitise locals about migration as the city remains a hub for illegal migration to Europe.

I spoke to three returnees about their experience.

Chioma Onwordi, 20, is from from Delta state.

She spent a year in a prison in Libya's capital, Tripoli, before returning home a year ago through an IOM repatriation scheme.

Chioma told me they would go for days without food and were often beaten by their captors.

She says that up to 200 women were kept in one room with three toilets.

Her plan was to go to Italy to be a hairdresser.

Despite her experience in Libya she’s ambivalent about being back.

She says that if she had made it to Italy her family would be in a better financial situation.

Abigail Lemoh, 22, was told by a trafficker that if she gave them $1,000 (£788) a visa to go to Germany would be organised for her.

When she got to Libya she was asked for $2,700 which she didn't have.

She was sold for $800.

When she escaped she was was caught by traffickers who wanted a ransom from her.

Since coming back she hasn’t been given any training or support.

She’s currently homeless after she fell out with her sister. She’s now living with a friend.

She says there’s no money in Benin City.

Abel works for an organisation called Hope for Returnees.

He says he lost his twin sister on the way to Libya.

She died of thirst and starvation after walking in the Sahara for a week. She was buried in the desert.

He says since coming back he hasn’t been the same.

It’s like half of him is missing, he says.

Image source, Getty Images

Nelson Mandela promoted the coming together of South Africans after the end of apartheid to create what he called a "rainbow nation".

Nearly 25 years after white-minority rule ended, the BBC's Africa editor Fergal Keane looks at how the nation has fared.

He finds that racism is still deeply embedded but there are also symbols of racial reconciliation, like these two farmers:

Read his article: South Africa's 'toxic' race relations