Jonathan Paye-Layleh
BBC Africa, Monrovia

Image source, Getty Images

The bodies of five people trapped in a gold mine in Liberia have been recovered, regional authorities have told the BBC.

Their bodies were hastily buried because of their state of decomposition.

Around 35 people are thought still to be trapped in the mine near the north-eastern town Tappita in Nimba county.

The mine is deep and dangerous and the rescuers have been using their bare hands because they don't have machinery, the regional administrator of the county, Dorr Cooper, said.

But, he said, even if excavators were available they would not use them because they could hurt those trapped underneath.

At least 10 people have been rescued alive, says doctor at the local hospital.

Some have broken legs, while others are dehydrated, Dr Saygbeh Vanyanbah said on Tuesday.

They were in a group mining for gold on Saturday when the walls of the pit suddenly collapsed on them, officials said.

More than a 100,000 people have been doing “uncontrolled and illegal” mining in the area, according to the regional administrator.

Dramatic footage filmed by protesters in Sudan shows masked security agents chasing down protesters, beating them and dragging them away to secret detention centres.

Who are these hit squads? Where are these detention centres? And what happens inside their walls?

BBC Africa Eye has analysed dozens of dramatic videos filmed during the recent uprising, and spoke with witnesses who have survived torture.

Some of these protesters tell us about a secret and widely feared holding facility – The Fridge – where the cold is used as an instrument of torture:

Police say they have arrested six people in connection with the death of Kenyan human rights activist Caroline Mwatha.

Director of Criminal Investigations George Kinoti told Kenyan media that police believe she died in an abortion clinic and the suspects took part in or facilitated what appears to have been a botched abortion.

Ms Mwatha worked documenting extrajudicial police killings in the capital, Nairobi.

She went missing last Wednesday and Amnesty International tweeted that they had hoped she would be found alive.

Our African proverb of the day:

Click here and scroll to the bottom to send us your African proverbs.

Welcome to BBC Africa Live where we will bring you the latest news from around the continent.

That's all from today's BBC Africa Live page. 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 Tuesday's proverb:

And we leave you with this shot taken by Congolese photographer Robert Nzaou:

Jonathan Paye-Layleh
BBC Africa, Monrovia

Unidentified gunmen have stolen vital broadcast equipment from a radio station known for taking a critical stance on the government, briefly forcing it off air.

Items taken include two 1,000-watt transmitters and mixers, according to staff. The total cost of the stolen and damaged equipment comes to around $10,000 (£7,760), they say.

Roots FM, a popular Monrovia radio station which broadcasts on 102.7FM, is owned by the opposition political commentator Henry Costa.

He lives in the US but hosts a daily talk show called The Costa Show, which is frequently critical of President George Weah. It is the most vocal of all critical radio programmes in today's Liberia.

The Liberian government has condemned the attack, promising a police investigation.

Fans and well-wishers have pledged $15,000 to restore facilities, says Fidel Saydee who co-hosts The Costa Show. The station is now back on air but with reduced programming.

Two weeks ago, a similar attack on the station forced it off air for several days.

Gaius Kowene
BBC Africa, Kinshasa

The Congolese army has arrested 15 people in connection with intercommunal clashes that the UN says killed at least 890 people in December.

The violence, which happened over three days in the western city of Yumbi, led to the postponement of elections in the province until March.

Voting in two other areas - Beni and Butembo - was also postponed by authorities over an Ebola outbreak in the first and militia attacks in the latter. That decision effectively cancelled the votes of more than a million people because the new president has already been sworn in.

An investigation is ongoing into the violence in Yumbi. Last month, the UN announced the discovery of more than 50 mass graves in the area.

The 15 detainees are accused of being directly involved. Their arrest is part of a joint investigation by the Congolese army and the UN.

Their indentities are unclear - the army says they are believed to be members of a militia, but this has not been verified with local sources.

A fire has broken out at an office of Nigeria's electoral commission (Inec) in Anambra state, in the south-east of the country, police have confirmed to BBC Pidgin.

It is the third blaze to have hit an Inec office this month and happened just four days before Nigerians go to the polls to elect a new president.

In a statement following a fire at the weekend in Plateau state, in the centre of the country, Inec indicated that it thought that was the result of arson describing it as an "emerging trend". Nearly 6,000 voters' cards were destroyed along with other election materials.

Inec also called on the police to provide extra security.

The police are investigating the incidents.

Tuesday's fire was in the Inec compound in the Anambra state capital, Awka. The police said that it happened inside a shipping container, but it is not clear what has been damaged.

Local media are reporting that card readers were inside the container.

During the height of the migrant crisis in 2016, over 11,000 Nigerian women made the journey to Italy in the hope of making a better life.

It’s estimated that 80% were trafficked and forced into prostitution.

Before they left home many were made to undergo a ritual in which they swore – on pain of death – they would pay back their traffickers.

The strain of believing they were living under a spell has added to their mental health problems.

"[Juju ceremonies] exert a kind of control that's so much more potent than chains or locking someone up," says trafficking expert Siddharth Kara from Harvard University.

"It's control of the spirit which is far more powerful and insidious."

One woman, Magdalen, shared her story with the BBC.

Reporter: Naomi Grimley, filming and editing: Olivia Lace-Evans, producer: Imogen Anderson

A human rights activist who went missing last Wednesday has been found dead, Kenyan police spokesman Charles Owino has confirmed to the BBC.

Caroline Mwatha worked with a community group looking into allegations that police in the capital have perpetrated atrocities, including extra-judicial killings.

It is not yet clear how she died.

The BBC's Ferdinand Omondi says sources indicate that Ms Mwatha's body is at the City Mortuary in Nairobi.

Her relatives had been searching the city's hospitals and morgues over the past few days hoping to find her. A vigil was also held for Ms Mwatha in Nairobi yesterday.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

At least one person has been killed during clashes between supporters of rival politicians ahead of this month's elections in Senegal.

The fighting broke out on Monday in Tambacounda in the east of the country between supporters of the opposition candidate, Issa Sall, and people backing the incumbent Macky Sall.

President Sall has accused opposition politicians of instigating the violence.

Senegal is a relatively stable country where there have been successive peaceful elections, but this time tension is high.

Five human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have called on all candidates to tell their supporters not to resort to violence.

The government of Zambia is encouraging a recruitment drive set by two Gulf states looking for maids and drivers.

The World Bank says Zambia has nearly 8% unemployment, meaning this could be an attractive offer for many.

But there's a social media debate about whether it's worth aspiring to these kinds of jobs.

Zambian Minister of Information and Broadcasting Dora Siliya told BBC Newsday it has been "happening quietly" already, so she believes government oversight can only improve protections for current and future workers who choose to move there:

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Human rights activists are calling on the authorities in Cameroon to release a student arrested last week in the country's Anglophone regions.

Emeline Njongwan had shared a video showing dozens of students being led from hostels to the police station.

The Director of the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, Felix Agbor Nkongho, condemned the arrest which he said was part of a government strategy to ensure people kept silent about abuses committed by the military in Cameroon.

A secessionist rebellion in the two English speaking regions of the country has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

On Monday, four people died when a hospital was burnt down in the town of Kumba.

Elias Hordofa
BBC Afaan Oromoo

Image source, Tufa Wodajo

A singer in Ethiopia has been accidentally shot dead by celebratory gunfire at the opening of a hotel.

Dadhi Gelan was struck by a stray bullet while performing at the event in the small town of Ashufe, in the Oromia region. His body was taken to a nearby hospital for examination.

His friend and fellow artist Tufa Wodajo said: ''Prior to his death Dadhi warned me, saying: 'Be careful, you might get hit by a bullet'."

''While performing a single song, everybody was firing. At least 50 or 60 live rounds were being fired per song,'' Mr Tufa told the BBC.

"And those who were firing escaped after they saw he [Dadhi Gelan] was hit."

Police sources in the area say it is common for people to fire rounds during moments of celebration and mourning.They say the tradition is becoming a concern.

Dadhi was known for his struggle songs in the Afaan Oromoo language, and was also an author of five Afaan Oromoo books.

Read more:

• Ethiopian groom and best man killed by 'grenade accident'
• Who, What, Why: How dangerous is firing a gun into the air?

Zimbabwe's reserve bank and the country's information ministry have been forced to deny rumours that a new national currency is being introduced.

"This has no base in fact or reality," the information ministry said in a tweet, adding, "this needs to be dismissed with the contempt it deserves."

"The country shall continue to use the multi-currency system," the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe confirmed.

Bond notes, which can only be traded in Zimbabwe, were introduced in 2016. They were brought in because of a shortage of US dollars and South African rand - the main currencies in daily use after rampant inflation killed off the old Zimbabwean dollar in 2009.

But inflation means that bond notes are losing their value - and many people prefer to US dollars or EcoCash, a mobile phone payment system.

Image source, .

Read more: 'We are angry, we are desperate'

One of the things you notice on any group photo of African Union summits is how many men there are, reports BBC Newsday's Alan Kasujja.

From government leaders to other senior figures in finance and NGOs, it's men who dominate the top jobs.

In Ethiopia covering the latest summit, some of the few women there talk about their work to bring about change:

BBC World Service

Opposition sources in Cameroon say government soldiers were responsible for the burning down of a hospital in the restive South-West region.

At least three people were reportedly burned alive.

Video on social media shows the entire building in the town of Kumba ablaze.

There have been previous reports of soldiers targeting hospitals in the belief that Anglophone separatist fighters were being treated there.

A rebel leader, Chris Anu, said several nurses and a security guard had been abducted.

There has been no word from the government, which has blamed previous hospital attacks on the separatists.

The rebellion began after protests calling for better treatment of the Anglophone minority in the South-West and North-West regions were violently broken up by the security forces in 2016.

The BBC's Anna Holligan is at the court in the Netherlands where widows of Nigerian Ogoni activists are suing Royal Dutch Shell. They say the oil firm was complicit in their husbands' 1995 executions.

Only two of the four widows bringing the case, Esther Kiobel and Victoria Bera, could attend. The others were denied visas.

One of the widows, Esther Kiobel, has described her husband's "kind-hearted" character to the court, and testified that his execution left her a "poverty-stricken widow" and her family "traumatized".

BBC World Service

Image source, Anna Holligan/BBC

A civil court case is getting under way in the Netherlands, brought by Nigerian Ogoni activists against The Hague-based oil company, Royal Dutch Shell.

The firm is accused of having been complicit in the executions of nine Ogoni men during a Nigerian military crackdown in 1995.

Four of their widows are suing Shell for compensation and demanding an apology.

Shell denies any wrongdoing, saying it never colluded with Nigerian authorities or advocated any act of violence.

Ogoniland in the Niger Delta has long been blighted by environmental pollution blamed on oil production.

In the UK, Shell fought a legal action against Nigerians complaining their fishery had been affected.

In Italy, the firm ENI is accused of alleged corruption in the purchase of Nigerian oil fields.

Read more:

• Shell accused of abuses in Nigeria's Ogoniland
• Nigeria country profile