Former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh "orchestrated the embezzlement of nearly $1bn (£762m) of public funds", a report by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) claims.

Mr Jammeh, currently in exile in Equatorial Guinea, has not responded to the allegations, the OCCRP says.

The team of investigative reporters say they reviewed thousands of documents from the course of Mr Jammeh's 22-year rule, which ended in 2017 after little-known presidential challenger Adama Barrow defeated him at the polls.

Gambia's Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou had already accused Mr Jammeh of unlawfully withdrawing $50m from state funds over a 10-year period.

But the OCCRP say the total figure is much higher.

One of the journalists involved, Mark Anderson, spoke to BBC Newsday's James Copnall about the findings:

You may also be interested in:

• Profile: Former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh
• More about The Gambia

Image source, EPA

Malta's armed forces have safely docked a tanker which had been seized by migrants off the coast of Libya on Wednesday.

The tanker, Elhiblu 1, was brought into harbour at the Maltese capital Valletta. More than 100 migrants on board are expected to be handed over to police.

The migrants had been rescued by the ship but reportedly hijacked it after being told they would be returned to Libya.

MSF’s Hassiba Hadjsahraoui told the BBC’s Newsday programme that it showed the despair of those people who made the dangerous crossing over the Mediterranean.

She said the aid group had been involved in a similar case last November when migrants refused to leave a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship, the Nivin, that rescued them took them back to Libya.

The group’s humanitarian adviser in Libya said the migrants panicked and Libyan security forces attacked the boat in order to try to gain control of the situation.

"This is extremely dangerous and shows despair."

She said the decision last September by the European Union to stop naval patrols under Operation Sophia was irresponsible and reckless.

The mission was put in place four years ago to deter people smugglers and rescue migrants trying to reach Europe by boat and saved tens of thousands.

But the EU-backed Libyan coastguard was weak and unfit for the job of doing search and rescues, Ms Hadjsahraoui said:

"We are now in a situation where member states of the European Union have stopped doing search and rescue... abandoning all their responsibilities... and are entirely relying on reckless Libyan coastguards to intercept people and take them back to detention centres in Libya where the conditions are inhumane.

"The reality is people are continuing to flee Libya and the most direct outcome is going to be that commercial ships are going to have to rescue people.

"Ships in Mediterranean, including commercial ones, are under a legal obligation to rescue people, this is international law.

"They also cannot take people back to Libya, because Libya isn’t safe, and that again is the law, but they’re not allowed to disembark in Italy.”

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

There has been a huge explosion in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

Emergency services say 11 people were killed and 16 injured when the car bomb went off in a busy area, near hotels, restaurants and businesses.

There has been a significant increase in large-scale attacks and assassinations in Mogadishu in recent weeks, blamed on the Islamist group al-Shabab.

Analysts say al-Shabab fighters are seeking refuge in Mogadishu from increased US drone strikes.

Security has also been compromised because Somali troops have been abandoning their bases, complaining they are not being paid.

You may also be interested in:

• More about Somalia
• Who are Somalia's al-Shabab?

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Campaign group Human Rights Watch says Kenya should abandon renewed plans to shut the vast Dadaab refugee camp, which houses about 250,000 Somalis.

The group argues that the Somalis would face violence and persecution if they were sent home.

Human Rights Watch says it has seen documents from the Kenyan authorities saying they want to close the camp by August because of security concerns.

Many of the Somalis in the Dadaab complex have lived there for nearly 30 years, after fleeing civil war which broke out in 1991.

Image source, AFP

Imogen Foulkes
BBC News, Geneva

A former French intelligence officer linked to an assassination plot against an opponent of Congo-Brazzaville's president has been found shot dead.

Daniel Forestier was found with five bullet wounds to the head and heart in a remote car park on the shores of Lake Geneva.

In September he and a former French intelligence colleague were charged with plotting to kill General Ferdinand Mbaou, the former head of Congo-Brazzaville's presidential guard.

French police say they are treating Mr Forestier’s killing as a professional hit.

Gen Mbaou is seen as an opponent of Congo-Brazzaville's President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, and has been living in France for 20 years. Three years ago he survived being shot in the back.

Mr Forestier had denied being involved in any plot against Gen Mbaou, but French police believe there may be a link between that and Mr Forestier’s brutal killing.

Lawyers for Mr Forestier and the colleague charged with him say both men had feared for their safety, after news of the alleged plot and their identities were shared on social media.

A South African racing driver is among 18 competitors selected for motorsport's inaugural women-only W Series.

Tasmin Pepper - who is pictured sitting in the bottom row, second from the left - came through four days of qualifiers, external at the Circuito De Almeria in Spain.

The six-race series, which begins in May, has received support from a number of major F1 names.

The season opens in Hockenheim, Germany on 3-4 May and the final race is at Brands Hatch from 10-11 August.

The four other races take place at Zolder, Belgium, Misano, Italy, Norisring, Germany and Assen, Netherlands with a $1.5m (£1.14m) prize fund.

BBC World Service

The armed forces of Malta have taken control of a ship that had been hijacked by migrants, and brought it into the island's main port.

The military says a special operations unit boarded the merchant vessel, the Elhiblu 1.

Police will now conduct an investigation. Malta's Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat, has pledged that all international rules will be followed.

The migrants, just over 100 in number and including women and children, had been rescued by the vessel off the Libyan coast on Tuesday night.

But they feared being taken back to Libya and some of them seized control of the ship from its captain.

BBC Southern Europe correspondent James Reynolds says it is not clear what will now happen to the migrants - but they have reached the destination they wanted.

Read more: Maltese armed forces take control of hijacked tanker

Peter Wakaba
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Image source, EPA

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's plan to take a train journey of about 480km (298 miles) from Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa to the capital, Nairobi, is of huge significance.

It is seen as a major endorsement in the push for Kenya and Uganda to build a seamless Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) through Kenya’s western border to Uganda's capital, Kampala.

Financing for the Uganda segment of the SGR hinges on Kenya completing its line to Malaba, a western town on the border with Uganda.

In the past Kenya has indicated that it preferred building a line further south of this route to its inland port city of Kisumu to transport goods through Lake Victoria to ports in Mwanza in Tanzania, and Entebbe, Port Bell and Jinja in Uganda.

Uganda’s first phase of SGR, the eastern line running from Malaba to Kampala, is about 273km and is expected to cost about $2.3bn (£1.75bn).

Kenya is already extending the line from Nairobi to a designated inland dry port in Naivasha with $1.5bn in financing from China.

The first phase of the SGR project from Mombasa to Nairobi cost $3.2bn and repayment of this cash is the top priority for the Kenya government, and it also wants to focus on the construction of the most financially viable route into Uganda.

See earlier post

BBC World Service

Image source, Reuters

Health workers in the Mozambican city of Beira - one of the worst affected by Cyclone Idai - have treated thousands of people for diarrhoea, an early symptom of cholera.

So far only five cases of cholera have been confirmed, but health officials fear there will be many more.

The number cases of acute watery diarrhoea has reached almost 3,000.

Health officials are also on high alert for cases of typhoid, malaria and cholera.

Thousands of people were stranded by the floods for more than a week without access to clean water after the cyclone hit Mozambique two weeks ago. Hundreds of people have lost their lives.

How prepared was southern Africa for Cyclone Idai?

Image source, City Press

South Africa's privately owned City Press newspaper, external is reporting on a heart-wrenching story of a 51-year-old teacher who says he is laughed at by pupils every time he is in agony because of nerve pains.

The site says Themba Dlamini is a wheelchair-bound teacher at Zakhekahle High School in Empangeni town in KwaZulu-Natal in province. The school does not have a ramp or facilities that are friendly for people with disabilities.

Mr Dlamini, who teaches mathematics, English and life sciences, is often drenched when it rains because he needs to move between the car, office and classrooms.

“I cannot help but scream and cry in class because of the pain I get. It’s like I get electrocuted. That’s because of nerve pains.

“Children laugh at me when they hear me crying and see tears rolling down my face. I cannot do this anymore. Even in class, I struggle to write on the board or move between desks to supervise pupils,” City Press quotes Mr Dlamini as saying.

The teacher suffered spinal injuries when he was shot by unknown gunmen while on his way to school in 2009. The motive for the attack is unclear.

Read the full story here., external

With data costs in South Africa amongst the highest on the continent, how can poor rural communities be expected to get online and join the fourth industrial revolution?

Well, the village of Mankosi has been at the forefront of an experiment to bridge the internet gap and make cheap wi-fi a reality.

And it's a project that could have major implications for similar communities around the world.

Video journalist:Christian Parkinson

Reporter:Vauldi Carelse

Image source, MICHAEL KHATELI

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni will become the first foreign head of state to travel by train on a Chinese-funded railway line from Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa to the capital, Nairobi.

He will be accompanied by his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta, as the two leaders focus on strengthening ties between their nations.

Mr Museveni began a state visit to Kenya on Wednesday.

Mr Museveni said the railway line - built at a cost of $3.2bn (£2.5bn) - had ended landlocked Uganda's "perennial problems of delays" of cargo at the port of Mombasa, and he hoped that it would be extended to reach Uganda's capital, Kampala.

“With reinforcement for inter-land economy, we are looking forward to the extension of the SGR [standard gauge railway].

"I know that once completed it will take 24 hours to Kampala," Museveni was quoted by The East African as saying., external

He also tweeted that he was looking forward to the train ride:

Mr Kenyatta opened the railway line in May last year, hailing it as a new chapter in the East African state's history.

The railway line was Kenya's biggest infrastructure project since independence from the UK in 1963.

However, it has been dogged by controversy. Two senior Kenyan government officials were charged in court with fraud in August last year over the building of the railway line.

The two were accused of paying more than $2m in compensation to private firms which falsely claimed to own land through which the line ran.

The officials and 15 other accused pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Watch: The new railway in pictures

Image source, Getty Images

Michel Bacos, the Air France captain hailed as a hero for refusing to abandon his passengers when Palestinian and German hijackers seized the plane in 1976, has died in France aged 95.

The plane, carrying some 260 people from Tel Aviv to Paris, had stopped off in Athens, where the hijackers got on board and demanded it change course.

The hostage drama ended six days later at Entebbe airport in Uganda, when Israeli commandos stormed the terminal.

Bacos died in the French city of Nice.

Read the full BBC story here.

Image source, Getty Images

Migrants have hijacked a merchant vessel that rescued them off Libya's coast, ordering the crew to head towards Malta, reports say.

More than 100 migrants aboard the cargo ship are said to have acted after being told they would be taken back to Libya.

Malta's military said the ship would not be allowed into its waters. Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini described the hijackers as "pirates".

This comes as the EU says it is ending navy patrols in the Mediterranean.

Read the full BBC story here.

BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

A survey in the Democratic Republic of Congo suggests a quarter of people in the cities worst affected by the current Ebola outbreak - Beni and Butembo - do not believe the virus exists.

Ebola has infected more than 1,000 people in the east of the country since July and killed more than 600.

But health workers say many people refuse vaccines, resist treatment and conceal symptoms.

The authors of the study, published in the The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, say trust in public authorities is very low due to decades of conflict and poor governance, and is a factor in prolonging the outbreak.

The worst epidemic of Ebola killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa from 2013 to 2016.

Our proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

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

BBC Africa Live
Damian Zane

That's all from BBC Africa Live for now. Keep up-to-date with what's happening across the continent by listening to the Africa Today podcast or check the BBC News website.

A reminder of our wise words:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this picture by Nana Kofi Acquah of a boy in Ghana enjoying a mango:

Catherine Byaruhanga
BBC Africa, Kampala

Three police officers in Uganda have been arrested over the extrajudicial killing of a suspected assassin.

A fourth officer is still at large.

Eyewitnesses reported that Ronald Sebulime was shot dead on Sunday after being handcuffed.

He was accused of trailing a minister while on his motorbike. But it is now not clear if that was the case.

Since 2014, there have been several high-profile murders in Uganda, carried out by gunmen on motorcycles.

Kenyan teacher Peter Tabichi flew into the capital, Nairobi, to a hero's welcome after winning a $1m prize (£760,000) for the world's best teacher.

Brother Peter was praised for his achievements in a deprived school with crowded classes and few text books.

The AFP news agency has been filing pictures of his pupils greeting him:

Image source, AFP

Image source, AFP

Image source, AFP

The award, announced in a ceremony in Dubai at the weekend, recognises the "exceptional" teacher's commitment to pupils in a remote part of Kenya's Rift Valley.

He gives away 80% of his pay to support pupils, at the Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School in Pwani Village, Nakuru, who otherwise could not afford uniforms or books.