Ferdinand Omondi
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Image source, Getty Images

Internationally acclaimed Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina - who has died aged 48 - lived a colourful life. He was one of the first Kenyans to openly declare he was gay.

Last year he announced plans to marry his long-time partner at a wedding in South Africa.

This led to praise and criticism in his homeland, Kenya, where gay marriage is illegal.

He was equally loved and loathed for his bravery. In 2014 when he came out, Time Magazine named him among the world's 100 most influential people.

Two years later, he declared he was HIV positive and happy.

He will be remembered for his outspokenness, activism, as well has his literary work, which won him global recognition.

"Africa's image in the West, and Africa's image to itself, are often crude, childish drawings of reality," Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina wrote in 2012, in an article published on the BBC website.

Read the article here.

Tributes continue to be paid on Twitter to renowned Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina, following his death at the age of 48.

Here are some of them:

The brother of Binyavanga Wainaina has said that his family wants to celebrate his life, after the acclaimed Kenyan author died on Tuesday night following a short illness.

"We are in a life celebration mood, we're looking at this from a human level; it's a human story. Allow that humanness to shine, people are hurting," his brother James told the BBC's Peter Mwangangi.

"He passed on last night at a hospital after a period of really fighting. But it is what it is now, we're still trying to come to terms with that," he added.

James said although news of his brother's death was already in the public domain, the family was still trying to inform those who may not know.

James said Wainaina had not been in good health over the last few years and his condition had worsened in the last two to three months.

He said he would not delve into the details of his brother's illness.

James said his family was hopeful that Wainaina would recover but that did not happen despite the efforts of doctors.

Tributes are pouring in on Twitter for one of Kenya's most famous authors, Binyavanga Wainaina, following his death at the age of 48.

Here are some of them:

Ferdinand Omondi
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Image source, Getty Images

Binyavanga Wainaina - who has died at the age of 48 - was one of Africa's most celebrated authors.

He was a Caine Prize winner, and was named among Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world in 2014.

Wainaina was one of the first Kenyans to openly declare he was gay.

He suffered a stroke in 2015.

Image source, Getty Images

Renowned Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina has died after a short illness, his brother James has told the BBC's Peter Mwangangi.

He was 48.

Rapper Ayman Maw joined Sudan's pro-democracy protesters after returning from exile in the US.

He says that though he lived in the US for 10 years, his soul was still in Sudan.

Having performed for the protesters, he is now urging Sudanese people to unite and not allow themselves to be divided.

Video producer: Ghada Nassef for BBC News Arabic.

Anne Soy
BBC Africa, Khartoum

Image source, Getty Images

Sudan's Transitional Military Council is increasingly under pressure to resume talks with protest leaders after they stalled early on Tuesday.

The US, UK and Norway warned that any outcome short of a civilian-led authority might jeopardise Sudan’s relations with the Western governments.

Protest leaders have also urged their members to prepare for a general strike and a civil disobedience campaign, but have not yet announced a date.

Read: Ramadan keeps protesters hungry for change

Image source, Getty Images

Kenya has deported 17 foreigners operating illegal betting businesses in the East African country, local media reports say.

The move comes barely a day after Interior Minister Fred Matiang'i threatened to repatriate foreigners who applied for different business permits, but then changed to the betting trade.

Privately owned newspaper The Star , externalsays Mr Matiang'i signed deportation orders for Italians, Chinese, Spaniards, Serbian, South Koreans, Bulgarians, Danes, and Turks.

The daily says some of those deported had work permits that had expired and lacked relevant documentation to operate, while others had allegedly evaded paying taxes.

Local newspaper Daily Nation, external says revenue from gambling is about $68m (£53m) monthly and $975m (£766m) annually.

Creditors have blacklisted more than 500,000 Kenyans and the government believes many defaulters used money borrowed for gambling.

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC Africa, Lilongwe

Image source, Getty Images

The counting of votes is under way in Malawi’s fiercely contested presidential and parliamentary elections.

The country’s electoral commission says it has started receiving results from more than 5,000 polling stations across the country.

This is the first time the results are being transmitted electronically to the national tally centre. Nearly seven million voters registered for the elections to pick the next president, members of parliament and local councillors.

Polls have closed across the country and the real test for Malawi’s electoral agency has just begun.

So far just under 2% of the results have reached the national tally centre. The majority of polling stations were in rural areas, where access to the internet and telephone services might pose a challenge.

Under the country’s laws, the electoral commission has up to eight days to announce the outcome of the polls.

These are Malawi’s most unpredictable elections in recent history. President Peter Mutharika is seeking a second and final term but faces tough opposition from his own Vice President Saulos Chilima and Lazarus Chakwera - a retired evangelist who leads Malawi’s oldest political party.

Read: The election which saw the president's fake death

Image source, Getty Images

South Africa's government has turned down a request from the US to extradite Mozambique's former Finance Minister Manuel Chang to stand trial on corruption charges.

Instead, Mr Chang would be extradited to Mozambique, where he is wanted on similar charges.

"I am satisfied that the interest of justice will be best served by acceding to the request by the Republic of Mozambique," South Africa's Justice Minister Michael Masutha said in a statement.

Mr Chang was arrested in South Africa in December at the request of the US for his alleged involvement in $2bn (£1.6bn) of borrowing that US authorities alleged was fraudulent.

Mozambique asked for his extradition soon after the US submitted its request.

Last month, a South African court ruled that Mr Chang could be extradited to the US.

But Mr Masutha said he took into account the fact that Mr Chang was a Mozambican, and had asked to be extradited to his home country.

Image source, David Ross

A US jury has found that a former Uber driver living in Virginia committed acts of torture during Somalia's civil war in the late 1980s.

Somali citizen Farhan Tani Warfaa testified last week in the Washington DC suburbs that ex-Somali colonel Yusuf Abdi Ali shot and tortured him.

Ali was a commander in the national army and supporter of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, say court documents.

Until this month, Ali drove for Uber, with a high 4.89 rating.

On Tuesday, a jury at a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, found that Ali was responsible for the torture of Mr Warfaa more than three decades ago, awarding Mr Warfaa $500,000 (£448,000) in damages.

Read the full BBC story here

BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

Gabon's President Ali Bongo has sacked his vice president and his forestry minister. No reason was given, but the move comes in the wake of a timber smuggling scandal.

There had been calls for the resignation of the forestry minister Guy Bertrand Mapangou, after the disappearance of a large amount of kevazingo wood.

Kevazingo is rare and considered sacred but prized in Asia for sculpting.

Earlier this year, 5,000 cubic metres (175,000 cubic feet) of the precious timber were found - falsely labelled - in depots belonging to Chinese companies. It was seized but hundreds of containers have since disappeared.

Listen to the BBC World Service here

Our proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

Welcome back to BBC Africa Live for the latest news and trends from around the continent.

BBC Africa Live
Ashley Lime, Neil Arun and Natasha Booty

That's all from BBC Africa Live until Wednesday morning. 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 our wise words:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this photo taken in the Cameroonian city of Ngaoundéré, by blogger Chouchou Mpacko:

Image source, AFP

Voting should be coming to an end in Malawi's presidential, parliamentary and local council elections.

Three of the seven presidential candidates are all thought to have a chance of winning.

President Peter Mutharika is running for a second term, but he is being challenged by his own vice-president, Saulos Chilima, and Lazarus Chakwera.

In the morning, there were some delays, but at 07:00 local time (05:00 GMT), an hour after polls were supposed to open, voting was taking place in 97% of polling stations, the independent Malawi Electoral Support Network says.

There were no significant reports of violence or intimidation and the election appeared to be well organised, BBC Focus on Africa's David Amanor says.

"I'm very excited to vote since voting is my right," one woman in a voting queue in the capital, Lilongwe, told David earlier.

"We are all here to vote for our nation," another man said.

Counting at the polling stations is expected to start immediately after they close.

The electoral commission has eight days to announce the result, but it could come as early as Wednesday evening.

Image source, Getty Images

The UN has condemned an attack on a water control station in Libya that has left the besieged capital, Tripoli, without running water.

“Such attacks against civilian infrastructure that are essential for the survival of the civilian population may be considered war crimes,” UN humanitarian co-ordinator Maria Ribeiro said in a statement, external.

Gunmen reportedly stormed the station at Jabal al-Hasawna in south-western Libya on Sunday, forcing the workers to cut off the flow of water to Tripoli and other cities in western and central parts of Libya.

The attack targeted a part of the Great Man-Made River Project, a network of pipes that carries underground water from the Sahara to the country’s west.

Tripoli is the focus of a battle between forces loyal to the UN-backed government and militia led by military strongman Khalifa Haftar, that have been advancing on the city of 2.5 million people.

It is not clear who carried out the attack on the water control station.

A reporter for the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network said the capital’s residents were relying on private water deliveries to meet their daily needs.

Favour Nunoo
BBC Pidgin, Accra

Image source, Favour Nunoo/BBC

Thousands of protesters thronged the streets of Ghana’s capital, Accra, on Tuesday to protest what they say is an attempt by the government to suppress free speech.

Demonstrators say the closing down of two key pro-opposition radio stations, Radio XYZ and Radio Gold, by the National Communications Authority (NCA) was engineered by political elements.

Protest organiser Prince Minkah told BBC Pidgin: "It appears media freedom in this country is gradually being undermined by political leadership. Our protest is to send a clear message that this new trend must stop."

Officials at the NCA have rubbished such claims, insisting that the closure was applied to broadcasters because they had failed to renew their expired radio licenses, in accordance with ruling made by the Electronic Communications Tribunal last year.

Leaders of the Ghana Journalists Association have called on the NCA to review the closures, but the communications authority says the stations affected can re-apply for a new frequency.

Image source, Favour Nunoo/BBC

Image source, Favour Nunoo/BBC

Image source, Favour Nunoo/BBC