Wednesday's African proverb:

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

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

BBC Africa Live
Esther Namuhisa, Damian Zane and Natasha Booty

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 today's wise words:

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

And we leave you with this archive picture from Equatorial Guinea in 1989:

Ishaq Khalid
BBC Africa

Muslims in Nigeria have been celebrating this year’s Eid-al Fitr- a festive occasion marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan and fasting.

Traditional rulers in Nigeria’s city of Kano have performed the spectacular horse riding outing known as Sallah Durbar as part of the celebrations, led by the Emir of Kano Muhammad Sanusi II.

He led prayers and delivered a sermon in which he called on the governemtnt to do more to tackle the widespread insecurity and improve education for girls.

The emir has been locked in an impasse with the Kano state government after the government split his emirate into five, and created another four more emirates each with their own emir of equal status to Emir Sanusi II.

The government says it took that decision last month to bring power closer to the citizens.

For the first time since the break-up of the emirate, Emir Sanusi II met with the state governor in an apparent mood of goodwill with no mention of the dispute.

Image source, Ishaq Khalid

Image source, Ishaq Khalid

Image source, Ishaq Khalid

Ashley Lime
BBC News, Nairobi

Police in Kenya are looking for a person who they say sewed up part of her child's mouth, a government official has confirmed to the BBC.

Nakuru County commissioner Julius Nyaga said the primary school pupil had been told by a schoolteacher that they should ask their mother to buy them a pencil and an eraser.

But, Mr Nyaga said, it's believed that the mother told her child to tell the teacher to buy the stationary and then denied this when confronted.

Mr Nyaga said that it is suspected that the mother went on to stitch together part of her son's lips last Friday.

Mayeni Jones
BBC Nigeria Correspondent

Image source, .

Hundreds of millions of dollars recovered from the frozen assets of former Nigerian military ruler Gen Sani Abacha have been transferred to authorities in Jersey.

The money will be split between the governments of Nigeria, the US and Jersey.

On Friday, more than $267m (£210m) was paid into a special fund, set up by the government of Jersey for this type of asset recovery.

A representative from the office of the island’s attorney general told the BBC it hadn’t yet decided how it would split the money. This will be negotiated between the three governments.

The millions are believed to derive from corruption in Nigeria during Mr Abacha’s military regime.

A US federal court had previously located the money, which had been laundered through the US banking system, before being transferred to Jersey.

Gen Sani Abacha ruled Nigeria for five years, until his sudden death of a heart attack in 1998.

He is reported to have stolen billions of dollars from the country during his time in power.

Image source, Elly Kitaly

A Tanzanian mother of a four-year-old with Down's syndrome has written to the arbiters of the Swahili language to urge them to create a new word for the condition.

The word for it in the Swahili Dictionary for Disabilities is "mlimbuko dalili dumazi" but Elly Kitaly told the BBC it needs to change because "Dumazi" translates as dwarf and she suspects that is because that is a translation of the word down - as in down low or short.

She says this would be a mistranslation because, while one of the symptoms can be short stature, Down's syndrome actually gets its name from the doctor who first observed all its characteristics together - John Langdon Down.

Mr Down noted the combination of features including that short stature, round face, almond-shaped and up-slanting eyes, along with physical and intellectual delays from birth.

Ms Kitaly told the BBC that she never hears anyone use the term either - instead choosing a variety of offensive terms instead.

One such term being "ndondocha" which loosely means zombie, as in someone who has been possessed. It refers to the belief that witch doctors can cast spells to make people mentally disabled.

She wants to change this culture by first changing the language.

She has suggested a new term to Baraza la Kiswahili la Taifa - the Tanzanian institution responsible with regulating the Swahili language – who she says have promised to look into the issue.

Her suggestion is "Traisomi ishirini na moja" which is a direct translation of trisomy 21 - which refers to the extra chromosome that causes the genetic disorder.

Read more on the BBC News website.

Or you can listen to Ms Kitaly's documentary Don't Hide My Son on the BBC World Service.

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC Africa

Image source, Getty Images

Supporters of Malawian opposition leader Lazarus Chakwera marched through the streets of the capital, Lilongwe, on Tuesday, protesting against alleged irregularities in the 21 May presidential elections.

Protesters chanted slogans claiming President Peter Mutharika had stolen the election. Police did not stop them.

The demonstration comes after two opposition leaders filed separate cases in court challenging the win of President Peter Mutharika.

Mr Mutharika won a second term in office after winning 38.5% of votes, narrowly defeating his closest challenger Mr Chakwera by just 3%.

Victor Kenani
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Image source, Anadolu Agency

Cyber-security experts in Kenya have yet to regain control of all the government websites attacked on Monday. Fifteen of the 18 are now back to normal, but three are still down.

No personal information was compromised in the attack, the government says.

When the hackers struck they plastered a logo on numerous web pages identifying themselves as "W4r10k Kurd Electronic Team".

Image source, Kenyan government

Among the websites targeted were the Integrated Financial Management Information Systems (Ifmis), which is used to process all government payments, and the Kenya Revenue Authority.

It is not clear what the aim of the attackers was.

It comes in the wake of a controversial mass bio-metric registration system that the government plans to introduce. Campaigners are challenging it in the country's High Court.

Kenyan cyber-security firm Serianu estimates that cyber threats cost the country $295m (£233m) in 2018, external.

BBC World Service

An Algerian court is reported to have ordered the temporary release of a jailed activist who had been on hunger strike for 85 days.

Abdellah Benaoum has been transferred to the intensive care unit of a hospital in the western city of Sidi Bel Abbas.

He was sentenced to two years in prison for insulting former-president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has since been forced to resign following massive street protests.

Opposition figures were outraged last month after the death of another hunger striking prisoner, the human rights activist Kamaleddine Fekhar.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, Reuters

Sudanese security forces have deployed in large numbers across the capital, Khartoum, which is in lockdown a day after at least 30 people were shot dead during an operation to break up a protest site outside the army headquarters.

Videos on social media show members of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces beating people and making arrests.

Members of the opposition alliance have rejected the military authority's decision to hold elections within nine months.

They've been demanding a return to civilian rule and a three-year transitional period before elections to allow political reforms to take place.

Earlier in a televised address the head of the Transitional Military Council, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan,said all agreements with the civilian opposition on a transitional government were being scrapped.

Image source, .

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Johannesburg

South African police are looking for suspects for the murder of a wine estate owner who was killed at the weekend.

Four armed men are understood to have entered the home of Stefan Smit in Stellenbosch, in the Western Cape's wine-producing region.

Police told the BBC they could not "give the finer details of the case" but added that two women, one of whom was his wife "escaped unharmed".

Spokesman Col Andre Traut said the suspects entered the home through an unlocked door while the family were having dinner, killed Mr Smit, then fled.

"The investigation is ongoing and the suspects are yet to be arrested," he added.

Stefan Smit's wine estate - Louisenhof Wines - had been under the media spotlight in recent months after hundreds of residents from a nearby settlement illegally moved onto the site and erected shacks.

It comes at a time of uncertainty for farmers concerned about the possibility of having their land expropriation without compensation - something President Cyril Ramaphosa promised last year.

Farmers' groups have expressed sadness at the killing and called on the government to protect farmers against what they described as "lawlessness".

South Africa has one of the highest crime rates in the world – more than 20,000 people are killed every year.

But there is no reliable data to back up the claim that farmers are more likely to be murdered than the average South African.

Read more: Is the South African government seizing farmers' land?

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

South Africa's economy has contracted by more than 3% in the first quarter of the year compared to the previous three months - the worst dip in performance for a decade.

This comes as bad news for President Cyril Ramaphosa, who won last month's election after pledging to transform the struggling economy and attract investment.

The poor economic results were largely due to contractions in the agriculture and mining sectors.

South Africa's Central Bank had predicted economic growth of around 1% this year, but financial analysts now say there is a risk that Africa's most industrialised economy could go into recession for the second time in as many years.

You may also be interested in:

• Who controls South Africa's business sector?
• Cyril Ramaphosa - union leader, mine boss, president

• More about South Africa

Kaleb Moges
BBC Amharic

Football team Ethiopian Coffee has said it will boycott its rescheduled match against Mekelle after the football authorities moved it to a neutral venue.

The fixture was originally supposed to take place on Sunday at Coffee's ground in the capital, Addis Ababa. But police said it should be postponed because of tensions between fans.

The last time the two teams met in Mekelle, northern Ethiopia, Coffee supporters were attacked and political slogans were displayed in the stadium.

Mekelle is the capital of the Tigray region. Since Abiy Ahmed became prime minister in April last year, there have been claims that Tigray, which was once dominant, has become politically marginalised.

The football federation now wants the fixture to take place on Thursday behind closed doors in Adama, 100km (62 miles) outside Addis Ababa,

Coffee said it will take its complaint to the continent's football governing body, Caf.

The Ethiopian football authorities say that Coffee could be penalised if the match does not go ahead.

The controversy comes as the Premier League reaches its climax in Ethiopia.

Fasil are top of the table with three games to play, but Mekelle are three points behind them and have a game in hand - the postponed fixture.

Fasil have sided with Coffee in the row over the rescheduled game.

Image source, Ethiopia Coffee

Kenya has drawn up a list of 66 Somalia officials that it will ban from entering the country, in the latest twist of a territory dispute between the two nations, local media is reporting.

According to diplomatic letters seen by The Standard newspaper, external, Kenya is building a border fence which it has accused Somalia of obstructing "continuously".

Last month, three Somali politicians were denied entry to Kenya.

It was only in March that Kenya and Somalia had restored diplomatic relations, following a row over the ownership of offshore oil fields.

This map, tweeted some while ago by Deutsche Welle, gives a clear picture of the disputed maritime territory:

In February, Somalia's ambassador to Kenya had been expelled following reports that Somalia was auctioning off oilfields in a contested area.

Somalia denied it was selling the blocks, and has taken Kenya to the International Court of Justice over the issue, which has yet to be resolved.

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC Africa, Nairobi

The principal of a girl’s secondary school in eastern Kenya has been charged with incitement after his students attacked and injured two journalists from KTN on Monday.

Their vehicle was also burnt.

John Kioko from St Stephen’s school in Machakos is accused of encouraging the girls to attack the news team, which was investigating the disappearance of a student from the school.

Mr Kioko has denied the incitement charges and has been released on a $10,000 (£8,000) bail.

The Media Council of Kenya and the Kenya Union of Journalists have both condemned the attack and urged police to quickly investigate what happened.

At least 22 pilgrims, some in a "life-threatening condition", have been rushed to hospitals in central Uganda after being crushed at a religious site, according to privately owned newspaper The Observer.

Kenneth Kategaya of the Red Cross is quoted as saying that some of the devotees caught in chaos at Uganda's Catholic Martyrs Shrine sustained head injuries.

People were also seen trying to save children in the crowd, the newspaper says.

It adds that security forces have been trying to regulate the the flow of devotees to the Catholic shrine, but have been "struggling" to do so.

The arduous pilgrimage has seen more than 1,000 people seek emergency medical care from the Red Cross, The Observer says, for conditions like "swollen feet, eye infections and chronic illnesses that intensified due to walking long distances and being in overcrowded places".

Image source, Godong/Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

The head of a US-based gay travel firm has warned that "there will be consequences" if anyone on its planned tour of Ethiopia is harmed.

Dan Ware's comments to BBC Amharic come after an organisation affiliated to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church called on the government to ban the trip scheduled for October.

The organisation, Selestu Me'et, told BBC Amharic that the tourists should not be allowed to come as homosexuality is a crime in the country. It was especially concerned that they would visit sacred sites such as the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela.

Selestu Me'et also made the call for a ban at a press conference in the capital, Addis Ababa, on Monday.

Mr Ware's company, Toto Tours, is "dedicated to creating exciting travel opportunities that enable our community to explore the wonders of the world in comfort and safety", it says on its website, external.

The trip to Ethiopia is advertised as an "historical and cultural journey".

"I’m very sad that they feel threatened. I feel that any believers if they are truly confirmed in their faith have nothing to fear from people who don’t share their same beliefs and there is no reason to be afraid of our coming there," he said.

"I appeal to the ministry of tourism in Ethiopia to be careful of this situation. The eyes of the world will be on us when we come and whatever is done to us will reflect tremendously on its tourism industry."

Mr Ware says that Ethiopians objecting to the tour are planning to "stake out the places we're going".

"We are afraid, and we will be making the US State Department aware of what’s happening to us and there will consequences if we are harmed."

Eid, the Muslim festival marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, is being celebrated in many parts of Africa.

A mufti from Zimbabwe has wished everyone blessings "for the joyous occasion":

Eid is being marked on Tuesday as an official holiday in, among other countries, Uganda, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sierra Leone, the Republic of Congo, Egypt and Mali.

Kenya officially marks the holiday on Wednesday, but some worshipers in the country are already celebrating:

Eid is celebrated on different days because of differences over when the new moon is first seen.

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has sent his congratulations:

In a move to back the recent plastic bag ban, Tanzanian President John Magufuli made a surprise visit to a fish market in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, brandishing a reed basket.

He said that he wanted to prove that the fishmongers and buyers no longer need to use plastic bags.

A local journalist has shared pictures on Twitter saying that the president was choosing which fish to buy:

In Tanzania, it is unusual for a man to carry a basket to the fish market, especially someone of the president's status.

According to a video of the visit, Mr Magufuli congratulated Tanzanians for accepting the government's call for a ban on plastic bags.

He said:

A plastic bag ban came into force in Tanzania on Saturday, with the country joining more than 30 other African states to have banned the bags. The measure is aimed at ending the environmental damage that they cause.

"If you can remember that you want to buy fish then why don't you remember to carry your bag from home," President Magufuli told Tanzanians.

He said fishmongers should not be forced by customers to hand over plastic bags.