The people behind an alleged attempt to overthrow the government of Ethiopia's northern Amhara state wanted to kill more officials, a government commission has said.

Following Saturday's violence, five senior figures, including the head of the army Gen Seare Mekonnen, died as a result of what the government has called a coup attempt.

Three died in Amhara state and two were killed in the capital, Addis Ababa.

The Security and Justice Joint Task Force was formed to investigate what happened.

The task force says that 255 people have been arrested since Saturday, 212 in Amhara state and 43 in the capital.

On Thursday, an opposition party said more than 50 of its members had been detained.

The security forces have seized 27 AK 47 rilfes, two machine guns and an unspecified number of pistols.

The task force is looking into the possible link between the killings in Amhara and those in Addis Ababa. The government has said they were connected.

More bodies could be found as rescue work continues at a mine in the south-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo after an accident killed at least 36 people, rescuers have told the BBC's Gaius Kowene.

According to the Governor of Lualaba province the accident occurred at an open pit mine.

The area is known to be unstable and the miners were working illegally without proper equipment, our reporter says.

This kind of unofficial, or clandestine, mining is common in the area and people do it as a means to make a living. Efforts by security services to try and stop it are often fruitless.

The owner of the mine where the accident happened, Glencore, says that while it protects its own workers it cannot ensure the safety of those who are not supposed to be there.

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• The precious metal sparking a new gold rush

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

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:

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And we leave you with this picture of a class room in Mogadishu, Somalia, taken by Marco Gualazzini:

Souhail Khmira
Tunis

Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed has called the twin suicide attacks which hit the capital Tunis on Thursday “cowardly”.

“This is an attempt to shake Tunisia's security and they have failed," he said.

Mr Chahed described Tunisia’s fight against terrorism as “a battle of life and death, and we will fend them off with everything we have".

Minutes before the attacks, Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi was hospitalized for the second time this week, in a critical condition.

The prime minister paid the president a visit at the hospital following the bombing and said in a statement on Facebook that the president was "in a stable condition and receiving all the necessary treatment".

No official information on the suicide bombers' identities has been released.

Gaius Kowene
BBC Africa, Kinshasa

The army in the Democratic Republic of Congo has announced that it has captured the headquarters of a new militia that attacked villages, killing dozens of civilians and displacing hundreds of thousands more.

The attacks took place earlier this month in the North-eastern province of Ituri, a region with a history of ethnic tensions between the agriculturalist Lendu community and the pastoralist Hema ethnic group.

Lieutenant Jules Ngongo, army spokesperson in Ituri province and army spokesperson, told the BBC that the capture is the result of a military operation launched a week ago, during which the army regained control of 22 villages before finally taking control of the group’s headquarters in the heart of the Wago forest.

He said that a dozen combatants were killed during the operation, whilst others have scattered.

Military operations will continue until the area is completely cleared and declared a safe return zone, he added.

Earlier this month, the militia raided several villages in the region.

The government has not yet released an official death toll, but civil society organizations believe that more than 160 civilians were killed.

According to the United Nations, more than 300,000 people have been displaced by tensions in the region since last year.

Men in western Uganda have expressed concerns that an influx of oil and gas construction workers might steal the attention of their wives and fiancees, Daily Monitor has reported. , external

The men have asked that companies working in the districts of Hoima and Kikube ensure "families are not disrupted" during the construction of a new oil pipeline.

A report was released reviewing the potential impact of the pipeline, but some men complained at a public hearing that measures were not in place to prevent the workers from breaking up marriages.

Ms Harriet Businge Akiki, a former Woman Parliamentary seat contender from Hoima District, told the Daily Monitor that the men's fears were understandable.

"You find that workers coming here earn higher than the locals," she said. "Our men can't compete with them."

She added that it was important to preserve the local people's cultures and values.

At least 36 miners have died after a part of a copper and cobalt mine collapsed in the Lualaba province in southeast Congo, the provincial governor has told news agency Reuters.

Richard Muyej, the governor of Lualaba district, blames the accident on "clandestine artisanal diggers who have flooded (the mine) and engaged in an anarchic exploitation", Reuters say.

The accident happened in the KOV open-pit mine at the Kamoto Copper Company concession, and it is owned by Glencore, a multinational mining giant, according to Reuters.

Mines in southern Congo produce more than half of the world's cobalt - a key component in batteries - and thousands of illegal miners often operate in and around the mines.

Image source, Getty Images

Jose Tembe
BBC Africa, Maputo

A 24-year-old Brazilian woman has been arrested in the Mozambican capital, Maputo, for being in possession of 5kg (11lb) of cocaine, police say.

The woman had travelled to Maputo from Brazil via the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, and the drugs were found in her luggage disguised as packages of chocolate, Maputo city police spokesman Leonel Muchina said.

The woman said she did not know where the drugs came from and felt that her luggage was tempered with, according to police.

Tanzanians and Kenyans are trying to put the diplomatic spat over a Kenyan MP's comments behind them to make way for the more important sporting rivalry.

In seven hours the two nations will be facing each other on the football pitch at the Africa Cup of Nations.

Fans of each country have taken to social media to declare their support:

Tanzanian captain Mbwana Samatta told the BBC that the game will be "more hard because our football standards are the same, we speak the same language and we know each other".

The BBC has been taking pictures of fans ahead of the game proudly displaying their country colours:

This is a vital game for both countries as neither won their opening matches.

Police in Tunisia have cordoned off the areas where the twin suicide attacks happened.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

BBC World Service

Image source, Reuters

Official sources in Tunisia say President Beji Essebsi has been taken to hospital.

The presidential office said the 92-year-old had suffered what was termed as a "severe health crisis". Details are still coming in.

Tobi was raised a Christian but soon found a need for an alternative practice. She calls herself a witch and wants to change people’s minds about what that means.

Tobi holds full moon rituals for people who want to learn more.

Video Journalist: Cherish Oteka

A police officer has been killed and several people wounded in a suicide bomb attack in Tunisia's capital Tunis, officials told Reuters on Thursday.

A suicide bomber blew himself up in front of a police patrol in Charles de Gaulle street, close to the French embassy, Reuters reports.

Two police officers and three civilians were injured, according to the interior ministry.

A second attacker blew himself up shortly afterwards near a police station in the capital's al-Qarjani district, the ministry said. Four people were wounded in that attack.

No-one has claimed responsibility.

There was a similar attack on capital's main thoroughfare - Avenue Habib Bourguiba - late last year, when nine people were hurt.

Back in 2015 an assault on a museum in the capital left 22 people dead. That attack was carried out by militants linked to the Islamic State group.

Around 1,000 African business and political leaders are in China for the first ever China-Africa Expo.

The event, which kicks off on Thursday in the central Hunan province, is designed to boost economic cooperation after two decades of unparalleled Chinese investment in Africa.

The BBC’s Vincent Ni and Larry Madowo explain why it is a complicated relationship, often criticised by the West.

Produced by Leyla Najafli; edited by Adenike Oke.

Kenyan MP Charles Njagua Kanyi has appeared in court after being detained on Wednesday following comments he made that some have described as xenophobic.

In a widely-shared clip he appeared to threaten foreign business people with violence.

Mr Kanyi later said that his comments had been "misinterpreted".

The magistrate has ordered that the MP should spend a second night in a police cell and the hearing will take place on Friday.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Egypt Midfielder Amr Warda has apologised on social media after alleged incidents of sexual harassment.

The allegations that he harassed several women online led to Warda being expelled from the squad for the Africa Cup of Nations.

"I apologise for what I did. I apologise to my family, my fellow players, the technical and administrative staff of the team and whoever is angry with me," Warda said in a video posted on his Twitter account, promising not to repeat the incidents.

At least 56 members of an Ethiopian opposition party, the National Movement of the Amhara, have been arrested, the party spokesperson told the BBC's Kalkidan Yibeltal.

The arrests follow the alleged coup attempt in the country's northern Amhara state.

The party spokesman Christian Tadele also told the BBC that there had been arrests in Oromia state.

The police are yet to confirm the arrests.

Since its founding last year, the National Movement of the Amhara has emerged as a rival to an Amhara party in the ruling coalition.

It has condemned the violence that took place in the region and denies any link to an attempt to seize power there.

Image source, Getty

Eritrea has hit out at critics of the recent policy of seizing and shutting all Catholic-run health centres.

The UN's special rapporteur on Eritrea, Daniela Kravetz, said the act showed that "the human rights situation in Eritrea remains unchanged, external".

The Eritrean government said her conclusion was based on "erroneous assertions".

A statement on the ministry of information's website, external says that as a secular country no religion or adherent gets preferential treatment.

As a result "religious institutions are not allowed to actually conduct developmental activities in areas of their choice as this is fraught with discrimination against non-adherents of the specific institution in question".

Therefore, the government says, all "religious institutions [were required] to transfer operational authority of clinics" to the ministry of health.

In other words the government was following the law.

Earlier this month, Eritrea's Roman Catholic Church condemned the government in the one-party state for the seizure.

The Church ran 22 health centres, and their closure is likely to leave thousands of people, mostly mothers and their children in rural areas, without healthcare, BBC Tigrinya's Teklemariam Bekit said.

But the government has defended its record on health championing its "enormous investment" in citizens' health.