The UN's refugee agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) have called on the Libyan authorities to free migrants and refugees held in detention camps in the country.

They also want the European Union to restart coordinated naval patrols in the Mediterranean to rescue migrants.

In a joint statement, they also said support for the Libyan coastguard should be made conditional on it not returning any rescued migrants to Libyan ports.

The statement follows an airstrike earlier this month on a facility outside Tripoli, in which more than 50 migrants were killed.

UNHCR and the IOM say the 5,600 migrants held in such centres must be immediately "freed in an orderly manner and their protection guaranteed, or evacuated to other countries from where accelerated resettlement is needed".

Kenya's gambling authority has in effect given people 48 hours to withdraw money from their mobile phone accounts that they use to place bets, the Daily Nation reports quoting an official letter.

The letter, from the Betting Control and Licensing Board, came after the country's largest mobile phone operator, Safaricom, queried a request from the board to stop people accessing their electronic wallets that are used for placing bets.

On Wednesday, the board told Safaricom that 27 gambling firms, including SportPesa, had not had their license renewed as they had not met "outstanding renewal requirements".

Safaricom responded by saying that it could not deny clients access to their money.

The Daily Nation reports that the telecoms companies have a "48-hour window" before they should shut the accounts.

"This is to permit you to allow gamers of the subject firms to withdraw any funds they may have deposited," the Betting Board's acting director Liti Wambua says in the letter quoted by the newspaper.

In a statement seen by the Standard newspaper, SportPesa said that it continues to "address license matters with industry stakeholders" and that the High Court has allowed the firm to continue operations "until the matter is resolved".

Image source, AFP

President Andry Rajoelina wants Madagascar to "look to the future" and says the team can "come back stronger in the next competitions", after the Barea's fairy-tale run was halted at the Africa Cup of Nations.

The president, who was in the crowd at the Cairo stadium, saw his country lose 3-0 to Tunisia in the quarter finals.

This was Madagascar's first Afcon finals and before the competition the team was ranked 108th in the world by Fifa.

One of the tournament highlights so far was Madagascar's 2-0 defeat of Nigeria.

"Congratulations to the Barea for this exceptional run. Even if the defeat is hard, we are proud of this #CAN2019", the president said on Twitter.

The Carthage Eagles, who will face Senegal in Sunday's semi final, led through Ferjani Sassi's deflected shot from the edge of the box.

Youssef Msakni then doubled their lead after Wahbi Khazri's shot was parried by Melvin Adrien.

Naim Sliti added an injury-time third to cap off a counter-attack as Madagascar sent players forward.

Madagascar had to start Afcon qualifying in the preliminary round in March 2017, but went on to stun Nigeria in the tournament's group stages and then Democratic Republic of Congo in the last 16.

Their squad contains players who play in Reunion, the French lower leagues and Thailand. Their head coach Nicolas Dupuis also manages French fourth-tier Fleury.

But their dream came to an end as they were well beaten by a professional Tunisia performance in Cairo.

Thursday's other game saw Algeria reach the semi-finals by beating Ivory Coast 4-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw after extra time.

Algeria, seeking a first Afcon triumph since 1990, will now meet Nigeria in Cairo on Sunday.

Sudan's ruling military council says it has foiled an attempted coup.

A spokesman, General Jamal Omar, announced on state television that more than a dozen people had been arrested - among them current and retired officers from the army and National Intelligence and Security Service.

Image source, Reuters

"We saw the dangers and threats, which have been threatening the safety and security of this nation, by a group of people who refuse the demands of the people," Gen Omar said.

He added that the coup attempt was aimed at blocking a power-sharing deal being finalised between the military council and pro-democracy demonstrators.

It is not clear when that deal will be signed.

This is the third coup attempt that the country's military leaders say they have foiled, Sudan analyst Ahmed Kodouda told the BBC's Newsday programme.

"Many people are quite sceptical about the announcement but in reality there are significant centres of power that are interested in destabilising the transition," he added.

Read more:

• Military and opposition agree power-sharing deal
• New sense of hope for young revolutionaries

Friday's African proverb:

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

BBC Africa Live
Damian Zane and Nduka Orjinmo

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 Thursday's wise words:

And we leave you with this portrait by Gabonese photographer Yannis Davy Guibinga:

Chris Ewokor
BBC Africa, Abuja

Police in Nigeria's capital Abuja have used roadblocks and tear gas to try to disperse Shia protesters who have taken to the streets for the third day in a row.

Several people have been injured in Thursday's clashes.

The members of the pro-Iran Shia Muslim sect, the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN), were demonstrating against the detention of their leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky. He has been detained since 2015.

Deadly clashes on Tuesday saw two people shot dead, according to protesters. Police denied this, saying they had used "minimum force" and that eight security personnel were injured.

Here are some of the scenes from Thursday's protests:

Bernard Bankukira
BBC Great Lakes

Image source, INTERBANKBDI.COM

Burundi's state prosecutor has accused one of the country's main commercial banks of letting money flow to militia groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, thereby threatening the security of the east African country.

Interbank Burundi denied the accusations in court in the capital, Bujumbura, on Wednesday.

Last week in Bujumbura, two officials of Trust Merchant Bank of the nearby city of Uvira in DR Congo were arrested with $1.5m (£1.2m) in cash from Interbank Burundi on their way to Uvira.

During Wednesday's court session, the state prosecutor accused Interbank Burundi of making illegal foreign currency transactions with Uvira’s Trust Merchant Bank that endangered the Burundian economy.

The prosecution said it was investigating reports that the cash was being channelled to finance militia groups in eastern DR Congo.

Interbank Burundi denied the allegations, saying it was playing a routine, intermediary role to facilitate money transfers between Trust Merchant Bank Kinshasa and its Uvira branch.

The court in Bujumbura is to give its verdict in 10 days.

Shingai Nyoka
BBC Africa, Harare

Image source, Doug Coltart/Twitter

Lawyers for Job Sikhala, the deputy chair of Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), say he was blindfolded during pre-trial detention and denied access to his family, lawyers and medication.

The MDC has described Mr Sikhala's arrest as a malicious prosecution.

Mr Sikhala will remain in a rural jail until 24 July in Bikita, 217 miles (350km) south of the capital Harare, pending a decision on his bail application.

He was arrested this week and charged with subversion, after an unverified video circulating on social media appeared to show him saying:

Words the ruling Zanu-PF party described as proof of a declaration of war.

It's been almost a year since contested elections in which President Mnangagwa narrowly beat the MDC's Nelson Chamisa.

Since then, the MDC says several of its members have faced wrongful arrest on similar charges.

The opposition has warned of the country imploding as Zimbabweans suffer severe economic hardship - including widespread electricity blackouts, and bread and fuel shortages.

Mr Chamisa on Thursday launched a proposed rescue plan to MDC members in Harare.

BBC World Service

A car bomb in Libya has hit the funeral of a former military commander in the eastern city of Benghazi.

At least four people are reported to have been killed and a number of others wounded in the explosion that struck the procession for General Khalifa al-Mismari.

Reuters news agency has these photos from the scene:

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

There are reports that leading members of the special forces that General Mismari once commanded under Colonel Gaddafi were at the funeral.

Those forces are currently allied to the rogue general, Khalifa Haftar, who for the past three months has been trying to overthrow the internationally recognised government.

More about Libya:

• French missiles found on pro-Haftar base
• Why is Libya so lawless?
• Libya country profile

Image source, Mwananchi Publications Limited/CPJ

Tanzania's government spokesman has posted a series of tweets denying that the foreign minister had said in a BBC interview that a missing journalist was dead.

Spokesman Hassan Abbas tweets that the minister was speaking "contextually", the Tanzanian government still has no confirmation whether the journalist is dead or alive and that the issue is still being investigated:

In his interview with the BBC's Focus on Africa programme, Foreign Minister Palamagamba Kabudi appeared to refer to investigative journalist Azory Gwanda as dead three times:

Mr Kabudi was attending a conference on media freedom in London when the BBC's Peter Okwoche asked him about Mr Gwanda:

Mr Gwanda went missing in 2017 after investigating a spate of murders.

Mr Gwanda's wife, Anna Pinon, told the BBC's Esther Namuhisa that the authorities have not contacted her for a year and a half and she believes he is still alive.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has been campaigning for the authorities to investigate the case properly.

The CPJ's Robert Mahoney expressed outrage, external at Mr Kabudi's comments:

"For a year and a half, Azory Gwanda's family and the Tanzanian media have pleaded with the government to explain what happened to their loved one and colleague. Then suddenly the foreign minister mentions, almost in passing, that the journalist is apparently dead. This is wholly inadequate and distressing."

His wife says the last time she saw him was when he left their farm in a white Land Cruiser with four men she did not recognise, the CPJ adds.

CPJ says multiple people believe that those men are security personnel.

Anne-Marie Dias Borges
BBC Africa Business, Paris

Students, entrepreneurs and sports stars are among some 400 representatives of the African diaspora invited to meet French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris today as part of an "interactive debate" on Franco-African relations.

France is often accused of perpetuating "Françafrique", a term which refers to an exploitative, neo-colonial relationship with its former colonies. But Paris hopes to show with the Elysée Palace event that it is ready to embrace a more modern approach in its dealings with the continent.

In March, France said it would invest $2.8bn (£2.2bn) in the African continent by 2022, to fund start-ups as well as small and medium businesses.

The French Development Agency and its private sector arm expected to raise the money to support about 10,000 enterprises on the continent.

Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo, who is on an official visit to France, will also attend today's event, alongside dozens of French politicians. It follows a similar session Mr Macron held in Burkina Faso in 2017.

Image source, EPA

The UN has asked authorities in Malawi to free two protest organisers who were arrested on allegations of stealing money from Aids programmes.

Gift Trapence and Macdonald Sembereka were arrested on Tuesday. Both men say it is a ploy by the government to silence them.

They are members of Mango, a network of NGOs in Malawi, as well as the Human Rights Defenders Coalition which has organised countrywide protests since the disputed 21 May election, alleging the vote was tainted by fraud.

President Peter Mutharika has been in power since 2014 and narrowly beat main challenger Lazarus Chakwera by around 159,000 votes in the May election.

Over the weekend, dozens of people were arrested after President Mutharika accused the protesters of plotting against his government.

In a statement, external, UNAIDS says it "respectfully requests the immediate release" of the two men, and "regrets unnecessarily involving the authorities in Malawi in its outstanding issue with the Mango Network", adding that both parties "have amicably reached a resolution over the issue."

According to AFP, a UNAIDS staff member had on 5 July reported an "alleged incident" to the police, but UNAIDS said in its statement that it "has not engaged in any legal action and believes there is no need for any legal action".

Image source, AFP

British-Nigerian Reverend Jide Macaulay is an openly gay Church of England minister who wants to marry his boyfriend.

But in doing so, he is forced to ask if he can reconcile the two sides of who he is, as both a deeply committed Christian and a proudly out gay man.

Can he be both - or is he too gay for God?

Same-sex marriage has been legal in Great Britain (which is made up of England, Scotland and Wales) since 2014, but it's a right the Church of England doesn't recognise.

Andrew Harding
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, Gallo Images

South Africa's most prominent anti-corruption crusader – the Public Protector – is herself facing allegations of corruption.

Senior government officials have accused Busisiwe Mkhwebane of abusing her office to wage a dirty political campaign, designed to favour corrupt elites. They say she has attacked honest politicians and sought to pave the way for corrupt forces to seize power in the country.

This week a prominent minister, Pravin Gordhan, went to court to challenge yet another controversial report by the Public Protector.

He described her report as biased and unlawful, and accused her of targeting him as part of a plot to return South Africa to the "dark path of lawlessness".

Ms Mkhwebane has denied that.

This furious public battle is part of a larger power struggle within the ANC.

President Cyril Ramaphosa says he's trying to root out the corruption that thrived under his predecessor, Jacob Zuma.

But factions linked to Mr Zuma are, allegedly, conspiring to stop the clean-up and ultimately push President Ramaphosa out of office.

Next week Mr Zuma is due to answer multiple allegations of corruption at a public inquiry here in Johannesburg.

The stakes in this battle are extremely high.

The authorities in Nigeria say agricultural insecticides, which have been linked to recent cases of people killing themselves, will no longer be sold in shops from September.

Most of these high-strength insecticides can easily be bought in shops and from hawkers, but the regulatory agency, Nafdac, has ordered "brand owners/distributors to recall and withdraw their products" from markets and supermarkets.

In a series of measures announced on Twitter, they have also banned "hawking of all agro-chemical formulation" with immediate effect.

These insecticides have become popular for use in households because of their apparent effectiveness in dealing with pests.

One of the parties in Ethiopia's governing coalition, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), has unleashed damning criticism of one of its coalition partners, reports BBC Tigrinya's Yemane Nagish.

The Tigray People's Liberation Front, once seen as the coalition's dominant party, accused the Amhara Democratic Party of "working with chauvinist forces" and "spoiling the security of the region", in a statement it released after an urgent central committee meeting.

"At the moment, the unity of the nation is endangered by chauvinist forces from here and there. The ADP has been a fertile ground for this," the statement reads.

The TPLF was referring to last month's killing of the governor of Amhara region, Ambachew Mekonen, and two other officials, who were members of the ADP, in what the authorities have described as an attempted coup.

Image source, YOUTUBE/ALEM GENA TUBE

Two generals, including the army chief of staff, were also killed in the capital, Addis Ababa, on the same day.

The alleged coup ringleader, Brig Gen Asaminew Tsige, was also a member of the ADP.

"The ADP has to look into its fragile internal situation, assess the killings of officials and make a public apology accordingly.

"Otherwise, it will be difficult for the TPLF to further continue working together and struggle with ADP," the statement warned.

Since Abiy Ahmed became prime minister last year, the TPLF has felt increasingly marginalised in the governing coalition.

Shingai Nyoka
BBC Africa, Harare

A Zimbabwean politician has arrived in court where he is expected to be charged for allegedly threatening to "overthrow" President Emmerson Mnangagwa during a weekend rally in the rural district of Bikita.

Job Sikhala, the deputy chair of Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change, denies the accusation.

The remand hearing is to begin at Bikita's Magistrates Court today.

Mr Sikhala's court appearance was originally scheduled to happen in the capital, Harare, where his supporters had gathered in protest on Wednesday, but Reuters quotes a police spokesman as saying it was moved to the locality of Bikita "because [this] is where he had committed the offence".

Image source, Reuters

Leocadia Bongben
BBC Pidgin, Yaounde

At a UN-organised ceremony, nine traditional chiefs in Cameroon's Northern region were congratulated after appointing 123 women to decision-making roles for the first time in their chiefdoms.

It is hoped that the move will mean that those in authority will get to hear about issues affecting women more quickly.

Previously, women were not allowed access to chiefs and had to pass their through their husbands, who then passed it to the men working for the chief. The process often meant that the real message never got through.

The chiefs of Demsa, Tignère, Ngaoundéré, Djerem, de Banyo, de Mokolo, Guider, Logone-Birni and Kousseri made the appointments.

Hafsatou Saidou, one of the women appointed in Banyo, said that she and the others, who had been vocal in the past, had been "perceived in town as women who were out to instigate revolt in marriages".

A health worker by profession, Ms Saidou, will now be hoping to let women know more about what health provision there is for women in the region.