Some argue the damaged building could be rebuilt in a style that reflects South Africa's diversity.

Under former President John Magufuli, young mothers-to-be were forced to drop out.

More than 300,000 children are affected - with the authorities trying to erect tents as classrooms.

The men were arrested and brought to the UK in connection with the death of Alex Smith in 2019.

That's all for now from the BBC Africa Live team until Wednesday morning Nairobi time.

You can keep up with latest events in Guinea-Bissau on our website, or listen to the Africa Today podcast.

Here's a reminder of Tuesday's wise words:

And we leave you with this footage from Guinea-Bissau's capital city shared earlier by a journalist, in which heavy artillery can be heard:

BBC Focus on Africa radio

A shoot-out between unidentified assailants and officers in Guinea-Bissau's capital amid reports of an attempted coup has left people "very worried about the prevailing situation", a local journalist tells the BBC.

"It was a panic - everybody trying to take refuge in a safe place. In 1998 in the civil war, 2,500 people were killed in clashes between General [Ansumane] Mané and the president - and people are afraid of such an event happening again," Alfred Dabo said.

Tuesday's events in Guinea-Bissau come amid an atmosphere of "discord" prompted by the president's cabinet reshuffle last week, the journalist added.

Guinea-Bissau has seen nine coups or attempted coups since 1980, the most recent of which was in 2012.

Chinese and French oil giants have signed a deal which could lead to $10bn (£7.4bn) of investment to develop oil fields in Uganda.

The deal also paves the way for the construction of a 1,440km (900 mile) oil pipeline from landlocked Uganda to the Tanzanian port of Tanga on the Indian Ocean.

It is estimated that Lake Albert, on Uganda's border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, lies atop 6.5 billion barrels of oil.

Environmentalists are trying to block the project, saying it threatens fragile ecosystems and will lead to the displacement of tens of thousands of people.

Israel Campos
BBC News

In Angola thousands do not have access to “free, diverse, and impartial information”, despite it being constitutional right, a recent report by Human Right Watch says, external.

Journalists in the country face several challenges as “authorities continue to use draconian media laws to repress and harass journalists”, it said.

With elections scheduled for August 2022, it is a worry for many in that southern African country.

Adalberto Costa Júnior, leader of Angola’s largest opposition party, recently told CNN Portugal, external that there was “total censorship” in the Angolan media, accusing President João Lourenço’s government of anti-democratic practices.

“I have been president of Angola’s largest opposition party for almost three years and yet I have never been interviewed in any state-run media outlet in the country,” he said.

Teixeira Cândido, the secretary-general of the Union of Angolan Journalists (SJA), agreed censorship and lack of press freedom were a problem on state-run media outlets, which appeared to be "more pro-government than anything else".

"If this scenario continues, I cannot predict what could happen in Angola when it’s election time,” he tells the BBC.

Currently, the state owns most major media organisations in the country, including former private outlets that were taken over for allegedly using stolen state money to establish themselves - such as TV-Zimbo and Palanca TV.

Kalkidan Yibeltal
BBC News

Ethiopian Airlines has flown a Boeing 737 Max plane for the first time since a fatal crash almost three years ago led to an international grounding of the aircraft.

Senior executives were on board for Tuesday’s internal flight - a plan to go to the continent’s highest point, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, was not made because of what officials say were weather problems.

On 10 March 2019, flight ET302 heading to Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, crashed minutes after take-off from Addis Ababa - killing all 157 people on board.

Five months earlier a similar crash in Indonesia involving the same model killed 198 people.

Ethiopian Airlines said the decision to resume operating the aircraft had come after “intense recertification” by regulators in the EU, US and China.

It said 35 other carriers had begun using the jet again.

BBC World Service

Public prosecutors in Egypt have ordered the detention of five people as part of an investigation into the suspected suicide of a girl, who is said to have been blackmailed online.

It is the second such case in Egypt in recent weeks in which a young woman has taken her own life after allegedly being threatened with having private or faked photos of her posted online.

The incidents have caused a public outcry over privacy rights and legal protection against extortion - as well as a call for fathers to support their daughters if they are subjected to sexual blackmail.

BBC Focus on Africa radio

A local journalist has told the BBC that mutinous soldiers have detained the president of Guinea-Bissau and his ministers.

It has not been possibly to independently verify this allegation, and no official word has been given yet of the whereabouts of Guinea-Bissau's president and prime minister.

But reporter Alberto Dabo told BBC Focus on Africa radio that "reliable sources are saying that President Umaro Sissoco Embaló and members of the government are still at the [government] palace and in the hands of the assailants".

The UN and regional leaders have condemned deadly clashes in the capital and demanded democratic institutions be respected. One policeman has been killed.

There have been a number of coups in West Africa in the last 18 months, with the military seizing power in Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso.

Image source, Getty Images

Ecowas, the regional bloc promoting political and economic co-operation in West Africa, has condemned what it calls an "attempted coup" in Guinea-Bissau, and is urging the military to return to its barracks.

It follow reports of men in civilian clothing opening fire close to a government building hosting a meeting between the president and prime minister of Guinea-Bissau, whose whereabouts remain unknown.

"Ecowas is following with great concern the evolution of the situation in Guinea-Bissau... where military gunfire is taking place around the government palace," Reuters quotes the statement as saying.

"Ecowas condemns this attempted coup and holds the military responsible for the safety of President Umaro Sissoco Embaló and members of his government."

In recent days Ecowas suspended another of its members, Burkina Faso, where the military mounted a putsch.

Nicolas Negoce
BBC News

Guinea-Bissau's Foreign Minister Suzi Barboza has told the BBC she is currently abroad and is waiting for news about the president.

There has been no official word on the whereabouts of the president and prime minister, who had been holding a meeting when gunshots where fired in their vicinity at a government building in the capital, Bissau, on Tuesday afternoon.

Schools and offices have closed as a precaution, and the military has been deployed to a number of government buildings.

President Umaro Sissoco Embaló, himself a former prime minister, was elected to top office in 2020 after winning a run-off vote against another ex-prime minister.

President Embaló has said he wants to resolve political tensions in the West African country, one of the world's poorest nations, which has seen nine coups or attempted coups since 1974.

France-based news service LSI has shared this footage that it says captures some of the gunfire in Guinea-Bissau's capital this afternoon:

One policeman has been killed, a source has told the BBC, and unconfirmed reports suggest other people have been struck by bullets during the incident.

A witness in Guinea-Bissau has told BBC Focus on Africa that armed men in civilian clothing opened fire at the ministerial palace in the capital, Bissau, where the president and prime minister were holding a meeting.

The current whereabouts of President Umaro Sissoco Embaló and Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabiam are unknown, the source says.

According to the witness, the military and police went to the scene where the armed men were firing, following which a police officer was shot.

Soldiers are patrolling the streets of Bissau in military vehicles and some calm has returned.

Guinea-Bissau has a long history of political instability and military coups, the last of which was in 2012.

One police officer has been killed in the capital of Guinea-Bissau, a resident of Bissua has told BBC Focus on Africa radio.

It follows reports of gunfire near where President Umaro Sissoco Embaló and Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabiam were having a meeting.

The resident told Focus on Africa that the firing had now subsided and had actually occurred at a ministerial building, not the presidential palace as had been reported.

AFP earlier reported that people had been seen fleeing the area close to presidential palace and that the local markets were closed and banks shut their doors, while military vehicles laden with troops drove through the streets.

BBC World Service

Reports from Bissau, the capital of the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau, say there has been gunfire in the vicinity of the presidential palace.

Unconfirmed reports say soldiers have surrounded the building. President Umaro Sissoco Embaló is understood to be inside.

Yasine Mohabuth
Port Louis, Mauritius

Image source, Yasine Mohabuth

Days after a tropical storm battered parts of southern Africa, a tropical cyclone is now expected with regional weather experts warning that heavy rainfall is likely to affect Mauritius, Malawi, Namibia, Tanzania, Angola, South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe.

Tropical cyclone Batsirai has intensified slightly over the last few hours and the Mauritius Meteorological Services (MMS) has issued a Class III warning - the second-highest weather alert level - at 16:10 local (12:10 GMT).

At that time, Batsirai was about 410km (254 miles) north-east of Mauritius, and was moving in a south-west and west-south-westerly direction at about 15km/h (9.32mph), according to a statement by MMS.

On this trajectory, Batsirai is approaching Mauritius and constitutes a direct threat to the Indian Ocean island, it says.

Residents have been advised to complete all precautions and not to venture out to sea.

Many families have been rushing to nearby shops and bakeries to stock up on food items.

Image source, Yasine Mohabuth

Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

TotalEnergies is planning to resume its natural gas project in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado region this year, after suspending it last March following a jihadist attack.

The firm’s chief executive, Patrick Pouyanné, made the announcement on Monday after meeting Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi.

He said he was “optimistic” about the plan.

“My goal is that [the project] restarts in 2022, but I am not alone. We are ready”, he said at a joint press conference.

The construction of the gas plant, extracted from the seabed about 40km (25 miles) offshore is the largest private investment in Africa.

The French energy giant declared a "force majeure" suspending all work on the $20bn (£14.8bn) contract following the attack in Palma, which was home to its subcontractors and many workers.

The firm’s CEO said that he wants to be able to go “to Palma, Mocímboa da Praia and Mueda” areas the next time he returns to Mozambique.

The Cabo Delgado province is rich in natural gas, but it has been hit by attacks since 2017 by armed rebels, some linked to jihadist groups.

A joint military force has been fighting the insurgent groups in the region since last year.

Egypt defender Ahmed Hegazi will miss the rest of the Africa Cup of Nations after sustaining an adductor muscle strain.