Image source, AFP

A Kenyan teacher faces arrest after one person died and at least a dozen others were injured when a convoy of school buses was attacked by bandits.

Interior Minister Fred Matiang'i suggested that the school headteacher was responsible for authorising the school buses to travel past the cut-off time of 18:00.

The bandits killed one of the drivers and injured several teachers who work at the high school located in Elgeyo Marakwet county, western Kenya.

The students were travelling on Thursday night after a school trip.

Police said an investigation had been launched into the incident.

In August, the Kenyan government imposed a 60-day night curfew on parts of Baringo, West Pokot and Elgeyo Marakwet counties following increased inter-communal violence.

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC News, Nairobi

Image source, Getty Images

Sudanese and Ethiopian families who won a lottery allowing them to move to the US have sued the government over delays in processing their entry visas.

The 12 families in the lawsuit - referred to as Tesfaye vs Blinken - say the US government is unlawfully withholding their visa-hearing process by refusing to reassign the cases to other embassies away from the ones in Khartoum and Addis Ababa, which have not resumed routine visa processing.

Under the US Immigration and Nationality Act, all winners of the Diversity Visa programme must be scheduled for immigrant visa interviews before the end of the fiscal year, which is 30 September, unless a court intervenes.

One of the lawyers representing the families says they have "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become permanent residents" but the government "keeps de-prioritising" their cases.

"If their visas are not issued by September 30, they lose a golden opportunity and so does the United States," says Curtis Lee Morrison.

Rafael Urena, another lawyer, says the US has "failed to live up to its commitments to the African diaspora. Particularly, to Diversity Visa applicants".

A similar case by Iraqi lottery winners in December saw the interview location of the families changed, and the suit was eventually withdrawn.

The Diversity Visa lottery is responsible for the largest percentage of African and black immigration to the US

Image source, Rwandan Embassy

Rwanda's ambassador to China, James Kimonyo, has embraced social media to market coffee and chilli from the east African country.

Mr Kimonyo told BBC Focus on Africa radio that he had to move away from the traditional way of advertising in exhibitions after seeing that China's online shopping industry was huge.

The ambassador last month caused a stir on social media when he donned an overall and rode on a delivery bike to deliver Rwandan coffee to a customer who had purchased online.

"China's TikTok economy is about $5.4 trillion and not only that, China is the biggest internet user and it has largest number of online shoppers and is well connected - with 99% of the population owning mobile phones and the mobile payments systems here are very effective," he told the BBC.

Mr Kimonyo has been in Beijing for three years and says this is the new way to conduct diplomacy in an evolving world.

"When you are posted in a mission like this, which is big like China, and you know its a big market - very focused on business - what you do is to go out there and take advantage of what is happening," he said.

A senior commander in Somalia's central Hiran region has been killed during a clash between the country's security forces.

Haram'ad paramilitary unit officers had a scuffle with local police and the police chief was shot during the incident.

The paramilitary officers had been deployed to Beledweyne district during the ongoing parliamentary elections.

Beledweyne district governor Osman Dhisow Dhubow says two officers were wounded in the scuffle and are being treated in hospital, the Anadolu news agency reports.

Image source, AFP

A case of wild polio has emerged in Africa for the first time in five years, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.

Malawian health authorities have declared an outbreak of wild poliovirus type 1 after a case was detected in the capital Lilongwe, the WHO said.

The poliovirus paralysed a three-year-old girl.

A laboratory test found the strain to be the same as one circulating in Pakistan, the health authorities said.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two countries where wild polio is endemic.

The last known case of wild polio in Africa occurred in 2016 in Borno state, Nigeria. The continent was declared free of indigenous wild polio in 2020.

Polio is a highly infectious disease. The virus invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis within hours.

Our African proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

A selection of the best photos from across the Africa and beyond this week.

Situ el-Nufur, who was killed during anti-military demonstrations, has become an icon for protesters.

Kenya's women's team is a 'victim' of the conflict between its Football Federation and the government, according to players' union Fifpro and its Kenyan counterpart KEFWA.

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team for now. There will be an automated news feed here until we're back on Friday morning.

In the meantime you can find the latest updates on the BBC News website, or listen to our Africa Today podcast.

A reminder of our wise words of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with a photo of children waving the Libyan flag in the eastern city of Benghazi to commemorate the 11th anniversary of the uprising that led to the overthrow and killing of Col Muammar Gaddafi:

Image source, AFP

A leading private hospital in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, has carried out a penile implant procedure on a man suffering from erectile dysfunction.

The Aga Khan University Hospital said this was the first time such an operation had been carried out in East and central Africa.

It involves implanting a prosthesis device in the penis.

"The advantage of this surgery is that the man can have intercourse anytime they like without using a medication,” the lead surgeon, Dr Ahmed Yousef, said.

The procedure was carried out on a 44-year-old man who had been suffering from erectile dysfunction for a number of years.

"It is a very nice and short procedure. It is around one hour, and then he had a good erection," Dr Yousef told Kenya's Citizen TV, external.

France says growing hostility from Mali's new military junta forced the withdrawal

BBC World Service
The Newsroom

Image source, Getty Images

Belgium's prime minister has handed over an inventory of tens of thousands of artefacts looted from the former Belgian Congo to his Congolese counterpart.

Alexander De Croo gave the catalogue to Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde in a ceremony at the museum where the items are held in Brussels.

Mr Sama Lukonde called it a historic moment.

Mr De Croo said Belgians should not be afraid to look the colonial past in the face.

The Democratic Republic of Congo will be able to lodge requests for restitution of items from the list, which will be examined by an independent group of researchers.

Image source, Getty Images

An attempt to persuade a rebel militia in eastern Democratic Republic Congo to lay down its arms has ended with three peace envoys - all former warlords - being taken hostage.

President Félix Tshisekedi sent Thomas Lubanga, Germain Katanga and Floribert Ndjabu to negotiate with Codeco militiamen who have been accused of multiple atrocities in recent months.

But a spokesman for the group told the French news agency that the Congolese army fired shells during the meeting, and the envoys had been seized. Attempts to reach them by phone have failed.

Codeco claims to represent the interests of the Lendu ethnic group in the fighting that has bedevilled eastern DR Congo for many years.

Lubanga and Katanga served prison sentences of 14 years and 12 years respectively after the International Criminal Court (ICC) found them guilty of committing war crimes in eastern DR Congo

Ndjabu was jailed for 15 years over the killing of nine UN peacekeepers.

Kennedy Gondwe
BBC News, Lusaka

Image source, AFP

The Supreme Court in Zambia has declared the liquidation of the influential privately owned newspaper, The Post, illegal.

In a move that was widely viewed to have been political, the newspaper was liquidated in 2016 for alleged failure to pay its debts and taxes - something the publication always disputed.

The Patriotic Front (PF) was in power at the time.

In a landmark ruling on Thursday in Lusaka, the Supreme Court labelled the liquidation process a “faux”.

Chief Justice Mumba Malila, who headed the panel of judges, ordered the process to be re-started in compliance with the law.

The Supreme Court also ordered the newspaper’s liquidator Lewis Mosho to be part of to the new proceedings and be made to account, even though he may have finished selling the assets of the defunct publication.

“We note that much time has passed since the purported liquidation. We do not believe, however, that such passage of the time has sanitised the wrongful manner in which the liquidation was conducted,” the stinging 55-page judgement said.

“For the avoidance of doubt, we hold that the actions of the liquidator - prior to and post the purported liquidation of the Post Newspaper - are of no legal effect whatsoever," it added.

The newspaper was critical of the PF and then-President Edgar Lungu, who lost power to opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema in elections last year.

Many Zambians on social media have celebrated the judgement.

Africa's leading tennis player, Ons Jabeur, defends Novak Djokovic's choice to not have the Covid-19 vaccine - but says she hopes he changes his mind.

Image source, AFP

Mozambique's former President Armando Guebuza has given evidence in a huge corruption trial in which his son is an accused.

Mr Guebuza - who is the first former president to take the witness stand in a court case in the country - defended his government's decision to secretly borrow $2bn (£1.48) to finance a fishing fleet.

The power cut out several times during his testimony, which was broadcast live on local television channels, AFP news agency reports.

Mr Guebuza, 79, said he had acted because of a threat to national security. He then told the court not to dwell on defence matters as it was not in their remit.

His son, Ndambi, is one of 19 defendants on trial, accused of diverting $500m from the loan, which was not declared to the Mozambican parliament.

He has denied charges that he took bribes to persuade his father to approve the maritime deal and facilitate the secret loans.

Ndambi Guebuza sat in court dressed in an orange prison uniform, as his father testified, AFP reports.

He has been in detention since February 2019.

When the loans came to light, international donors cut off financial support, sparking a sovereign debt default and currency collapse.

Salim Kikeke
BBC News

The Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) has banned a prominent Tanzanian football journalist for five years for allegedly publishing false and inflammatory information.

The federation says Shaffih Dauda cannot be involved in any football matters inside or outside the country.

He has also been fined six million Tanzanian shillings ($2,500; £1,840).

Mr Dauda has not made any official comment yet.

The article posted on his Instagram page last week has since been removed.

Apart from being a journalist, Mr Dauda is also a member of the TFF’s central committee.

He also works as a football scout and played a role in Mbwana Samatta’s move from Belgium’s KRC Genk to Aston Villa in 2020 making him the first Tanzanian to play in the English Premier league.

Tibebeselassie Tigabu
BBC Amharic service

Image source, Ethiopia Sugar Corporation

Ethiopia’s biggest sugar factory, Finchaa, has resumed operations after week-long disruptions in an area where Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) rebels are active, an official has said.

Truck drivers had refused to travel to the Horro Guduru zone in the Oromia region because of security concerns, resulting in a fuel shortage, Ethiopian Sugar Corporation acting communication executive, Reta Demeke, told BBC Amharic.

The problem had been resolved, and the factory resumed production on Tuesday, he added.

According to Mr Reta, this was the first time the factory had to stop production because of security concerns, but he refuted reports that the OLA had attacked the plant.

However, Mr Reta acknowledged that around four tractors were burnt down a few weeks ago.

He sad he could not comment on who was behind the blaze.

Bekele Dechasa, the top government official in Horro Guduru zone recently told the media that rebels had set tractors and sugar cane on fire.

Finchaa factory has an annual production capacity of 270,000 tonnes.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

The Somali government has said that police officers accused of torturing journalists covering al-Shabab attacks in the capital, Mogadishu, have been arrested.

Interior Security Minister Abdullahi Nur said “the armed forces will be accountable for their actions”.

The state-owned Somali National TV tweeted a photo of the journalists lying on the ground while blind-folded;

The police officers targeted journalists who work for private television stations in Somalia and had gone to cover militant attacks on police stations on Tuesday

The al-Shabab militants carried out simultaneous suicide bombings and raided police stations in several Mogadishu districts, the latest high profile assaults by the al-Qaeda affiliated jihadists in the city.

Media workers in Somalia regularly face intimidation, arrest and attacks from several quarters.