Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

Image source, AFP

Recipients of food aid in northern Mozambique have told the UN that some community leaders involved in distributing the relief have been demanding sexual favours.

World Food Programme’s head in Cabo Delgado province, Maurício Bortee, held a meeting with local officials on Thursday about the situation.

Cabo Delgado has been at the centre of a jihadist insurgency since 2017 that has forced hundreds of thousands people from their homes.

“These concerns we have received refer to abuse of power by community leaders or exchange of food for sex,” he said.

The WFP had “zero tolerance” for such abuses, he added.

“Our aim is to always bring assistance without harming the people we serve and that is why we are here to address these issues, together with all the involved partners.”

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Image source, Reuters

Gabonese government officials have dismissed allegations by the opposition that there is a power vacuum in the country.

Opposition leader Jean Ping had urged the constitutional court to declare a power vacuum, citing the president's health.

Presidential spokesperson Jessye Ella Ekogha said President Ali Bongo was performing his presidential duties well.

He said the opposition's line about there being a power vacuum was like a "broken record" and an attempt by an unpopular party to gain media attention.

"Repeating a lie 100 times does not make it true," he said.

Since the president suffered a stroke in 2018, there has been much speculation about his health and ability to continue ruling the country.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Somali leaders have extended the deadline for the completion of long-delayed parliamentary elections to 15 March.

They had been scheduled to conclude by 25 February.

Somali leaders cited drought, security concerns and financial challenges for the extension of the deadline, privately owned Radio Risala reported.

So far, 64% of the seats in the 275-member lower house of parliament have been filled.

On 11 January, the US threatened to impose sanctions, including visa restrictions, on Somali politicians who further delayed the process.

Shingai Nyoka
BBC News

The United Nation's World Food Programme (WFP) has appealed for funds to assist those affected by the Cyclone Emnati in Madagascar.

The storm crashed into the south-east part of the island nation on Tuesday night, dumping rain and destroying homes and crops.

No casualties have been reported.

The WFP says at least 44,000 people have been displaced or affected and flooding has hampered their assessments.

Pasqualina Di Sirio, the agency’s Madagascar country director, told the BBC its appeal for $16m (£12m) will ensure adequate food supplies for the next three months.

Since January, Madagascar has suffered four cyclones which have left over 180 people dead and affected about 250,000 others.

Much of the population remains under stress following an aggressive cyclone season.

The WFP says a new weather system is forming, prompting fears of another storm.

Image source, AFP

A Kenyan girl has been sentenced to five years in jail for manslaughter over a school dormitory fire that killed 10 of her colleagues.

The 18-year-old committed the offence in 2017 while aged 14 in her first year of secondary school at the Moi Girls School in the capital, Nairobi.

The court had heard that she had attempted to take her own life twice before she started the fire in her cubicle.

The parents and guardians of the girls who died in the fire say the sentence is lenient but are glad justice has been served, local media report.

Arson has become a common problem at Kenyan boarding schools over the last two decades.

Correction: This post has been amended to make it clear that 10 girls died in the fire, not nine as we originally reported

Image source, Getty Images

World football's governing body has suspended Kenya and Zimbabwe, citing government interference.

Fifa said both countries knew what was expected to be done for the suspension to be lifted.

Kenya's sports ministry disbanded the Football Kenya Federation over alleged misappropriation of funds and appointed a caretaker committee.

Fifa had warned the government at the time.

The Zimbabwe Football Association was disbanded over sexual harassment allegations.

A Fifa ban means that the two countries cannot take part in international competitions until the suspension is lifted.

Image source, AFP

The African Union (AU) has raised concern over Russia’s attack on Ukraine and is calling for an “immediate ceasefire” to avoid a "planetary conflict".

The union's chairman, Senegalese President Macky Sall, and AU Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat said in a statement that they were “extremely concerned” by the invasion.

"They call on the Russian Federation and any other regional or international actor to imperatively respect international law, the territorial integrity and national sovereignty of Ukraine," the statement added.

The full-scale assault on Ukraine is ongoing on several fronts after Russia launched attacks from the east, north and south on Thursday.

Ukraine says dozens of people have been killed, while thousands have fled the country.

Our proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team for now. We'll be back on Friday morning with the latest news updates from around the continent.

In the meantime you can check the BBC News website, or listen to our Africa Today podcast.

A reminder of our wise words of the day:

We leave you with a photo of South Sudanese and Australian model Akon Changkou standing backstage with other models at the Milan Fashion Week in Italy:

Image source, Getty Images

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Attackers have hijacked and torched, external a truck belonging to a privately owned daily newspaper in the southern African kingdom of Eswatini.

The Times of Swaziland reported on its website that attack on its vehicle was meant to “plant fear in our staff and journalists”.

“This incident occurs against a backdrop of an ongoing attempt to label this publication as a state-controlled entity, when nothing could be further from the truth,” the website said.

“We are independent and have defended that independence for many years,” it added.

On 8 February, 20 correctional officers assaulted a journalist after she livestreamed a protest by members of the Swaziland Liberation Movement activist group outside the Matsapha prison where two pro-democracy MPs were being detained.

Last year, dozens were killed in pro-democracy protests calling an end to the 35-year rule of King Mswati III, an absolute monarch.

The war in Ukraine could threaten the economies and the stability of some African states.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

The Russian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo says Moscow is ready to help the central African nation end the armed violence in the east of the country, state TV has reported.

Alexey Sentebov met the governor of the restive North Kivu province, Constant Ndima Kongba, and told him that “Russia was ready to support DR Congo in the eradication of armed groups”, RTNC reported.

There were no further details of the meeting between the two.

DR Congo is battling a long-running insurgency in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri provinces, where more than 100 armed groups have been carrying out massacres in villages.

A UN peacekeeping mission is helping the army to fight the rebels, who include Islamist militants affiliated to the Islamic State group.

Russia has intervened in various conflicts in Africa, including in Mali, the Central African Republic, Mozambique, Sudan and Libya.

Liverpool and Egypt forward Mohamed Salah becomes the African player with the most Premier League goal involvements.

Africans living in Ukraine and Russia have told BBC News Hausa and BBC News Swahili they are doing what they can to stay safe.

“We woke up to an atmosphere of palpable fear and tension. Everyone is still scared - citizens and foreigners are leaving the country,” says Muhammad Kabir, a Nigerian studying in Ukraine’s capital city Kyiv.

He said he heard “three loud explosions” early on Thursday morning that he and others mistook for “celebratory fireworks” at first.

“I live in a Russian city called Belgorod which is close to the Ukrainian border,” says Nigerian student Sadik Shehu Masalla. “The sound was so loud that it woke everyone up. We were not able to go back to sleep again because of fear since we are very close to Ukraine.”

Tanzanian medical student Evance Liseki who lives in Kharkiv, north-eastern Ukraine, says he and his friends have been “hearing explosions, but generally we are safe”.

On Thursdays he usually attends practical classes in a hospital but these have been called off and he is instead remaining indoors in line with Ukraine’s state of emergency directives.

“For now I can say I am safe but am in a state of panic - as a human being you have to panic.”

Kenya's education minister has asked teachers to suspend a planned teachers' strike ahead of national examinations.

Minister George Magoha encouraged the government commission that hires teachers to engage them in discussions to avert the strike.

The national union issued a strike notice after pay talks with the government failed.

The education minister said children belonged to everyone, including the teachers, and that they "shouldn't be like chess pieces to be played with".

"If they like, they can issue it [strike notice] immediately after the exams, it will be fair game for the children," he said.

The national examinations for primary and secondary students are scheduled to begin next month to mark the end of the 2021 education calendar that started late because of the coronavirus pandemic.

BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

A UN official says Sudan has released most of the people who had been detained for protesting against last year's military coup.

Adama Dieng, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' designated expert for Sudan, said 115 people had been set free.

He called for the remaining 24 to be released too.

Mr Dieng also urged Sudanese forces to stop firing live ammunition and tear gas at the demonstrators.

But more tear gas was used against the crowds on Thursday.

Mr Dieng has been in Sudan for the past five days, meeting the authorities, diplomats and civil society members.

More on this topic:

• Sudan's feared secret police make a comeback
• The citizens who are ready to die for freedom
• Why the army is gambling with Sudan's future

South Africa is the latest country to call on Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine, saying "the door of diplomacy should never be closed".

"As a nation birthed through negotiation, South Africa is always appreciative of the potential dialogue has in averting a crisis and de-escalating conflict," its department of international relations and cooperation said in a statement on Thursday.

It added that the South African embassy in Ukraine's capital Kyiv was "monitoring developments closely and is also assisting South African nationals" in the country.

BBC World Service

Four French soldiers arrested at Bangui airport on Monday have been freed by the authorities in the Central African Republic (CAR).

The four Foreign Legionaires serving with the UN peacekeeping force had been accused on social media of planning to assassinate the CAR President Faustin Archange Touadéra.

The national prosecutor said they had been travelling in an unmarked car and were heavily armed.

No charges were brought against them, and the head of the UN mission, Mankeur Ndiaye, confirmed that they had now been set free.

Ishaq Khalid
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, AFP

The government of Nigeria says it will evacuate its citizens who wish to leave Ukraine as soon as airports are re-opened in the country.

In a statement, Nigeria’s foreign ministry says the West African country "has received with surprise" the reports of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

A spokeswoman for the foreign ministry, Francisca Omayuli, says it has been reassured by the Nigerian embassy in Ukraine of the safety of Nigerians in that country and that measures are being taken "to keep them safe and facilitate the evacuation of those who wish to leave".

The Nigerian government says its mission in Ukraine has confirmed that the Russian action has been confined to military installations.

However, at least 10 civilians are believed to have been killed so far, including six in an air strike near the capital, Kyiv.

Thousands of Nigerians including students currently live in both Russia and Ukraine.

Nigeria's football federation apologises to the women's national side after the Super Falcons suffer extensive delays on their return from a match.