For the latest news, please go to bbc.com/africalive

The global response to the conflict in Ukraine highlights a double standard, writes Maher Mezahi.

Zimbabwean student Korrine Sky is trying to help African students trapped in Ukraine.

The Nigerian Afrobeats star talks to the BBC about his future plans, and why he won't take up politics.

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team for this week. We'll be back on Monday morning with the latest news from around the continent, at bbc.com/africalive.

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

Our wise words of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this shot from Kenya, where a historic pledge on plastic waste was reached this week:

Image source, Getty Images

Click here to see more of our favourite photos of the continent this week.

BBC Focus on Africa radio

The UN has agreed to start negotiating the first ever global treaty to tackle the issue of plastic pollution.

After week-long talks at the UN Environment Assembly in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, nearly 200 member states agreed to create an inter-governmental committee to come up with a legally binding plastics treaty by 2024.

"The world should care about plastic waste because it is a universal problem - otherwise we will all be drowned [by it]," says Rwanda's Environment Minister, Jeanne d'Arc Mujawamariya.

"Plastic does not degrade and the waste is increasing minute by minute... our oceans, river, seas have more plastic waste than fish."

Listen to her interview in full:

Jose Tembe
BBC News, Mozambique

Image source, Getty Images

Flooding and stagnant water have left about 6,000 people at risk of hunger in southern Mozambique, a local farmers' union has warned.

As much as 900 hectares of various crops on Ilha Josina Machel have been destroyed by the waters of the Incomáti river, says farmer representative Ernesto Cossa.

Three residential areas have reportedly been destroyed near the river basin, whose waters have been stagnant since 2019.

"The river is full of garbage, there is grass, trees, the water already invades those small ditches that enter the agricultural fields - the water can't come out any more."

Mozambique's disaster management agency says it is sending a team to Ilha Josina Machel to find possible solutions to the problem.

The release of Freeman Mbowe could herald the end of political repression, analysts say.

Image source, Bloomberg via Getty Images

Lucrative oil and mining permits are to be put up for sale in the Democratic Republic of Congo, after the government reached a deal with the controversial Israeli businessman who owned them.

Dan Gertler was first sanctioned by the US in 2017 over alleged massive corruption in the central African nation - allegations he has always denied.

He and DR Congo's government reached a $2bn (£1.5bn) settlement that was signed on Thursday, in which he agreed to relinquish control of the assets but will continue to receive royalties from some.

"This deal can in no way shield Dan Gertler from the accusations weighing him down," said anti-corruption group Congo is Not for Sale, who demanded that more details of the agreement be released, external.

BBC Focus on Africa radio

"It takes two to make a baby," our satirical presidents Kibarkingmad and Olushambles remind us in this week's edition of Resident Presidents.

They're referring of course to recent changes in Tanzania, where school-age mothers are allowed to return to classes but cannot bring their infants with them.

Many see the ban as unfairly penalising an already vulnerable group within society.

Listen in full here:

Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

Image source, Getty Images

Mozambican authorities admit they've failed to monitor conditions in the country's dangerously overcrowded jails.

Until last year Mozambique's prison facilities housed just over 18,700 inmates, against an installed capacity of 8,500.

Prison infrastructure has not seen any change in recent years, while there are high levels of corruption in the justice administration system.

António Boene - the chairman of Mozambique's parliamentary commission on constitutional affairs, human rights and legality - told colleagues at a round table discussion on Thursday that they cannot simply wait for the government's signal to create conditions to decongest the jails.

MP Elias Impuiri of the opposition Democratic Movement of Mozambique has called for alternatives to prison sentences to make facilities less crowded.

Thomas Naadi
BBC News, Accra

Image source, Getty Images

Hungary has agreed to take in a number of Ghanaian citizens who've fled Ukraine so that they can continue their studies in Europe.

Spaces and resources are being opened up at a number of Hungary's unversities and the students will pay the same fees as they were paying in Ukraine, Hungarian authorities say.

More than 1,000 Ghanaian students were living in Ukraine until Russia invaded last week, and the West African nation has so far made two repatriation missions.

A 24-year-old computer science student who arrived in Ghana's capital Accra on Friday morning told the BBC that some Ukrainian institutions were helping students complete their courses online.

About 700 Ghanaian students have crossed the Ukrainian border into neighbouring countries, but some are not willing to return home because of uncertainty over the future of their education.

Read more: Why so many African students were in Ukraine

Tibebeselassie Tigabu
BBC News Amharic

Image source, EOTC/PR

The fourth patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, his holiness Abune Merkorios, has passed away after several weeks of hospital treatment for an unspecified medical condition.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said he was "deeply saddened to hear the passing away of his holiness" who he said "played a vital role in the reunification of the two synods. It's an immense loss to the country."

The mayor of Addis Ababa also expressed her condolences.

Patriarch Merkorios was ordained in the late 1980s during the Marxist Derg regime, then forced to abdicate after the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) overthrew the Derg in 1991, which resulted in the church splitting.

His followers objected, saying the role of the patriarch was held for life. Abune Merkorewos escaped to the US, where a rival synod was established.

He came back from his 27-year exile in 2018 after Prime Minister Abiy persuaded him to reconcile with the rival faction of the church.

Following the exile of Patriarch Merkorios, Patriach Paulos was elected in 1992. When he passed away in 2012, Patriarch Mathias was elected to replace him.

After the reunification, the Ethiopian Orthodox church had two patriarchs.

Patriach Merkorios was responsible for the spiritual aspect of the church, while Patriarch Mathias was in charge of the day-to-day affairs.

Eritrea pull out of qualifying for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, giving opponents Botswana a bye through to the group stage.

Image source, Getty Images

The UN adviser on Libya has invited rival factions to come together to try to resolve the country's constitutional arrangements, as a political process to restore stability has foundered.

Stephanie Williams has sent letters to parliament and the High State Council, which represent separate administrations, to each nominate six members for a joint committee.

The move comes the day after Fathi Bashaga was sworn in as the new prime minister nominated by parliament in the east of Libya, even though the incumbent premier Abdulhamid Dbeibah in Tripoli has refused to step down.

More about Libya:

• What's the one thing Libyan women want from politicians?
• A quick guide to Libya

Leicester City loanee Ademola Lookman is set to make his Nigeria debut after being named in the squad for the 2022 World Cup play-off against Ghana.

Haymanot Bejiga
BBC News Amharic

Image source, Getty Images

University staff in Ethiopia's war-torn Tigray region are in despair after living without a salary for over a year.

War broke out in the northern region in November 2020 and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) fighters advanced towards the capital, Addis Ababa, before being pushed back by government and allied forces.

More than 7,000 staff at Mekelle University have not received a single pay cheque since the fighting started, a staff at the medical school told the BBC.

They walk to work as there is no fuel, and some have been collapsing while on duty, staff said.

''Although we are a federal institute, the federal government failed to send us the budget money,'' the staff member said, adding that their children were getting malnourished.

An official at the ministry of education told the BBC that staff at the university will have to wait for the government to release funds meant for all federal institutions in Tigray region.

''University staff who fled the region are receiving their salaries and have been posted to other universities. But for those still in Tigray we can do nothing,'' Samuel Kifle told the BBC.

The authorities in Tigray have warned of a deteriorating humanitarian situation and have blamed a government-imposed blockade for increasing levels of hunger.

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, Getty Images

Messages of love and live performances by local hip-hop artists are all part of Friday's memorial service to South African rapper Riky Rick, who died last week aged 34.

It's being streamed live now with thousands tuning in:

"He always told us he wasn't going to be here for long. He knew," said friend and internationally renowned DJ Black Coffee at the gathering in Johannesburg.

He also lambasted a Sunday newspaper for publishing a leaked suicide note Riky Rick had written to his wife and two children, saying: "Riky didn't deserve that... Everywhere he went he spread love, it didn’t matter who you were or where you were from. He knew how to uplift people and yet he was going through so much personally."

Another friend, the broadcaster Sizwe Dhlomo, remembered Riky Rick as "an imperfect man constantly trying to be better" who "hoped that by helping [others] through their own struggles he too would be better".

The mood has been largely upbeat even while people reflect on the life and last days of the man, whose real name was Rikhado Makhado.

Many of those performing here got their start in the industry thanks to him. The stage is decked out with a beloved phrase of his: "We never die, we multiply", as a reminder of how Riky Rick lived and in some ways how he wanted to be remembered.

More must be done to encourage female coaches, says the first woman to take charge of a Basketball Africa League club.

Zimbabwe is giving two-way plane tickets to its citizens who've fled Ukraine so that they can return once it's safer to do so, a top diplomat tells the BBC.

Alice Mashingaidze is Zimbabwe's ambassador to Poland, Germany, Hungary and Slovakia.

She says her embassy has been working with Zimbabweans in the diaspora who help organise transport for those fleeing Ukraine until they reach the embassy in Poland.

The embassy then takes over, and is organising their onward flights to Zimbabwe.

Ms Mashingaidze says those fleeing have complained about racial segregation at the border. Ukrainian and Polish officials have denied such reports.

Listen to the full interview from Focus on Africa radio: