Image source, Getty Images

Nigerian singer Timaya has been questioned by police after being accused on Instagram of involvement in an alleged hit-and-run accident in Lagos.

Police went to the Afrobeats star’s home on Thursday morning - a day after a woman reportedly said on her private Instagram account that her sister had been injured by him and was being treated in hospital.

“These celebrities and how they behave. Timaya nearly killed my sister this morning. He hit her with his car and run,” she is quoted as posting.

Several newspapers reported that Timaya was subsequently arrested, but in a recent live video on Instagram, reposted by some of his fans,, external the musician said he had just been asked to make a statement to officers.

He said that in the confusion after a woman said he had bumped into the back of her car, he suggested they park at the side of the road to stop blocking the traffic and swap numbers - but when four men began aggressively approaching his vehicle, he drove off.

Ghana become the first African country to evacuate its citizens fleeing the conflict in Ukraine.

Soraya Ali
BBC News Africa

Image source, Reuters

A Cameroonian student in the Russian-captured city of Kherson has told the BBC that he and friends are terrified of going out, saying the southern Ukrainian port is now like a ghost town.

“The situation in Kherson is relatively calm compared to other days. The Russians have taken over the city,” said Christophe, who is 22 years old and has been studying business at the Kherson National Technical University.

“We are not going outside because we are scared, we are scared. When I say everything is quiet it’s like a dead city, there’s no-one outside at all."

Kherson is the first major city to be taken by Russia following heavy fighting since it invaded just over a week ago.

On Tuesday, Christophe told the BBC about how he and a group of fellow Cameroonians, Nigerians, Senegalese and Ghanaians had been trapped in a basement for days hiding from bombardments, unable to escape the city.

He said city residents were now subject to an overnight curfew from 20:00 until 06:00 local time (18:00 GMT - 04:00 GMT).

“You can go out during the day to buy some food and stuff if you can find them because most supermarkets are empty, ” he said, adding that people can only go out in pairs.

“More than two people cannot walk together otherwise you’ll be considered dangerous.”

However, he said he and his friends were loath to leave their apartment as they were still scared, especially given that they were foreigners.

“I have not seen any Africans being aggressed personally, but I don’t think it’s the most safe thing to do right now… we don’t want to put ourselves in danger."

The Ukrainian wife of one of his friends had gone out to find food - she couldn’t find any at the supermarket but approached an aid association.

“She came back with some potatoes… she explained the situation [to the association] and they gave us a little bit of [potatoes] and milk too.”

In total he said there were 12 people at the flat at which he was staying, 15 others staying nearby in a block with a basement and 25 African students remaining in university residences.

Read more: Why so many African students were in Ukraine

Ghanaian boxer Richard Commey backs former opponent Vasiliy Lomachenko's decision to take up arms for Ukraine to fight the ongoing Russian invasion

BBC World Service
Newsroom

The rival government in Libya is preparing to be sworn in later on Thursday as a showdown with the current administration seems set to intensify.

Fathi Bashaga is due to take the oath of office in Tobruk, but he has said that the incumbent Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah has cut off Libyan airspace to prevent his ministers reaching the city in the east.

Mr Bashaga's office also says that two ministers have been abducted while travelling by land.

A UN-backed roadmap to try to end the rift between rival factions in Libya has been put in doubt since scheduled elections failed to go ahead in December.

African champions Nigeria avoid holders United States in the draw for the Women's Basketball World Cup later this year.

A week after stepping down as coach of Comoros Amir Abdou replaces Didier Gomes Da Rosa in charge of Mauritania.

South African Bianca Buitendag won silver at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and has been competing since childhood.

The Ukrainian government has launched an emergency hotline for Africans and Asians fleeing Russia's invasion, according to the foreign minister.

It follows widespread allegations of racism faced by Africans attempting to leave the country.

Numerous African students in Ukraine have shared stories of being blocked by Ukrainian security agents from leaving the country.

In a tweet, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the authorities were "working intensively" to ensure the safety and passage of African and Asian students.

Image source, Reuters

The UN Human Rights Council has appointed Fatou Bensouda, a former International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor and Gambian lawyer, to head a team that will probe alleged violations during the conflict in Ethiopia.

The team will have two other international experts: Kenyan lawyer Kaari Betty Murungi and Steven Ratner of the United States.

They will serve on the newly created International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia.

The UN rights body agreed last December to send international investigators to Ethiopia, where the federal troops and rebels have been fighting.

The commission was handed a one-year renewable mandate to impartially investigate allegations of violations and abuses committed by all sides in the conflict.

African diplomats were divided at the UN General Assembly, which has adopted a resolution deploring Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and calling for the immediate withdrawal of its forces.

Eritrea was one of only five countries in the world that voted against it in the rare emergency session following more than two days of debate.

Its UN mission said that while it respected a country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, it wanted windows for diplomacy to remain open. The country opposed all forms of unilateral sanctions as “illegal and counterproductive” as Eritrea had been subject to such sanctions by the West for two decades and they only “hurt innocent people and undermine the road to peace”.

Out of 54 nations on the continent, 28 voted in favour - but a large chunk, 17 countries, abstained from the vote.

These included the Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali, where Russian mercenaries and troops are helping the governments fight insurgencies.

Uganda said it had abstained to uphold its "neutrality" as the incoming chair of the Non-Aligned Movement (Nam), a forum of 120 developing countries set up to stop their members becoming pawns in Cold War power games.

When the EU ambassador to South Africa queried on Twitter why South Africa had abstained, Clayson Monyela, South Africa’s head of public diplomacy, accused the bloc of having double standards, saying it should also condemn other aggressors, external in the Palestinian territories, Yemen, Syria, Libya and Somalia.

Eight countries - including two that have recently witnessed coups, Burkina Faso and Guinea - did not vote at all.

Ethiopia, where a civil war has raged since November 2020 that has involved Eritrean soldiers fighting alongside Ethiopian troops, also did not vote. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed tweeted that his country was closely following events, external: “We urge all parties to exercise restraint in the #Ukraine, external crisis.”

“Our tragic historical past as a global community coupled with the vast leaps and advancements we made in the 21st Century beckon a more nuanced approach in our international relations and diplomacy… Let not the failure of diplomacy be the reasons millions of lives are uprooted and global shock waves felt when the tools of creating international harmony are within our means,” he said.

A Nigerian dental student has told the BBC that fewer foreigners fleeing the conflict in Ukraine are going to Poland because of hostility at the border.

Shemilore says she has been reaching out to her friends in Ukraine to help them get to other countries like Hungary and Romania.

She says it has become difficult for those in Ukraine to travel because of blockades.

"It's crazy right now and some of my friends have to stay in metros because of explosions," she said.

Shemilore was to graduate and become a dentist in four months' time.

"I have panic attacks even as I'm in Poland right now, I'm safe but I'm still so scared for my friends as they are people I've been with for five years," she said.

Here is her full interview the BBC's Peter Okwoche who is in Poland;

Image source, AFP

South African satellite broadcaster MultiChoice has announced it will stop broadcasting the state-owned Russia Today (RT) news channel on its DSTV platform until further notice.

In a statement, MultiChoice cited sanctions imposed by the European Union (EU) on Russia which "have led to the global distributor of the channel ceasing to provide the broadcast feed to all suppliers, including MultiChoice".

MultiChoice's DSTV service broadcasts to the whole continent.

It follows the EU's decision, external on Wednesday to suspend the distribution of Russia Today and Sputnik across the bloc, describing them as disinformation and information manipulation assets.

“In this time of war, words matter. We are witnessing massive propaganda and disinformation over this outrageous attack on a free and independent country," EU President von der Leyen said.

But MultiChoice's decision has been condemned by South Africa's opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, which said it undermined press freedom and the rights of consumers.

"MultiChoice has chosen which news outlets consumers must watch and dictated what content must be watched based on their allegiance in a complex conflict in Europe," the party said in a statement, external.

Meanwhile, the Russian embassy in Uganda said the country's public broadcaster, UBC, would broadcast Russia Today daily for an hour in the morning and during late night.

Russia Today (RT) describes itself as an autonomous operation financed by the Russian Federation.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Image source, EPA

Guinea's opposition has threatened to hold demonstrations against the country's transitional authorities over poor management.

The opposition group - National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC) - wants clarity on who is part of the junta and the duration of the transition to civilian rule.

Col Mamady Doumbouya seized power in September, deposing Alpha Condé as president.

A recently leaked document suggested there would be a four-year transition, but the authorities have not commented on it.

The opposition group compared this to the situation to Burkina Faso where soldiers took power in January.

The Burkinabè junta set up a committee quickly and a timetable of the transition has been made public.

Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

Image source, EPA

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi has sacked six ministers, including that of the finance, in a major reshuffle.

The announcement was made in a statement that did not offer any reasons for the dismissal of the ministers or give indications of when the positions would be filled.

It is the second major reorganisation of the cabinet in recent months.

Others sacked included the ministers of mineral resources and energy, sea, inland waters and fisheries and public works, housing and water resources.

Political observers in the country said they were not surprised by the sackings.

In November, President Nyusi sacked and replaced the ministers of defence and interior.

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 Thursday morning with the latest news from around the continent.

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 photo of young people at the commemoration of the 126th anniversary of the victory of Adwa, at Menelik square in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Battle of Adwa was part of the first Italo-Ethiopian war in 1896.

Image source, AFP

Catherine Schenk
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, AFP

The South African high court has rejected an attempt to prevent the coronation of Misuzulu KaZwelithini as Zulu king, saying he is undisputedly considered to be the heir to the throne.

The Zulu nation has been without a leader for almost a year after the death of King Goodwill Zwelithini.

His wife, and interim regent, Queen Mantfombi Dlamini died shortly after him which has led to an ongoing dispute over succession and inheritance.

Before her death, she appointed her son, Prince Misuzulu KaZwelithini, a move some royal family members disagreed with.

In addition to the ruling that the coronation of Prince Misuzulu can go ahead, Justice Isaac Madondo also dismissed a claim by the first of the king’s six wives, for 50% of the estate.

Two of the king’s daughters had submitted a claim that their father’s will was forged, which would have meant that Prince Misuzulu should not become king.

Judge Madondo allowed that claim to continue but said that the prince was appointed as heir in his mother’s will, not his father’s, and so his appointment was still valid.

So the amaZulu will finally have a king again, barring any new disputes.

Azeezat Olaoluwa
Women’s affairs reporter, BBC News, Lagos

Scores of women have protested outside Nigeria’s parliament in the capital, Abuja, against lawmakers' rejection of several bills seeking gender equality.

Chanting songs and raising their fists, members of women's rights groups marched to the National Assembly to demand that all rejected gender bills be reconsidered.

Wearing pink shirts with their demands printed on them, the women blocked the entrance of the parliament building and vowed not to leave until the leadership of the National Assembly addressed them.

One of the protesters, Niri Goyit of Action Aid, said women deserved to have equal standing with men in society and so should not be left behind in politics.

Nigerian lawmakers on Tuesday rejected a proposed bill that would see special additional seats created for women in national and state parliaments.

Camilla Mills
BBC News, Johannesburg

The US has warned that Islamic State (IS) group members in South Africa are playing a key role in transferring money to its branches across the continent.

This comes after the US imposed sanctions against four alleged Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) and Isis-Mozambique (Isis-M) facilitators based in South Africa.

Among the four men is alleged Durban Isis cell leader, Farhad Hoomer. He was arrested in 2018 for their alleged involvement in a plan to deploy improvised explosive devices near a mosque and commercial and retail buildings in the region.

However, he and his associates were later released. The case against them was thrown out of court because of delays by the prosecution in submitting evidence. Mr Hoomer was never asked to plead in court and has threatened to sue the state for damages.

On Tuesday, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also listed three others, aside from Mr Hoomer, as being sanctioned including one Ethiopian and one Tanzanian national.

They are allegedly linked to recruitment, robberies, kidnapping and extortion. They have not commented on the accusations.

The OFAC has said that IS members and associates in South Africa are “playing an increasingly central role in facilitating the transfer of funds from the top of the Isis hierarchy to branches across Africa”.

It says IS has recently attempted to “expand its influence in Africa through large-scale operations in areas where government control is limited”.

The sanctions mean the four men are effectively blocked from doing business with the United States.

In response to the sanctions, South Africa's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has urged the country's finance minister to act against terrorism financing.

“South Africa’s robust financial system should not be a safe haven for terrorism, nor should it be subject to abuse by terrorists who harm innocent people on our continent and abroad," it said in a statement.