Our proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

Experts from Rwanda are in the island to learn how to develop an international finance centre.

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team for now. We'll be back on Wednesday 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 Teddy Kossoko, a computer engineer from Central Africa Republic and founder of Masseka Game Studio that develops African-inspired electronic games, posing earlier today in front of a chessboard:

Image source, AFP

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Johannesburg

South African officials say they believe they are a step closer to bringing the Gupta brothers before the country’s courts to answer allegations of money-laundering and fraud, widely known as “state capture”.

This follows a red notice issued by Interpol on Monday for two of the Gupta brothers - Atul and Rejesh Gupta.

They are accused of being at the heart of widescale corruption involving the state and private sector during Mr Zuma’s nine years in office, using their relationship to gain an unfair business advantage within state companies

The alleged theft has cost taxpayers an estimated $32bn (£24bn).

Mr Zuma and the Guptas deny any wrong-doing, claiming it is a political witch hunt.

The Interpol notice comes ahead of the release of final part of three-volume report into the high-level corruption done by Justice Raymond Zondo.

The Guptas have barely been seen in public seeing they fled South Africa in 2018, amid mounting calls for their arrest. They are widely believed to be in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The final report from the four-year Zondo inquiry is expected to be scathing on the government’s failures to protect South Africa’s state entities from looting.

It is also expected to hit hard against failing power utility Eskom, which is said to have been one of the cash cows of the looters.

South Africans are clamouring for some kind of justice over state capture.

Image source, Getty Images

A Cameroonian student has described how he and his friends have been forced to hide in a basement in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson to escape air raids.

Christophe said that "every five minutes we are hearing bombardments".

"Sometimes we can hear airplanes passing through the sky, mostly bombardments because you can feel it on the ground. That's mostly what we're hearing, they are really not very far from us, they're around the town," he told the BBC's Soraya Ali.

Gun-shots could also be heard.

"We don't know what to do. We are desperate," Christophe said.

"We are either in the basement or in our home. Like one hour in the basement, five minutes at home."

He said that about 15 of them were stranded in Kherson - fellow Cameroonians, Nigerians, Senegalese and Ghanaians.

"The city is said to have been circled by the Russian army. So, there is no way out. We find ourselves in this situation where we cannot do anything," he added.

Their embassies had asked them to reach the border of a neighbouring state, from where they would be picked up, however, it was "impossible" to leave, he said.

"We don't have any way out. Please we are asking for help," Christophe said.

Bara'atu Ibrahim
BBC News Africa

Image source, AFP

South Africa’s ambassador to the Ukraine has told the BBC he has had no choice but to leave the capital, Kyiv, as an armoured Russian convoy is heading to the city.

Andre Groenewald said explosions could be heard in the distance as he packed the car to leave on Wednesday morning.

He is now travelling south in a convoy of two vehicles with his wife, three children and the last remaining embassy staff towards Romania, Moldova or Hungary.

He said he and other colleagues and ambassadors had been working hard to secure the exit of South Africans and other foreigners from Ukraine - some of whom have faced racism at they have tried to flee.

"We've heard all of these accusations, we've seen the videos and we are concerned... We've protested ourselves on [an] official level to the government and asked them to please help the students that are still coming through," he added.

South Africa’s ambassadors in both in Poland and Hungary had also gone to the borders to help people get through, he said.

Part of the problem was that "initially, only Ukrainian women and children" were being allowed through - and as officials from Ukraine were sticking strictly to these instructions, this had impacted on all the foreigners.

“It's just been a very terrible situation."

He denounced the discrimination, adding that bombs don’t discriminate.

BBC Monitoring

Image source, AFP

Sudan has expressed support for talks to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the state-run Sudan News Agency (Suna) has reported.

The Paris-based Sudan Tribune website reported on Monday that Sudan was under pressure from Western countries to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

But in its first official statement on the war, Sudan's ruling Sovereign Council merely said that it backs dialogue and a diplomatic solution.

The deputy head of the Sovereign Council, Gen Mohamed Hamdan "Hemeti" Dagolo, is on a visit to Moscow to strengthen ties between the two countries.

The foreign ministry had denied reports that he had supported Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Sudan's military leaders have maintained strong relations with Russia since the overthrow of long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir in April 2019.

Bashir was also an ally of Moscow.

Russia has interests in gold mines in Sudan.

Sierra Leone will have to play their home matches at neutral venues for the next two years after the Siaka Stevens Stadium is closed.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

Mali has been unable to pay almost $80m (£60m) it owes on an international debt after sanctions imposed in January froze its foreign bank accounts.

The country's total debt defaults since January have now reached $180m. The West African regional bloc, Ecowas, ordered the sanctions after Mali's military rulers went back on plans to hold elections and said they would stay in power for five years.

The Malian authorities have said the restrictions - and the cutting of foreign aid - were inhumane and will push people into deeper poverty.

Nigerian student Jessica Orakpo tells the BBC about the racism she faced trying to flee Ukraine.

Nduka Orjinmo
BBC News, Abuja

Nigeria’s Education Minister Adamu Adamu has been getting a lot of criticism online for walking out on university students during a meeting over striking lecturers on Monday morning.

The president of Nigeria’s students’ association, Sunday Ashefon, made reference to the fact that the minister’s son had studied overseas during the meeting in the capital, Abuja.

“We saw it on social media, you celebrated your son who graduated in a university outside this country," Mr Ashefon said.

“Our parents don’t have that money to send us outside the country… we want adequate funding of education in this country.

“Honourable minister, we want to go back to class.”

In clips being shared on social media, Mr Adamu, whose name is now trending on Twitter, seemed visibly angry at the remarks.

He said that “the only thing” he would take from the gathering was that the students should also be involved in the negotiations with lecturers - and he left, leaving the students somewhat bewildered.

“He walked out of us?” asked the students’ leader.

The students then broke into chants of “Adamu must go”, while banging on tables .

Mr Adamu seemed to later recover his temper and came back and met the student representatives on Monday evening.

A post on his ministry’s Facebook page, showing him posing for a photograph with them, says it hopes the process will “lead to the resumption of academic activities on our campuses”.

The latest lecturers' strike is to demand that the government implement a 2009 agreement to increase education funding.

Students are protesting across the country, mostly in solidarity with their lecturers.

Nichola Mandil
BBC News, Juba

Image source, AFP

The UN has said 440 civilians were killed in violence last year in South Sudan's Tambura area in fighting between government forces and militias.

In a report, it said civilians were gang-raped, detained, and children were recruited into militias.

The report - by the UN’s peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (Unmiss) and the UN Human Rights Office - added that at least 64 civilians were subjected to sexual violence, among them a 13-year-old girl who was gang-raped to death.

"I saw the incident with my eyes and it was a horrible scene, external,” the report quoted a teacher as saying.

The violence in Tambura in Western Equatoria State occurred between June and September 2021.

Some 80,000 people were forced to flee their homes to escape the fighting, the report added.

It named members of the military, fighters from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition (SPLM/A-IO), and militias affiliated to them as being responsible for the human rights violations..

The report added that they included high-ranking military officials and community and religious leaders.

The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet called for those responsible to be held to account.

Jonathan Paye-Layleh
BBC News, Monrovia

There's outrage in Liberia following allegations that a deputy government minister badly assaulted his girlfriend in public.

Eyewitnesses alleged that Isaac Doe stopped the young woman, pulled her out of her vehicle and assaulted her, before taking away the vehicle's keys.

Photos of a heavily bruised woman have been published in local newspapers.

The alleged assault happened in front of an entertainment centre in the neighbourhood of Congo Town in the south-eastern outskirts of the capital, Monrovia.

Mr Doe, a deputy minister at the ministry of youth and sports, has denied any wrongdoing, adding in a press statement that he is a respecter of campaigns to end violence against women.

The office of President George Weah has not yet commented.

Patience Atuhaire
BBC News, Kampala

Image source, AFP

A notorious rebel commander accused of leading massacres against civilians in northern Uganda has asked for his trial to be transferred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Thomas Kwoyelo faces dozens of charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with attacks by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) between 1993 and 2005.

He surrendered to the Ugandan army in 2009 and has complained at the slow progress of the trial which began four years ago and has been hampered by logistical challenges and the coronavirus pandemic.

He rose to the rebel rank of colonel and is the first LRA commander to be tried in Uganda.

He made the request to go to the ICC as the second phase of his trial began at the International Crimes Division of the High Court in the capital, Kampala. Expert witness testimonies are expected to be heard.

Mr Kwoyelo also wants to be granted bail on health grounds, although his lawyers have not yet applied for it.

Last year, the ICC gave another LRA commander, Dominic Ongwen, a 25-year sentence for war crimes including murder and the recruitment of child soldiers.

Of the five senior LRA leaders indicted by the ICC more than a decade ago, only Ongwen and LRA leader Joseph Kony, who is still on the run, remain alive.

Zelalem Tadesse
BBC Afaan Oromoo

Ethiopia is planning to repatriate 100,000 nationals held in detention centres in Saudi Arabia.

Many of them allegedly entered the country illegally and lack the necessary documents to work there.

Ethiopia's government had formed a committee to look into the cases of the migrants.

The committee has discussed with stakeholders on how to handle the matter, the foreign affairs ministry said.

The ministry's official Birtukan Ayano said those repatriated would also be rehabilitated.

The detainees told BBC Afaan Oromo that they were facing gross human rights violations, including lack of food, clean water and health services.

Photos circulated on social media show detainees in a tiny room with some of them naked.

South Africa beat New Zealand by 198 runs on the final day in Canterbury to draw the two-Test series 1-1.

BBC Monitoring

Image source, Getty Images

The powerful son of Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, has expressed support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Gen Kainerugaba - who is the commander of Uganda's land forces - tweeted that, external "the majority of mankind (that are non-white) support Russia's stand in Ukraine".

"Putin is absolutely right!" he added.

"When the USSR parked nuclear armed missiles in Cuba in 1962, the West was ready to blow up the world over it. Now when Nato does the same they expect Russia to do differently."

Along with Sudan's Gen Mohamed Hamdan "Hemeti" Dagolo, Gen Kainerugaba is the only senior military officer in Africa to publicly voice support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

He is rumoured to be a possible successor to his 77-year-old father, who has been in power since 1986.

The West African regional bloc Ecowas has condemned Russia's invasion, while the African Union called on Moscow to respect Ukraine's "territorial integrity".

South Africa's foreign affairs ministry has called for the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.

Gen Kainerugaba also retweeted prominent Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda, external, who said that even "an amateur in international power politics can see that Moscow can never allow Ukraine’s accession to Nato & EU, coz it poses an existential threat to Russia!

"Why push for it?"

Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

Mozambique’s publicly-owned Electricity Company (EDM) has signed a new contract to supply power to the Kingdom of Eswatini.

The contract will last for 17 months and provides for EDM to supply 20 megawatts of power, which could be revised depending on the needs of Eswatini Electricity Company (EEC).

"The bilateral relationship between EDM and EEC is over a decade old, with Mozambique and South Africa being the main suppliers of energy that kingdom imports to meet over 70% of its domestic consumption needs," a statement from EDM said.

The meeting at which the agreement was signed also served to analyse future projects between the two companies, particularly the Temane Thermal Power Plant being built in southern Mozambique.

In December, Globeleq company, the main shareholder of the Temane Thermal Power Plant, announced it had secured full funding for the project, worth $652m (£485m) and expected to start producing electricity in 2024.

Thomas Naadi
BBC News, Accra

Ghana has become the first African country to evacuate its citizens fleeing the conflict in Ukraine following Russia's invasion.

The first group of 17 students arrived on Tuesday morning at Kotoka International Airport, in the capital, Accra.

Ghana's foreign ministry had earlier said some 460 students were en route to Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.

They are expected to return home in coming days.

The total number of Ghanaians living in Ukraine is unknown and the government is currently meeting parents and guardians to document all students in the country.

It is estimated that more than 1,000 Ghanaian nationals are currently studying or working in Ukraine.

Former Liverpool defender Rigobert Song is named Cameroon head coach on the orders of the country's president.