South Africa has one of the highest rates of kidnapping in the world, as Lesego Tau's ordeal shows.

That's all for now from the BBC Africa Live team.

There will be an automated news feed until we're back on Tuesday morning.

You can also keep up to date on the BBC News website, or by listening to the Africa Today podcast. A reminder of our wise words of the day:

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We leave you with this photo of two men dressed in Ivory Coast's national colours, as the Cop-15 Convention to combat desertification begins in Abidjan.

Image source, AFP

Kenyan sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala targets the African 100m title to go with his continental record after impressing at the Kip Keino Classic.

Image source, AFP

Former Rwandan official Laurent Bucyibaruta has gone on trial in France for his alleged role in the 1994 genocide where more than 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis, were killed by Hutu militias.

Mr Bucyibaruta is one of the most senior figures to face court in France, where activists have long campaigned for him to stand trial.

The 78-year-old man is standing trial on charges of genocide, complicity in genocide and complicity in crimes against humanity.

The suspect was brought to the courtroom in a wheelchair as he is suffering from ill-health.

Mr Bucyibaruta is accused of attending and participating in several security meetings when the killings were allegedly planned.

He is accused of orchestrating the killing of thousands of people in the southern province of Gikongoro. He denies the charges.

Fifa orders the Nigeria Football Federation to pay former coach Gernot Rohr just under $378,000 for breach of contract without just cause.

Thomas Naadi
BBC News, Accra

Image source, AFP

A search operation is under way for 11 people who are missing following the sinking of a fishing vessel off Ghana’s coast. Rescuers have so far been able to retrieve the body of the captain, one of six Chinese nationals on board.

An official from the Ministry of Fisheries told the BBC that the incident occurred after the crew had difficulty hauling in a net full of fish, and stormy weather conditions led the vessel to capsize. Some crew members were able to swim to a nearby vessel.

Authorities have told the BBC that 15 have been rescued from the Comforter 2, some of whom are currently receiving medical treatment.

Rescuers involving the Ghana navy, air force and other fishing vessels have intensified their search for those missing.

Image source, AFP

Lawyers defending Malian Islamist suspect Al-Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz for his role as police chief in Timbuktu in 2012 told judges at the International Criminal Court that he was the "wrong man".

"He should not be convicted because he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the wrong ethnicity," said Melinda Taylor, defence attorney to Mr Abdoul Aziz.

The prosecutors say Mr Abdoul Aziz terrorised the residents of Timbuktu in 2012 when al-Qaeda affiliated Ansar Eddine took control of the city. He is accused of crimes against humanity and sexual slavery.

As a police chief for Ansar Eddine, he oversaw the implementation of a harsh penal version of Sharia. He presided over public floggings and amputations.

Mr Abdoul Aziz is the second Malian Islamist to stand trial at the ICC.

Vumani Mkhize
BBC Africa business reporter, Johannesburg

After 14 flight cancellations affecting over 3,000 passengers, the Airports Company of South Africa says it is working to rectify the fuel shortage at the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg.

The Central Energy Fund says it will assist international airlines to refuel should their suppliers be unable to provide aviation fuel.

A ship carrying 10 million litres of fuel is currently docked in Durban, but that consignment is only expected to reach Johannesburg via pipeline next week.

OR Tambo airport’s main supply of fuel is via rail, but flood damage to the network in the KwaZulu-Natal region around Durban means it will not be partially reopened until June.

The airport currently has just over three days of fuel left, but authorities are confident the measures put in place will prevent further cancellations.

Forces in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region have clashed with the Eritrean army along the border, a credible source in Addis Ababa has told the BBC.

The source added that the clashes happened in the Tigrayan area of Rama, and the disputed town of Badme, which an international tribunal has awarded to Eritrea. Both sides engaged in shelling using heavy artillery, the source said.

Other sources in Tigray also said there had been fighting at the border.

"Tigrayan forces retreated and the fight halted last night. However, it demonstrates the TPLF's aggressive behaviour," the source said, referring to the Tigray People's Liberation Front, which is in control of the region. It has been fighting Ethiopian forces and their Eritrean allies since November 2020.

The BBC could not reach either Eritrean or Tigrayan forces for comment.

Both the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan forces have said that they are preparing for another round of war.

TPLF chairman Debretsion Gebremichael last week said that "the people of Tigray will bear the burden of ensuring their survival" if the international community couldn't ensure that desperately needed food aid was sent to the region.

"Seven million Tigrayans are facing semi-starvation. Of course, we will not all perish in 60 days, but there are limits to society's endurance," he wrote to the UN.

On Saturday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said that the army was ready to "defend like a lion, and attack like a wolf".

Meanwhile, the prime minister's office has referred to the disputed Western Tigray region as being part of the Amhara Region. It is officiaily part of Tigray but has been under the control of Amhara forces since the conflict started.

Chiagozie Nwonwu
BBC News, Lagos

Image source, @GloriaMatthew

Almost a week after the video of the brutal murder of two Nigerian soldiers, Gloria Matthew and her fiancé Linus Musa Audu, along with two of his relatives first appeared on social media, a conspiracy theory that the killings were staged is going viral on social media in Nigeria.

The BBC Disinformation Unit has confirmed from family sources that the couple and their relatives were indeed killed in the Orlu axis of Imo State, south-east Nigeria on 30 April 2022.

A family member of the couple with first-hand knowledge of the incident told the BBC in an interview that the killing occurred after they were waylaid by four armed youths “who emerged from the bush” not far from Banana Junction in Orlu.

Conspiracists and supporters of the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) separatist group on social media are actively pushing the narrative that the video was doctored and the killings actually occurred in Cameroon.

The claim was first posted on Facebook on 7 May by a user with the name Chidi Cali.

The post garnered 1,700 comments and 1,000 shares in 24 hours.

However, careful observation of the video shows no evidence to indicate that the audio was added to the video as the conspiracies suggest.

Private Matthew is clearly seen responding to the commands of the voice of a man that appears to be the leader of the armed men. Also, the ambience of the video confirms that it has not been edited. A synchronisation of movements and sounds is clearly defined.

Pte Matthew joined the Nigerian Army in 2019 and Warrant Officer Audu recently retired, according to the family source.

“The leader of the armed men ordered that they be shot for being Hausa, their enemies. They were killed in front of Gloria’s 10-year-old daughter and her mother. They even wanted to kill the daughter, claiming that she was born by a Hausa father, but her grandmother pleaded with them, explaining that Gloria gave birth to her before joining the army,” the family member said.

Army spokesperson Brigadier-General Onyema Nwachukwu had earlier confirmed the murder of the soldiers.

Gen Nwachukwu confirmed what the source told the BBC and said that they were working to bring the killers to justice. The Nigerian Army and President Muhammadu Buhari have accused Ipob and its armed wing, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), of the killings. Ipob has denied responsibility.

These killings are some of the latest in Nigeria’s south-east, where armed men have targeted security officials and civilians. More than two dozen security officials and civilians have been killed in attacks by gunmen in the area between January and April.

DR Congo international Jody Lukoki, who began his senior career with Dutch giants Ajax, has died at the age of 29.

A video showing a group haranguing the young women at the Giza pyramids sparked outrage online.

Former international Eric Sekou Chelle is ready for the task of revitalising Mali after being named the new coach of the Eagles.

Al Ahly want a neutral venue for the African Champions League final after beating Algeria's Entente Setif in the first leg of their semi-final.

Nichola Mandil
BBC News, Juba

Image source, MSF

South Sudan’s health ministry has declared a cholera outbreak in Rubkona county in the northern oil-producing Unity state.

A total of 31 cases, including one death, have been reported from Rubkona town and Bentiu camp for the internally displaced persons (IDP), it said.

Samples taken to the national public health laboratory in the capital, Juba, returned positive tests.

“The ministry of health and partners are conducting further case search in the households and their neighbourhood to identify additional cholera cases following a steady rise in acute watery diarrhoea cases reported in both the Bentiu and Rubkona IDP camps and the host community,” the statement added.

Displaced people in Unity state live in congested areas where water sources are highly contaminated.

In South Sudan the cholera risk is typically high during the rainy season that starts from May to the end of October.

The latest outbreak is the first to be reported since 2017 when more than 28,000 people were infected and 644 killed by the waterborne disease, according to the health ministry.

Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

Image source, Getty Images

The authorities in Mozambique say over 14,000 HIV patients have abandoned antiretroviral therapy in the first three months of the year in the central province of Zambézia.

Male patients form the largest part of those no longer taking the drugs, according to Dr Cheinaze Veríssimo - the provincial head of the HIV Programme in the region.

He blamed stigma and prejudice associated with HIV for the high rate of defaulters.

Over 300,000 patients receive HIV antiretroviral care in Zambézia province.

“The challenge we have now is in relation to those patients who drop out. If the person abandons treatment, the virus automatically gains more strength, the person gets sick and can even, in some cases, lead to death," Dr Veríssimo said.

He said health officials will be delivering medicines at home to patients who are unable to go to health units - whether out of sickness or for fear of being stigmatised.

Chris Ewokor
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, AFP

Nigerian authorities have been accused of of failing to ensure justice for the killing of #EndSars protesters in 2020, six months after a judicial panel implicated security forces.

Human Rights Watch has tasked the government to act on the panel’s recommendations and hold those responsible to account.

“The report of the judicial panel of inquiry should not be swept under the rug without any consequences for those responsible for killing and injuring protesters,” it said.

In a statement, it said failure to act on the panel’s recommendations will send a painful message to victims and risks encouraging more violence by security officers.

Hundreds of young people took to the streets of major cities in Nigeria in October 2020 to call for the disbandment of a police unit known as the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars), in a movement dubbed #EndSars.

Security forces were accused of responding with excessive force, including gunfire.

One of the worst crackdowns was at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos when army and police officers reportedly opened deadly fire on a crowd of protesters.

A panel set up by the Lagos state government in the wake of the protests found in November last year that security forces shot, injured and killed unarmed protesters.

It recommended disciplinary measures and prosecution of army and police officers implicated, as well as payment of compensation to victims.

The report was disputed but the Lagos state government said it fully or partially accepted all but one of the panel's recommendations, promising to act.

Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has formally announced his candidacy for a second term in the presidential elections due on 15 May.

He said he was pursuing a second term in “response to the Somali people’s call” and to continue a “path of progress and development”.

His first-term mandate constitutional mandate ended in February last year but he stayed on amid a delay in the holding of parliamentary elections.

In Somalia, MPs are chosen by delegates appointed by clan elders and members of civil society selected by regional state officials.

The MPs then vote for a president, who leads the country.

Mr Farmajo faces stiff competition from several candidates including two former presidents.

Image source, AFP

Militants freed about 60 inmates - the entire prison population - during an overnight attack on a jail in north-west Burkina Faso.

The armed men entered the town of Nouna around midnight aboard 4x4 vehicles and motorbikes, brandishing Kalashnikovs and heavy machine guns.

They ransacked offices and set fire to prison vehicles before making their escape.

The raid came after militants killed at least 12 people in northern Burkina Faso, most of them members of a volunteer militia.

The country is battling a jihadist insurgency that's been spreading across the Sahel over the past decade.

A military government seized power in January and ousted President Roch Kaboré, blaming him for failing to tackle the jihadist insurgency.

Tanzania's President Samia Hassan held an emergency meeting of her cabinet on Sunday night over price hikes of fuel in the country.

The country's energy regulator, Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority, last week announced record high fuel prices, external.

The cabinet meeting in the coastal city of Dar es Salaam was attended by Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa, the ministers of energy and finance, among others.

"The president directed those present to find an immediate solution to the rising fuel prices in the country," the president's office said in a statement.

It also tweeted a photo of the meeting: