For the latest updates, go to bbc.com/africalive.

Mozambique is at the heart of a global battle for influence, even though its conflict has local roots.

BBC World Service
The Newsroom

Image source, Getty Images

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is on a three-day tour of Senegal, Niger and South Africa - his first trip to Africa since his election.

Germany is hoping to reduce its reliance on Russian energy, following the invasion of Ukraine.

Senegal is expected to become a major gas producer in the region.

Mr Scholz will also visit a solar power plant there.

Germany has invited Senegal, which currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the African Union, and South Africa to attend the G7 summit it is hosting in June.

Mr Scholz will visit German troops in Niger and discuss the lengthy battle against jihadists.

Niger has taken on a bigger role hosting European special forces since European relations with the military junta ruling neighbouring Mali deteriorated.

Four people die after a three-storey building collapsed in an upmarket area of Lagos.

Somali women are usually expected to cover up and keep quiet - beauty parlours are a welcome relief.

Many in the camp say they are still determined to reach the UK, citing family ties and jobs.

The marks were a way of identifying the lineage of people, but the practice has been outlawed.

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team this week. There will be an automated news feed until we're back on Monday morning at bbc.com/africalive.

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:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this picture of Semakaleng Mathebula, South Africa's first black female hot-air balloon pilot, making preparations for take-off - our favourite from our gallery of the week's best photos:

Image source, Reuters

Image source, AFP

Zimbabwe’s government wants to sell some of its ivory and rhino horn stockpile - estimated to be around $600m (£480m) by the state-run Herald newspaper - to help fund its conservation efforts.

Environment Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu made the appeal ahead of a world conservation conference that is to be held in Panama in November.

He told the BBC that close to 65% of the world’s elephant population was in the country which had a huge impact on human habits.

The Convention on Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) only permits the trade in elephants in exceptional circumstances.

“Conservation is very expensive,” the minister told the BBC’s Newsday programme.

He said that he did not want the issue to be politicised and that on two previous occasions that Cites had allowed ivory stockpile sales, the money had been ploughed back into protecting wildlife.

The Covid pandemic had also meant that tourism revenues - used for conservation - had plummeted over the last two years, he said.

With wheat prices rising because of the conflict in Ukraine, our fictional presidents - Olushambles and Kibarkingmad - discuss how Africa will cope.

In particular they mull a suggestion from Uganda’s president that Africans give up eating bread.

Listen to the latest from the veteran leaders:

Five African fighters are heading home from the Women's Boxing World Championships with medals after the event in Turkey.

DJ Edu
Presenter of This Is Africa on BBC World Service

Image source, Kwesi Arthur

Kwesi Arthur is one of Ghana's most successful artists. This rapper, singer and songwriter rose to fame in 2017 with the hit song Grind Day, and from there he's gone on to win Hip Hop Song of the Year and Rapper of the Year at the Ghana Music Awards.

He is also just the second Ghanaian rapper to be nominated for the American Black Entertainment Television Awards after Sarkodie.

He has just dropped his first studio album Son of Jacob, a title he said came to him when contemplating his Akan culture.

He claims his story is similar to that of the Biblical character Joseph who was the son of Jacob.

But Son of Jacob is not a religious album.

An example of this is the track Silver Spoon in which he sings about the loss of his grandmother. He reflects on the fact that they weren't born into riches but still fight to make the best out of their situation.

Kwesi Arthur had a close relationship with his grandmother whom he says loved people, and even took them in when they had nowhere to stay.

She moved to Tema, which the artist feels had a big impact on shaping who he is today.

Ironically Kwesi Arthur's introduction to a recording career came as a result of unpaid school fees which prevented him from going to university.

So Kwesi Arthur went to talk to the owner of a local studio and offered to manage and clean the place in exchange for being taught how to record and produce. In his free time he used to record himself.In 2016, he met management from Ground Up Chale, a social media movement for young artists in West Africa, where he recorded his hit record Grind Day at their studios a year later.

He went on to release a remix of the song featuring Sarkodie and Medikal.

His style was influenced by the music of the Canadian rapper Drake.

Son of Jacob has some big collaborations on it with the likes of Teni and Adekunle Gold from Nigeria, and British rapper M Huncho. He also features his brother Dayonthetrack, also a musician.

Despite his success, Kwesi Arthur is humble about his achievements. He says he is most proud about bringing joy to his neighbourhood by doing a show there, and putting his sister through school.

To hear my full interview with Kwesi Arthur, listen to This is Africa this Saturday on BBC World Service radio (click on the link to listen online) and partner stations across Africa.

Kalkidan Yibeltal
BBC News, Addis Ababa

The forces in control of Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region say they will free 4,208 prisoners of war, including 401 women – some of whom have recently given birth.

A statement from Tigray’s External Affairs Office (TEAO), external says the decision came after mediation efforts by African Union mediator and ex-Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who is trying to negotiate an end to the civil war now in its 19th month.

The vast majority of those to be released were captured during fighting that occurred outside the borders of Tigray and were recently recruited soldiers, the TEAO said.

A Tigray official told Voice of America radio that the prisoners would be driven to the borders of Tigray and handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The ICRC’s Ethiopia office has not responded to the BBC’s requests for an interview. But Alyona Synenko, the ICRC’s regional spokesperson for Africa, has told the BBC that the organisation is not involved in the process.

The TEAO also urged the Ethiopian government to free thousands of Tigrayans rounded up after the war started and who were “languishing in jails solely on account of their identity”.

Thousands of people - if not tens of thousands - including civilians are believed to have been killed since the war started in November 2020.

There has been a de-escalation in fighting in recent months but there is no official cessation of hostilities.

Tigrayan forces say they have thousands of prisoners of war in their custody.

Sierra Leone's health authorities have confirmed that three people have been infected with anthrax, a rare but deadly bacterial disease.

The three were being treated as outpatients in hospital and were in a stable condition, a statement said.

Anthrax is considered to be primarily a zoonotic disease, meaning that humans usually pick it up from infected animals. It is not an airborne illness like the flu.

Victims are usually people who work closely with animals.

On Sunday, the agriculture ministry confirmed an outbreak among animals in the north-west of the country, with more than 200 dying. It was the first such outbreak for three decades.

Anthrax can cause severe illness and be fatal for humans if not treated, but usually it does not spread easily.

Sierra Leone's Emergency Operation Centre is closely monitoring the situation and increasing public awareness. The World Health Organization has been notified.

Anthrax is caused by bacillus anthracis. It largely survives as spores that hide away in soil for years before entering an animal through a cut or wound.

Anthrax can be treated with antibiotics but treatment needs to start soon after infection.

Kalkidan Yibeltal
BBC News, Addis Ababa

Image source, Amhara region

A prominent Ethiopian general is to remain in police detention for another 10 days, his lawyer has told the BBC.

Brigadier General Teferra Mamo appeared before a court in the northern city of Bahir Dar on Friday - several days after his wife reported him missing.

She subsequently found out he had been arrested after leaving his home in the capital, Addis Ababa, and taken to Bahir Dar, the capital of the Amhara region.

His lawyer, Shegaw Alebel, told the BBC that police were investigating the general for trying to “dismantle constitutional order” - and the court had granted permission for him to remain in custody while they did so.

Gen Teferra was commander of the Amhara Special Forces, which are allied to the federal army in its fight against forces from the northern province of Tigray, for six months. He was fired in February and has since been critical of the government.

BBC Africa's Jameisha Prescod breaks down what we know about this rare disease.

Peter Jegwa
Lilongwe, Malawi

Image source, AFP

An audit into Covid spending in Malawi has found that around $4.7m (£3.7m) cannot be accounted for from $21m set aside to deal with the second phase of the pandemic.

This is on top of $881m from the first phase that a 2020 audit showed had been spent irregularly or was not accounted for.

After the first audit, President Lazarus Chakwera promised to crack down on the culprits and several officials were taken to court, though none of the cases have yet concluded.

The latest investigation - a 66-page report by the country’s auditor general - lists the irregularities, which include undelivered medical supplies, allowances paid without attendance sheets and fuel acquired without official documentation.

It has been presented to the minister of finance for action.

Some non-governmental organisations (NGOs) say this second exposé shows that public systems for managing resources are broken, with no political will to hold people accountable.

“We lost many countrymen and women because funds that could have been used to buy basic equipment and essential drugs were abused; sadly we do not have a leadership that is showing enough concern to change things,” said Sylvester Namiwa, who heads the Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiative (CDEDI).

Issa Abdull
BBC Africa business journalist

Image source, Getty Images

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to continue funding a $400m (£320m) aid package to Somalia, vital for the government to pay the salaries of civil servants and the military.

The announcement follows last week's much-delayed presidential election.

For many months the country’s leading politicians were involved in a bitter dispute which led to election delays and potentially dire consequences if the IMF funding had been switched off.

But with the new President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud now in office, the IMF has agreed to keep making the payments for the next three months.

That will give it time to consult with the new government, which needs to carry out economic reforms.

A three-year deal which was agreed in 2020 with the World Bank and the IMF should see Somalia’s massive $5bn debt reduced to around $500m by next year.

Somalia’s international partners have welcomed Sunday's election of President Mohamud, with many hoping it will draw a line under the long-running political crisis that has distracted the government from dealing with the Islamist militant threat and the drought.

The UN says more than three million Somalis are at risk of severe famine.

Former Bordeaux boss Jean-Louis Gasset is appointed as the new coach of Ivory Coast on an initial 12-month contract.

Nigeria's airport authorities are investigating after human remains were found on a runway at the main airport in the city of Lagos.

The unidentified person was discovered during an inspection in the early hours of Thursday morning, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria has said in a statement.

The runway was closed for about two-and-a-half hours to allow for the corpse to be removed, it said.

Image source, Getty Images