Morocco and Gent's Tarik Toussadali wins the Ebony Shoe for Belgium's best African player or player of African descent.

Three Italians and a Togolese national have been kidnapped in south-eastern Mali, two sources have told the AFP news agency.

The abductions took place not far from the city of Koutiala, which is about 300km (190 miles) east of the capital, Bamako.

Those behind the kidnapping were armed and in a vehicle, an official was quoted as saying.

Mali and other countries in West Africa's vast Sahel region have been battling lawlessness and Islamist militant groups for several years.

Zamalek's Dominican-American star Edgar Sosa says the organisation of the Basketball Africa League 'is second to none' and he will encourage other overseas players to play in it.

Image source, James Kagambi

Kenyan mountaineer James Kagambi wanted quiet contemplation when he achieved his dream last week of getting to the summit of Mount Everest, making history as part of the first all-black team to climb the world's highest peak.

But the 62-year-old retired school teacher admitted to BBC Focus on Africa radio's Veronique Edwards that it a bit of a disappointment:

It is normal to see queues near the summit during the climbing season. It often depends on how suitable the climbing weather is.

Image source, James Kagambi

Yet Mr Kagambi, an experienced climber who has also become the first black Kenyan to conquer the mountain, said it was not what he had expected:

Speaking from Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, he admitted that scaling the mountain had not been easy, but his rigorous training - that included scaling Mount Kenya six times from January to April - had paid off.

Read more on this topic:

• Kenyan climber joins first all-black team attempting Mount Everest

Asisat Oshoala says Barcelona's Women's Champions League final defeat by Lyon in 2019 helped her team "conquer Europe".

BBC World Service
David Bamford, Newsroom

Image source, Getty Images

Gabon has called on developed nations to pay for the upkeep of the central African country's mangroves and forests that are helping to absorb the world's excess carbon.

Gabon's Minister for Forests, Seas and Environment, Lee White, said that failing to conserve the dense rainforest of the Congo Basin would mean the world has lost the fight against climate change.

Gabon is one of the most carbon-positive countries in the world, and says it wants to further limit the impact of its extractive industries, including oil and logging.

Almost 90% of Gabon is covered by tropical woodland that is home to endangered species including gorillas, elephants and chimpanzees; its coastline has numerous hump-backed whales.

Firefighters in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, battled for about six hours to put out a fire that engulfed a market in the city overnight.

Banadir Market is one of the biggest shopping areas in the city centre and is close to the mayor's office.

The fire started in the early hours of Thursday evening and was not extinguished until after midnight.

No-one was killed in the blaze, believed to have been caused by an electrical fault.

Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble expressed his sympathy on Facebook to the traders who have lost their property, and posted photos from the scene:

Last month, a similar inferno reduced the main market in the capital of the breakaway Somaliland state to ashes.

Property worth millions of dollars was reportedly destroyed in the Hargeisa fire.

Patricia Oyella
BBC News, Kampala

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni says his talks with Kenyan presidential candidate Raila Odinga at State House in Entebbe touched on issues concerning the two neighbours.

Mr Odinga, considered one of the front-runners in the 9 August presidential elections, paid the courtesy call on Thursday evening.

In a tweet about the meeting, Mr Odinga said: ”We walked down memory lane to discuss the shared history of our countries aimed at forging stronger ties moving into the future."

Mr Odinga has been touring the region - earlier on Thursday he attended the opening in South Sudan of the Freedom Bridge over the River Nile with President Salva Kiir.

The structure is expected to improve trade as it will now be easier to transport goods over the river.

A record 55 presidential candidates have been cleared to contest in Kenya's election.

Mr Odinga is expected to face a stiff challenge from Deputy President William Ruto.

The stability of Kenya matters in the region as many imports for landlocked East African nations come via Kenyan ports.

The violence that erupted after Kenya's 2007 election had economic repercussions for neighbouring countries.

Orlando Pirates aim to brush aside their poor domestic form and become the first South African side to win the Confederation Cup when they face RS Berkane.

Lalla Sy
BBC News

Image source, AFP

Eleven soldiers in Burkina Faso have been killed during an attack on an army base in Madjoari in the east on the country.

At least 20 others were wounded by shrapnel or projectiles and had received medical treatment after Thursday's raid, a statement from the military said.

It is not yet clear who was behind the attack in a region where various jihadist groups operate.

The military urged all the units to maintain a spirit of combat readiness to defeat the enemy.

Col Paul-Henri Damiba, who overthrew President Roch Kaboré in the 24 January coup, has pledged to prioritise the security crisis by recruiting more forces.

He has also sought to establish local committees to initiate dialogue with militants.

Burkina Faso has been battling an Islamist insurgency in the north since 2015.

Image source, AFP

A Kenyan MP who is accused of forging his academic papers did not sit his final year exams at the secondary school he claims to have attended, an ex-teacher has told a court.

The MP, Oscar Sudi, had said that he sat the exams at Highway Secondary School in 2006.

But the school's former principal said the index number Mr Sudi said was his belonged to another student, adding the MP did not register or sit the examination at the school.

The MP has been charged with forging a diploma certificate and a secondary school certificate. He denies the charges and is out on bail.

According to Kenya's Standard newspaper, the alleged forgeries date back to when he was seeking clearance for election in 2013 when the law required parliamentary aspirants to show proof of post-secondary school education.

The hearing of the case continues.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says he advised his arts and culture minister to cancel a $1.4m (£1m) flag monument project following public outrage.

Mr Ramaphosa told a business leaders’ forum on Thursday that Nathi Mthethwa called him to seek advice on how to react to the negative public reaction.

“Of course they are not happy with it. Cancel this thing,’” Mr Ramaphosa told the crowd on what he advised the minister to do, amid laughter.

Local media shared a clip of the president's remarks:

On Wednesday, the ministry said it was reviewing the decision to erect the massive flag, which has been criticised by some as a vanity project.

The ministry had earlier confirmed plans to erect the structure, to be known as the South African National Monumental Flag, after getting parliamentary approval.

It said described it as a “symbol of nationhood and common identity".

Image source, Getty Images

The UK Home Office says legal challenges against its plan to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda have not delayed the scheme.

But British media outlets quote campaigners as saying they received notice on Wednesday evening that the Rwanda flights will now not take place until at least after 6 June.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "The first flights are expected to take place in the coming months, legal action has not yet had any impact on this."

Prime Minister Boris Johnson had last week told the Daily Mail newspaper that he hoped the first flights would happen within a fortnight.

More people have been notified that they could be sent to Rwanda, the authorities say.

Under the £120m ($150m) scheme, people deemed to have entered the UK unlawfully will be transported to the East African country, where they will be allowed to apply for the right to settle.

You may be interested in:

• Is Rwanda a land of safety or fear?

The controversial deal to send migrants from the UK to Rwanda is good news for its hospitality business.

BBC correspondent Anne Soy has a tour of the Rouge by Desir hotel.

BBC World Service

At least four migrants have drowned and another 10 are missing after their boat sank off the coast of Tunisia.

The Tunisian coastguard said they were attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Italy.

The coastguard managed to rescue 44 people from the overcrowded boat which sank off Louza in Sfax governorate.

Image source, Getty Images

The US State Department says it has determined that Paul Rusesabagina, the subject of Oscar-nominated film Hotel Rwanda, was "wrongfully detained".

"The determination took into account the totality of the circumstances, notably the lack of fair trial guarantees during his trial," a spokesman said on Thursday.

"This determination does not imply any position on his innocence or guilt."

Rusesabagina was sentenced to 25 years for terrorism by a Rwandan court last year in what supporters called a sham trial.

He is credited with saving some 1,200 people during the 1994 genocide and his actions inspired the film Hotel Rwanda.

His family said it hoped that the new designation would bring increased pressure for Rwanda to free him.

His health was deteriorating and they feared he would die in prison “if something is not done by the United States and other’s to free him”.

"He is a 67-year-old cancer survivor who appears to have suffered one or more strokes in recent months," their statement said.

Last month, the family filed a $400m (£307m) lawsuit in the US over his alleged abduction and torture.

His family say the Rwandan government lured him from Texas, where he was living in exile, back to Rwanda.

Our proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team for today, but we'll be here again on Friday morning Nairobi time.

In the meantime you can visit the BBC News website for the latest African news, and listen to our 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 from a fashion show in Rwanda:

Image source, AFP

Joice Etutu
BBC News, Nairobi

Image source, Getty Images

Kenya's Tourism Minister Najib Balala has told the BBC more than 70 elephants have died in the last year as a result of the ongoing drought affecting all of East Africa.

The animals were in Tsavo National Park, one of the country’s oldest parks. It is also one of the world’s largest wildlife reserves.

The Kenyan authorities fear the ecosystem will experience more wildlife deaths if the drought continues.

A number of giraffes have also died, said Mr Balala.

"We have an abundance of wildlife but still every animal counts and we care if one goes down," he added.

The Kenyan government is aiming to use an old dam to create water pans in the area to prevent further wildlife deaths.

The drought in East Africa has also affected millions of people in several countries leaving many at risk of severe food shortages.

Read more on the drought:

• 'The suffering here has no equal'