Alfred Lasteck
BBC News, Dar es Salaam

Image source, AFP

Tanzania’s main opposition party, Chadema, has urged politicians who left the country to seek refuge abroad to come back.

It follows the government’s call for politicians who left during former President John Magufuli’s rule to return, assuring them of their safety.

Tanzania's home affairs minister at the beginning of the week urged exiled politicians to return following a series of talks between the government and political parties.

On Thursday, Chadema Secretary General John Mnyika assured all its exiled party members of President Samia Suluhu's guarantee of their safety.

Some of the high-profile politicians in exile are former presidential candidate Tundu Lissu and former legislators Godbless Lema and Ezekiel Wenje.

After the October 2020 general election, Mr Lissu sought temporary refuge at the residence of the German ambassador in Dar es Salaam, claiming that he had received death threats from Mr Magufuli’s administration.

He had just returned to the country from exile that year to vie for the election, which Mr Magufuli won.

Mr Lissu has been living abroad after he was shot 16 times in 2017 in an assassination attempt widely believed to have been politically motivated.

In December 2020, former MP Godbless Lema fled to Canada with his family after he was granted political asylum.

President Samia took over after the death of her predecessor in March last year and has since been undertaking reforms.

Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

Image source, AFP

The UN General Assembly has elected Mozambique as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for a two-year term beginning January.

Other countries elected in the Thursday vote were Ecuador, Japan, Malta and Switzerland.

They will replace India, Ireland, Kenya, Mexico and Norway.

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi said the country will be the voice of African nations that seek to build a peaceful future.

“This is a historic moment for the country, a milestone that Mozambique should be proud of. Our country has history. It has the record and experience of advocating conflict mitigation measures and, above all, of promoting negotiated solutions for peace, in this sense, our commitment remains unwavering," he said in a statement.

Mozambique received 192 votes, Ecuador 190, Japan 184, Malta 185 and Switzerland 187.

The 15-member council has five permanent members - the US, UK, France, Russia and China - and 10 non-permanent seats.

Our proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

A selection of the best photos from across Africa and beyond this week.

Ethiopia beat Egypt 2-0 in 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying as Morocco, Nigeria and Mali all come from behind to win.

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team for now - there'll be an automated news feed until Friday morning.

In the meantime you can listen to our Africa Today podcast and check the BBC News Africa page.

A reminder of our wise words of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this photo of a woman dancing in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, during a visit to a market by Belgium's King Phillipe and his wife Queen Mathilde:

Image source, AFP

BBC World Service
Newsroom

Police in Ivory Coast have arrested around 30 people after seizing more than two tonnes (314 stone) of cocaine in the cities of Abidjan and San-Pédro in April.

The prosecutor, Richard Adou, said the arrests followed an international inquiry spanning Africa, Europe and South America.

The street value of the haul has been estimated at $67m (£53m).

Ivory Coast has become a transit hub for South American cocaine heading for Europe.

Last year police seized a consignment of 1.5 tonnes and in 2020 more than 400kg were found aboard a freighter from Brazil.

Joice Etutu
BBC News

Image source, MSF

Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) says it is witnessing concerning signs of a growing food crisis in Ethiopia’s north-eastern Afar region.

The area that borders war-torn Tigray has seen an influx of people who have fled the recent conflict - some travelling by foot for more than a month in search for safety.

The organisation says hundreds of thousands of people are living without necessities such as healthcare and safe drinking water.

It adds that dozens of children have died from severe malnutrition. In recent weeks 35 children have died, most within just 48 hours of admission to hospital.

“In two days alone, we saw 41 children admitted to the paediatric ward with severe stomach infections because people are forced to drink from muddy puddles,” said Raphael Veicht, MSF emergency co-ordinator in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.

This year MSF is seeing four times the number of malnourished children compared to last.

The charity says what it is seeing may just be a tip of the iceberg and it is calling for urgent intervention from the humanitarian community.

MSF says the suffering its staff are witnessing in Afar requires an urgent response. According to the organisation, only 20% of the healthcare system in this region is operative.

While plans are under way to increase hospital capacity, MSF says ay that rapid action is needed in order to prevent a looming crisis not just in Afar, but across the country.

Nomsa Maseko
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, Public Protector South Africa

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has suspended the country’s anti-corruption chief with immediate effect.

Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane has been dogged by accusations of political bias.

In 2019, the country’s highest court ruled that Ms Mkhwebane lied under oath and had acted in bad faith while carrying out some of her investigations.

A number of her major investigations have in the past been overruled by the courts, raising questions about her fitness to hold office.

Ms Mkhwebane was appointed as the country’s corruption watchdog boss in 2016.

A statement released by Mr Ramaphosa’s spokesperson states that the absence of Busisiwe Mkhwebane from office would not “impede the progress of any investigations that are pending or underway” and that she would be suspended until an impeachment process had been completed by parliament.

The hearings are expected to start next month.

On Wednesday, Ms Mkhwebane said she had received a complaint against President Ramaphosa for allegedly breaching the executive code of ethics.

This was in relation to a robbery that took place at the president’s private farm in which about $4m (£3.2m) was stolen.

People had questioned how so much money in foreign currency in cash had ended up on his property.

Mr Ramaphosa said the money was simply from the proceeds of selling game, and denied any wrongdoing.

Read more: Cyril Ramaphosa accused of kidnapping and bribery

Former Algeria international and coach Rabah Madjer is sentenced to six months in prison for making 'false declarations'.

Jonathan Paye-Layleh
BBC News, Monrovia

A 57-year-old Liberian small-scale business woman is pleading for help to undergo medical treatment after she was sexually assaulted by a gang of seven men who left her bleeding.

She told Monrovia's “Prime FM” radio the gang traced her home after spotting her transporting money.

She said the men broke into her room from the roof, forced her to surrender the money and then assaulted her.

A junior minister at the Ministry of Gender has condemned the act.

Analysts see the incident as part of the growing insecurity sweeping across Liberia, with the government doing very little to protect vulnerable people and women and children.

BBC World Service

The European Union has urged Algeria to reverse its decision to suspend a cooperation agreement with Spain, amid a dispute over Western Sahara.

On Wednesday, Algeria suspended its 2002 friendship treaty with Spain, threatening trade ties, including supplies of Algerian gas.

In March, Spain publicly recognised Morocco's plan to grant Western Sahara autonomy rather than full independence, resolving a diplomatic spat with Morocco but angering Algeria.

Algeria supports the Polisario movement which is seeking independence for Western Sahara.

Kenya's Ferdinand Omanyala becomes African men's 100m champion after beating defending champion Akani Simbine by just three thousandths of a second.

Argentine coach Hector Cuper is sacked by DR Congo after a poor start to 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying.

Ishaq Khalid
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, AFP

The Nigerian authorities say they suspect the militant group Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap) carried out the deadly attack at a church in Owo in Nigeria's Ondo state last Sunday, in which 40 people were killed and dozens more wounded.

Nigeria’s Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola made the announcement while briefing journalists after a security council meeting chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential palace in Abuja.

This is the first time the Nigerian authorities have blamed any group for the attack.

If confirmed, it would be the first attack by the IS-linked militants in southern Nigeria - signifying the expansion of its violence.

The group mainly operates in the north of the country.

It had claimed a number of attacks in the past in the central state of Kogi - which shares boundaries with Ondo state.

The militant group has not yet commented.

Dorcas Wangira
Africa health correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Morocco has reported its first confirmed monkeypox case, the first non-endemic country in Africa to do so.

The infected person has a history of travel to France and is in isolation, according to the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

At the end of May, Africa CDC said those who had tested positive for the disease on the continent had not been known to have travelled abroad prior to becoming infected.

The link to travel to France requires more thorough investigation and sequencing in the continent.

During his weekly briefing, Dr Ahmed Ogwell, acting head of the Africa CDC, said that even though monkeypox was spreading internationally, any intervention, and any planning to contain the virus, should begin in Africa.

“The place to start vaccination should be Africa and nowhere else," he said.

Read more: Nigeria bans bushmeat to prevent monkeypox spread

BBC World Service

Image source, Reuters

The new president of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, has been inaugurated in the capital, Mogadishu.

The ceremony was attended by the leaders of Kenya, Ethiopia, Egypt and Djibouti.

In his inauguration speech, President Mohamud said his main priority was to work for peace across Somalia.

He added that he would also consult with the two previous presidents, who he beat in the elections last month.

He inherits a country facing daunting security challenges, a devastating drought and widespread hunger.

The president blamed the drought on climate change and the collapse of government infrastructure.

In recent days, he has been on a tour of some of the country’s regions to assess the drought and security situation.

Read more:

• Who is Hassan Sheikh Mohamud?
• Somalia drought: 'Act now or 350,000 children will die'

Image source, Getty Images

Lawyers for South African airline, Comair, have requested for it to be liquidated after failing to get funding to keep the firm going.

When a company is liquidated it is no longer operational.

Comair operates low-budget airline Kulula as well as domestic and regional flights for British Airways airlines.

Company bosses said it had been affected by the coronavirus-related travel restrictions and the recent increase in fuel prices due to the Ukraine-Russian war.

"We did our utmost to secure the funding, but when we were unable to do so had no option [but] to lodge the application," said company lawyer Richard Ferguson.

"It is an extremely sad day for the company, its employees, its customers and South African aviation," he continued.

All employees, and customers who held bookings or were due a refund, would become creditors of the company, a statement on the airline's website quoted Mr Ferguson as saying. , external

At the end of May, the company grounded flights abruptly because of financial problems, leaving thousands of customers stranded at airports.

Comair was the operator for around 40% of flights within South Africa, according to business news site Bloomberg. , external

Image source, Getty Images

The authorities in the South African city of Johannesburg have told residents not to panic about a foul smell that has been permeating some areas over the past few days.

The pong, likened to that of rotten eggs, has been investigated and a report submitted, tweeted Johannesburg councillor Michael Sun, external, who also represents the local Environment and Infrastructure Services Department (EISD) on the mayor’s committee.

"The smell was wide-spread across the city which thankfully excludes the possibility of a localised source in Johannesburg,” South Africa's The Citizen news site, external quotes him as saying.

“At this stage I urge the people of Johannesburg not to panic. It was concluded by EISD investigators that the city is potentially dealing with a cross-boundary pollution source," the quote continued.

Mr Sun also said the bad smell was probably a "fleeting" event based on weather conditions and "that the quality of air in Johannesburg remains at acceptable levels".

People online have been complaining extensively about the smell, calling it "ugly", "awful" and "strange".

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Image source, Ethiopia PM's office

Leaders from Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Egypt have arrived in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, for the inauguration of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

"A high level delegation from Djibouti led by President Ismail Guelleh landed at Mogadishu's Adan Abdulle International Airport to attend the inauguration ceremony of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud," state-owned SNTV said in a tweet and shared pictures of Mr Guelleh and his delegation.

The state TV also tweeted pictures of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed arriving in Mogadishu for the ceremony.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta was also received at the Mogadishu airport by the Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble.

Security has been beefed up in the capital and the city put under curfew ahead of the inauguration.

Earlier on Thursday reports said mortar rounds were fired in Mogadishu mainly hitting civilian homes.

The Somali president was sworn in on 15 May immediately after he was elected by the country's bicameral parliament. His predecessor handed over power on 23 May.