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

A BBC undercover investigation has exposed a human trafficking network smuggling disabled children from Tanzania to Kenya.

The force takes on mental health to help officers affected by stress - but for some it comes too late.

Tunisia's world number two Ons Jabeur, in her new BBC Sport column at Wimbledon, discusses the "unbelievable" experience of playing doubles with Serena Williams.

World champion Caster Semenya brands African athletics leaders "cowards" for failing to fight for female athletes facing eligibility issues.

Original Ife bronze heads, of which only some 20 survive, are thought to be about 700 years old.

A huge crowd of migrants storm a fence into Melilla in North Africa, with 23 killed and many injured.

More than 830 people have crossed the Channel in small boats in the last week, the government says.

Enniskillen-born Dr Denis Burkitt made vital discoveries in childhood cancer

Sharon Juhl is not your ordinary clown, he is a medical clown bringing smiles to hospitalised children.

Diana Mwazi is one of many young Kenyans who see elections as a way to make money, not bring change.

Richard Nomba says he was detained on Tuesday having arrived in Swansea in June 2018.

That's all for this week from the BBC Africa Live team. We're back on Monday morning with a new page that you'll be able to find at bbc.com/africalive.

In the meantime there will be an automated news feed and you can also check the BBC News website or 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 image from our choice of some of the best photographs of the week. It's from a mass yoga session on the beachfront in Durban, South Africa:

Image source, AFP

DJ Edu
Presenter of This Is Africa on BBC World Service

Image source, Cristiano Barbosa

Indira Rocha is one of the hottest new acts from Cape Verde.

A rapper and singer, she launched herself onto the music scene with her first single in 2020. Titled Gato Loja, external, this track was composed by her mentor, rapper Manolo.

She followed this with another single and then an EP entitled Mil Paus, and she continues to build her fan base.

Indira has been singing since childhood.

She started to explore the music industry when she first met Manolo eight years ago, but took a break in order to focus on her studies.In 2020 her single Gato Loja made waves with its strong message about the empowerment of women.

Indira combines her music career with her other passion, education. She teaches English in school and admits that keeping both going is quite a challenge.

Indira confirms that her music makes her more popular in school.

She says the kids in school are doing challenges for her songs and posting them on social media, which in turn increases her popularity."When they meet me on the street they just go crazy, oh Indira I love you. They just melt my heart."So does Indira think she'll ever give up teaching for music?

Indira sings mostly in Cape Verdean Creole, but she can see a time when she might sing in English and Portuguese to expand her audience. Manolo is her songwriter and she admits she was a little afraid of trying to write her own material.

When asked what's next for her, Indira has a philosophical approach.

"I'm the kind of person that likes to live one day at a time, and try my best to enjoy the path and not the result or the end. I don't like to plan a lot. I just like to work hard and whatever is meant to come to me will come."

To hear the full interview with Indira Rocha, listen to This is Africa on BBC World Service radio and partner stations across Africa, and online here.

A Chinese filmmaker wanted by Malawi as part of an investigation into allegations of racism and child exploitation has been fined in neighbouring Zambia for unlawfully entering the country, Zambia’s state-owned Daily Mail newspaper reports.

Lu Ke was a Malawi resident when he was exposed by BBC Africa Eye, which reported he had used local children to film personalised greetings videos, some of which included racist content.

These videos can be bought for up to $70 (£55) on Chinese social media and internet platforms.

Lu Ke denied making derogatory videos.

He said he made his videos in order to spread Chinese culture to the local community.

Lu Ke fled to Zambia after the BBC documentary was released.

The Daily Mail reports that he pleaded guilty to unlawfully entering and staying in Zambia. He reportedly appeared before the magistrate’s court in Chipata, a city close to the border with Malawi.

He was fined $760 the newspaper says. It is not clear from the reporting whether he will now be expelled from the country.

Image source, Getty Images

A man from Liberia who had sought asylum in the US has been charged with, among other crimes, fraudulently attempting to obtain US citizenship.

Moses Wright was a former commanding general of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) during the country’s civil war, and according to the indictment, external he was involved in persecuting and killing non-combatants.

The 69-year-old lied about this when he applied for US citizenship, the indictment from the department of justice added.

Mr Wright has not commented on the allegations.

“The United States will not be a safe haven for human rights violators and war criminals,” said United States Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero.

If convicted, Mr Wright faces a maximum possible sentence of 165 years in prison and a $7m (£5.7m) fine.

Two other former combatants in Liberia’s civil war - Mohammed Jabbateh and Thomas Woewiyu – have been convicted in the US for similar offences. A third man, Sekou Kamara, was arrested earlier this year in New York.

Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission described the AFL as a “significant violator group”, and it was found to be behind some of the civil war’s largest scale massacres, according to Civitas Maxima, a pressure group that has been working on these issues.

An estimated 250,000 Liberians died – amounting to around 8% of the population at the time – in the conflicts from 1989 to 1997 and 1999 to 2003.

A barrister turned heads at Nigeria’s highest court on Thursday when he appeared in the attire of his traditional religion.

Malcolm Omoirhobo’s mixture of a wig, robe, a white patch around his right eye, a gourd around his neck, a feather and a red cloth around his waist was not your usual court-day appearance.

With a hint of sarcasm, he remarked that he wore the attire to show “gratitude” to the Supreme Court which last Friday, ruled in favour of female Muslim students using hijab in government-owned schools in Lagos.

The court had ruled that the ban on the use of hijab in public schools in the state was discriminatory against Muslim pupils.

Mr Omoirhobo said with the ruling the Supreme Court had reaffirmed the “freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.

“I am a traditionalist and this is the way I worship. Based on the decision of the Supreme Court, this is how I will be dressing henceforth in court because I am a strong adherent to ‘Olokun’, the god of rivers,” he said.

Joice Etutu
BBC News, Kigali

Image source, PA

Former French colonies Gabon and Togo are set become the latest countries to join the Commonwealth, which is made up of 54 nations most of which were once part of the British Empire.

They will be the first new members in more than a decade - the last one being Rwanda, which joined in 2009.

Rwanda is currently hosting the biennial meeting of heads of Commonwealth states.

Mozambique, which also did not have links to the British Empire, joined in 1995.

Togo's Foreign Minister Robert Dussey said French-speaking Togo’s inclusion into the Commonwealth would “help it develop closer ties with English-speaking countries, opening up new horizons outside of France's sphere of influence in West Africa.”

Since joining in 2009, Rwanda has praised the Commonwealth for helping the country with election support, combatting corruption and creating a stronger judicial system.

Togo and Gabon are expected to be admitted later on Friday.

Chris Ewokor
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, AFP

Suspects linked to the killing of at least 40 people in a church in south-west Nigeria have been detained by a regional security force, the authorities there say.

Gunmen stormed the St Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo state, during a service earlier this month and opened fire.

The suspects are being held by a force set up by the south-west state governors, known as Amotekun. It is a separate organisation from the police.

Amotekun commander Adetunji Adeleye told the BBC that the suspects were at different stages of interrogation.

He did not give any details about those being held but said a vehicle and some weapons were recovered.

Amotekun will need to hand the suspects over to the police if they are going to be prosecuted as it does not have the power to take people to court.

As well as the at least 40 people who died on 5 June, more than 100 others were injured during the attack.

The Nigerian government blamed the killings on the militant group, Islamic State of West African Province (Iswap). But the jihadists have not said that they carried out the attack.

Read more:

• Nigeria's Owo church attack: Who are the victims?
• Nigeria Owo church attack: Blood on the altar

Image source, Reuters

South Africa’s state-run electricity provider Eskom has increased power cuts amid a protest by its workers over wages.

Eskom said in a statement on Friday, external that “due to the ongoing unprotected labour action” it was being “compelled to take precautionary actions to conserve emergency generation reserves”.

The utility firm has been struggling to meet power demands in South Africa for years amid an energy crisis blamed on poor maintenance, rising costs, falling revenues, crumbling infrastructure, corruption and mismanagement.

The power company, which has implementing "Stage 2" rotational power cuts since the beginning of the week, said on Friday that it was expanding them to the more severe “Stage 4 from Friday 11:00 am until midnight”.

It made an appeal to its striking workers saying it was exploring for possible solutions to unlock the deadlock with the unions.

"Eskom appeals to its labour partners and striking employees to embrace the higher purpose of putting the people of South Africa first," it said.