BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

The man who planned one of the bloodiest single episodes of the Rwandan genocide has been found guilty of complicity by a French court and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Laurent Bucyibaruta is the highest-ranking Rwandan to have faced trial in France over the 1994 massacres, in which an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus died.

As governor of the southern Gikongoro province, Bucyibaruta encouraged tens of thousands of Tutsis to take refuge in the Murambi Technical School.

Days later, they were slaughtered.

Evidence from survivors helped convict him.

More on the Rwanda genocide:

• Rwanda genocide: 100 days of slaughter
• Rwanda genocide: 'I forgave my husband's killer - our children married'

Our proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

Sir Mo Farah reveals the shocking truth about his childhood, the journey he made from Somaliland to the UK as a young boy, and the subsequent years that led to him winning two gold medals at the London 2012 Olympics.

Bereket Selomun, 20, from Eritrea, moved to England as a teenager, police say.

That's all for now from the BBC Africa Live team for now. There will be an automated news feed until we're back on Wednesday morning.

You can also keep up to date on the BBC News website, or by listening to the Africa Today podcast.

A reminder of Tuesday's wise words:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this shot of a family standing outside their home in Marsabit, northern Kenya:

Image source, AFP

Randy Joe Sa'ah
BBC Africa, Yaoundé

Torrential rains that have hit Cameroon over the last few days have left misery and chaos in their wake, with people trying to cope with flooding, landslides and road chaos.

For many in the South-West region it is the worst rainy season in living memory.

“I have lived in Tiko for more than 30 years but I have not witnessed this kind of rain,” a food vendor in the town told the BBC.

Over the weekend, at least one child died in Tiko when their family home collapsed.

The floods were triggered on Saturday by a sudden storm that swept through areas by the main road linking the towns of Likomba and Mutengene, which passes through Tiko.

Accompanied by wild winds, the rains knocked down trees and walls at the police college in Mutengene.

Tiko resident Vincent Njume said: “I saw the Likomba River overflowing its banks, flooding with woods and household stuffs. Trees were falling.”

Rocks and pebbles were cascading down the gentle slopping road linking Tiko and Mutengene, both towns at the foot of Mount Cameroon.

The road then turned into a fast flowing river, disrupted traffic for hours, leaving drivers of heavy duty lorries and passengers in taxis trapped. It has taken several days to clear away the mud and debris and people have shared videos of the carnage:

Many people are now counting their losses. Up to 3,000 chickens were swept away from a poultry farm in the Down Beach neighbourhood of Tiko.

A building and swimming pool under construction disappeared in the flood. With many people watching and screaming, a popular bar was also swept away.

While some blame climate change for the increased rainfall, district officer for Tiko, Armstrong Voh - who has clearly been overwhelmed with the level of destruction - said that illegal constructions just made things worse.

He warned that people who had built houses by water ways or swamps would have their residences demolished to allow free flow of streams.

“If not, we will constantly have situations of floods in Tiko,” he told state-run Cameroon Tribune newspaper.

Tiko-based journalist Ivo Ngong, who witnessed an avalanche, agreed there was a problem: “People are obstructing water paths. They are building haphazardly, felling trees and blocking drainage systems with plastics and other rubbish.”

Other towns, including the capital city, Yaoundé, now experience flooding regularly during the rainy season, which runs from March until September.

Soni Armstrong, a resident of Limbe, along the coast in the South-West region, says he has had to move house because he was living in an area by a swamp.

A few months ago his family was asleep when they discovered flood waters in the bedroom - and spent hours until dawn rescuing their fridge, furniture and kitchen utensils.

They have now moved to higher ground, for which he is thankful given the downpours of the last few days.

Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

Image source, AFP

Mozambique’s main trade union, the Association of Mozambican Workers (OTM), has expressed concern about the wave of murders and abductions of workers in the gas-rich northern province of Cabo Delgado. which is blamed on jihadist activity.

They say it is contributing to people abandoning their jobs and the increase in people fleeing the area.

The concern was raised by the OTM's head of international relations.

Damião Simango said that the wave of violence in Cabo Delgado was contributing to the increase in the cost of living.

Image source, Getty Images

Popular Nollywood actress Funke Akindele is trending in Nigeria after announcing that she is entering politics.

Ms Akindele said she is running as the People's Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for deputy governor of Lagos.

The actress's big break came more than 10 years ago when she starred in hit film Jenifa. She has since starred in several blockbusters.

On her Twitter account she said her political offer would be "a breath of fresh air".

Her running mate is Dr Azeez Olajide Adediran.

Some people online are supporting her, but others are pointing out that she may not be taken seriously because she comes from the world of entertainment.

Africa's four participants at the 2023 Women's World Cup will be decided on Wednesday and Thursday at the Women's Africa Cup of Nations.

Guy Bandolo
BBC News

Fuel shortages in several petrol stations in Cameroon have rendered drivers unable to use their vehicles, according to the national president of a transport union, Ibrahim Yaya.

He told the BBC that the government should negotiate with the unions if it wants to increase fuel prices.

On Monday, the energy minister issued a statement promising that fuel will be delivered in the coming days.

Gaston Eloundou Essomba explained that the shortage was due to the increase in the amount the state was paying in subsidies because of the rise in global oil prices. The government needs more time to collect the money to fund the subsidy, he added.

Delor Magellan Kamgaing, the president of one of the consumer unions, denounced "the government's lack of preparation" and warned against any increase in fuel prices.

Last month, the IMF asked the government to phase out fuel subsidies.

Cameroon, which imports fuel from Russia, has suffered supply disruptions since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.

Five years on from being forced out of the World Championships final, Botswana's Isaac Makwala is intent on becoming world 400m champion.

Kennedy Gondwe
BBC News, Lusaka

Image source, Patriotic Front/ Facebook

Former Zambian President Edgar Lungu has accused the government of persecuting him, after his wife was summoned for interrogation.

Esther Lungu is wanted for questioning by the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) in connection with 15 flats she owns in Lusaka. The commission alleges that the properties may have been dubiously acquired, which she denies.

Addressing lawmakers for the former governing party, the Patriotic Front, who went to see him and his wife in show of solidarity, Mr Lungu said his family was being unfairly targeted.

“You don't have to be very intelligent to know that after her [Esther Lungu] it's me. So this is a sequence, it's like peeling the onion so am ready," said Mr Lungu, whose two children have in the recent past also been summoned for questioning.

"They want me out of it politics completely - but you can kill the body and you can't kill the soul and you can't kill the ideas," Mr Lungu continued.

“I will be able to answer to whatever charges even if the say I am hiding under the immunity, I am not hiding under the immunity," he said.

Mrs Lungu on the other has declared her innocence.

Mr Lungu’s party last year lost power to incumbent Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development.

Several former government officials have been appearing for interrogation with some of their property seized as part of the new government’s fight against corruption.

Lalla Sy
BBC News, Abidjan

Image source, AFP

News of the arrest of 49 Ivorian soldiers at Bamako airport started to spread on Sunday on social media, with some accusing them of arriving in Mali to carry out a coup. The Malian authorities have since announced they are considered mercenaries.

The nervousness about the rumours was understandable - it happened on the day after Malians celebrated Eid, bringing to mind events a year ago when junta leader Col Assimi Goïta was attacked, though unharmed, by a man with a knife while celebrating the Muslim holiday in Bamako’s Grand Mosque.

Government spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga went on state TV to explain that amongst those arrested were about 30 men "in possession of weapons and munitions of war without a mission order or authorisation" and indicated prosecutions could follow.

The UN mission (Minusma) then became involved, tweeting , externalthat the soldiers were part of a logistical support group that had been helping one of its peacekeeping contingents for several years.

It added that it understood the soldiers were being rotated in to relieve another detachment, something the Mali authorities would have been told.

Some observers think the junta is using the incident to further express its discontent with the UN peacekeeping mission, which was first deployed in the 2013 to help the country deal with Islamist militants and insecurity.

When its mandate was recently renewed for another year, Bamako warned it was not happy about certain provisos - especially relating to UN investigations into human rights.

Abidjan has not yet officially reacted to what looks like a misunderstanding, however the arrests are likely to strain diplomatic relations between Mali and Ivory Coast, whose President Alassane Ouattara is a close ally of France.

This will win the Ivorian leader no admirers in the Malian junta, which has fallen out with France leading to the former colonial power pulling out its anti-terror troops from the West African nation.

Mr Ouattara is also said to have used his influence to get economic and financial sanctions imposed on Mali in January after the junta announced a four-year transitional delay in elections scheduled for February.

Even though sanctions are now lifted, for many, this exposes the mistrust between Mali and the regional bloc Ecowas as it tries to get the junta to handover to civilian rule.

BBC World Service
Newsroom

Image source, AFP

The Ethiopian government has announced the UN will help rebuild the northern Tigray region, which has been devastated by 20 months of war.

The UN Office for Project Services will rebuild infrastructure in the region, which is still mostly under the control of Tigrayan forces.

The project is being financed by the World Bank, which in April became the first major financial institution to unblock funds to Ethiopia, following a ceasefire.

Since then, fighting has largely stopped and the government has allowed the resumption of aid convoys.

But Tigray remains deprived of essential services such as electricity, communications and banking, and the UN says hundreds of thousands are on the brink of famine.

Image source, Getty Images

African countries are set to dominate world population growth up to 2050, according to a new report from the UN., external

More than half of the projected increases in global population will be concentrated in eight countries, five of which are on the continent.

They include the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Tanzania.

The report shows that Nigeria is currently the world's sixth most populous country, and by 2050 is expected to have the same population as the US, 375 million people. That would make it the fourth most populous country in the world.

By 2050 Ethiopia and DR Congo are also expected to be in the list of the top 10 most populous countries in the world.

Image source, Getty Images

HBO Max and Cartoon Network are set to make a Yoruba-inspired animated film based on the graphic novel series called Iyanu: Child of Wonder.

It is a superhero story set in Yorubaland, which is located in south-west Nigeria.

The main character, who is a teenage orphan called Iyanu, has magical powers.

It draws on Yoruba culture from music to mythology.

“The authenticity of the Iyanu story means everything to us and aligns perfectly with our mission to create and deliver inclusive content to global audiences,” David Steward II, who heads the company managing the production, is quoted in Variety as saying., external

The series will be partly written by Roye Okupe, a Lagos-born American filmmaker and author.

BBC Focus on Africa radio

Image source, BBC Pidging

Heavy seasonal rains have caused flash floods in Nigeria biggest city, Lagos, with videos shared on social media documenting the damage caused over the weekend.

One showed a man crawling on top of a bus half submerged in a torrent of murky water, while another showed a women stumbling across a deluge of water on an impassable street.

And this is only at the beginning of the raining season.

But the Permanent Secretary for Drainage in Lagos state, Lekan Shodeinde, is bullish about the situation.

"As of today every part of the state that was seemingly under water is dry. So we wouldn't see it as a major cause of alarm of flooding per se," he told the BBC Focus on Africa programme.

"There are parts of the world that are witnessing worst cases than Lagos."

The authorities are reconstructing and improving the city's drainage system, he said, but warned residents against taking risks in flooded areas.

"Where you see a flowing torrential body of water, we should just avoid it. We shouldn't drive through it. Even if you are driving the biggest car in the car, don't attempt to wade through it," he said.

He also urged residents to stop panicking.

"Flooding will happen, but I can assure that when it happens it will flow out within two to three hours. So no need for panicking. The water will come and will go."

More on this topic:

• Why does Nigeria keep flooding?
• How Africa's largest city is staying afloat

Namibia coach Allister Coetzee says preparations will begin in earnest for the 2023 Rugby World Cup after qualifying for the finals.

BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

South Africa’s men have climbed to the top of the International Cricket Council’s World Test Championship table.

The Proteas moved up to first place after Australia were beaten in the second Test in Sri Lanka and drew that series.

The rankings are decided on win percentage, with South Africa leading the way with five wins from seven matches.

The current World Test Championship runs until June 2023, with the top two teams in the table competing for the overall title in the final.

New Zealand are the defending champions after beating India in the inaugural final in June last year.

South Africa’s next Test series is away against England, with the first of three matches beginning at Lord’s on 17 August.

Image source, AFP

Veteran Nollywood actor Kenneth Okonkwo has waded into the row over Nigeria's governing party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), putting forward a Muslim-Muslim ticket for next year's presidential election.

APC presidential candidate Bola Tinubu announced on Sunday that he had chosen fellow Muslim Senator Kashim Shetima as his running mate, breaking with a tradition for presidential contenders to pick a running mate from a different religion to foster unity in the country - which is split between a mainly Muslim north and majority Christian south.

Okonkwo said the move had prompted him to given up his APC membership as it equated to an insult to Nigerian Muslims, by insinuating that they would not vote for a northern Christian.

"This will permanently destroy the political viability of northern Christians in Nigeria, if allowed to stand," Okonwo posted on Instagram, external.

The decision has caused controversy in a country which is facing increasing religious and ethnic tensions, leading to Christian organisations pledging not to vote for the APC.

But Mr Tinubu defended his choice, external, saying he chose competence and integrity over religion.