Shingai Nyoka
BBC News, Harare

Celebrated Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga has been found guilty of inciting violence by carrying placards at an anti-government protests two year ago.

She has been convicted alongside her friend Julie Barnes. Both women had carried placards calling for political reforms at the demonstration in Harare, which the authorities branded a breach of coronavirus protocols and an incitement to public violence.

The magistrate on Thursday said the pictures of them protesting were shared on social media and could have provoked a breach of the peace by encouraging the general public to particpate.

Their sentence has not yet been announced.

Rights groups say the case is part of an ongoing crackdown against government critics and activists.

In 2020, Dangarembga's book This Mournable Body was shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

A campaign group in Mozambique is calling for tough action to stop the sexual abuse of women and girls in higher education, and has offered to pay the legal costs of students wanting to take their cases to court.

The Observatory for Women says a recent study it conducted revealed the province of Tete had the worst level of such offences, and says it has spoken to multiple victims who allege they were harassed by one particular professor.

"I did not file a complaint with the university - I am very frustrated because now I have to cross paths with the professor in hallways every day," one of the alleged victims told the campaign group.

The alleged abuser is himself taking legal action against the students who had accused him of attacking them, sparking outrage from the Observatory for Women.

"If teachers continue to have this practice, we, as a civil society, are available to freely sponsor students to file lawsuits," the group added.

Félicien Kabuga is accused of funding and arming militias during the ethnic slaughter in 1994.

Patience Atuhaire
BBC News, Kampala

Image source, Getty Images

The number of confirmed Ebola cases in Uganda has risen to 31. One more death has also been recorded, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths to six.

One of the six medical workers who tested positive with the virus is now in critical condition, according to information from the country’s health ministry.

Uganda's president has defied calls by medical workers to put the Ebola-hit central region under quarantine to prevent the virus spreading to the rest of the country.

He went on national TV on Wednesday to say no such measures were needed because Ebola is not airborne, and said a laboratory would be set up in the virus epicentre to speed up patient testing.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization believes that Uganda's Ebola outbreak may have been detected late, given that the first person who had it showed symptoms back in August yet the outbreak wasn’t declared until late September.

Global health experts say it is unrealistic to think Ebola will ever be eradicated, but it is now easier to prevent a crisis.

BBC World Service

Officials in Nigeria say five soldiers and a civilian have been shot dead in the south-eastern state of Anambra.

Insecurity has been intensifying in the region, with more than 100 members of the security forces killed since the beginning of the year.

The violence is often blamed on the armed wing of a banned separatist movement called the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob).

This group is seeking a separate state for members of the Igbo ethnic group. It denies carrying out armed attacks.

Read more: Ipob 'media warriors' call for killings on social media

After final warm-ups before naming their squads, BBC Sport Africa assesses the form of the continent's World Cup sides

Image source, Getty Images

At least 19 people have died after drinking toxic alcohol at a roadside shop in Morocco's northern city of Ksar el-Kebir.

Dozens of other people were taken to hospital in critical condition, with two in intensive care, local media reported.

A 48-year-old man has been arrested in connection to the incident. Police are said to have recovered about 50 litres of the alcohol at his store.

Selling alcohol to Muslims is forbidden in Morocco, but it is often discreetly sold in restaurants and stores.

In August, eight people died after drinking contaminated alcohol in the northern Oriental region, and at least 20 died in July last year in a similar incident in Oujda in eastern Morocco.

Patience Atuhaire
BBC News, Kampala

Image source, Patience Atuhaire / BBC

Hundreds of Ugandan students are demonstrating against the European Union parliament, after it opposed an oil pipeline project with neighbouring Tanzania.

EU lawmakers earlier this month passed a resolution warning of human rights abuses and the social and environmental risk posed by the project.

The students are marching in the capital, Kampala, to deliver a petition to the EU mission.

The demo appears state-sanctioned and the students are walking with police escort.

Once complete, the pipeline will stretch 1,443km (896 miles) from Lake Albert in western Uganda to the Tanzanian port of Tanga on the Indian Ocean.

Image source, Patience Atuhaire / BBC

Africa's biggest mobile phone company has been told off for misleading customers who purchase one-day data bundles.

Currently MTN's one-day data bundles don't expire after 24 hours, instead they expire at midnight on the day that you bought them - regardless of how late in the day that may have been.

This set-up has been branded as "ambiguous and therefore misleading" by South Africa's Advertising Regulatory Bureau, which has this week ordered MTN to withdraw adverts for the product.

A local news site, Business Insider South Africa, has shared this screenshot, external of the MTN data offer that led to the complaint:

Image source, Business Insider South Africa

BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

One of the last main suspects in the 1994 Rwandan genocide has refused to attend the opening of his trial before a UN tribunal at The Hague, but judges have ruled that the case is to proceed.

Félicien Kabuga is charged with genocide and crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the slaughter of about 800,000 people - most of them ethnic Tutsis.

Once one of Rwanda's richest men, Mr Kabuga is accused of inciting the killings through a radio station he owned, and of funding and arming the militia that carried them out.

He has denied the charges.

Image source, National Prosecuting Authority

A white supremacist who was plotting the genocide of black South Africans and a coup in the country has been jailed for life.

Harry Knoesen, 64, was the leader of a far-right terrorist group and had led plans to overthrow the government on 28 November 2019 using AK-47 rifles, hand grenades and rocket launchers.

Knoesen even wanted to use biological weapons to wipe out black people, the Mpumalanga High Court heard.

"He sought to justify his beliefs on religious grounds, claiming that God had ordained that he should reclaim South Africa for white people," said National Prosecuting Authority spokeswoman Monica Nyuswa.

In total, Knoesen has been handed two life sentences plus 21 years behind bars for terrorism-related offences.

Shingai Nyoka
BBC News, Harare

Image source, Getty Images

A Harare court is expected to deliver a verdict on Thursday on a case against award-winning author and film maker Tsitsi Dangarembga.

Dangarembga was arrested during anti-corruption demonstrations in the capital Harare in July 2020, for carrying placards calling for political reforms.

Her friend Julie Barnes was arrested alongside her, and both women are accused of violating coronavirus protocols and inciting public violence - charges they both deny.

The duo could face several years in jail if convicted.

Rights groups say the case is part of an ongoing crackdown against government critics and activists.

Soldiers and heavy weapons are being moved in the northern Tigray region, near the border with Eritrea.

Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

Image source, Getty Images

Mozambican forces say they have captured four jihadists involved in recruiting and radicalising people and have announced the death of 16 others.

Police commander Bernardino Rafael said some of the jihadists died from gunshot wounds during confrontations with the authorities, while others were attacked by wild animals – mainly lions and crocodiles.

He spoke on Wednesday during a meeting with local residents in Quissanga district in the northern Cabo Delgado province.

“They are dying from gunshot wounds... Many of them [were] wounded by our weapons. But even animals also contribute to the death of the Islamist insurgents.”

He said the population was burying some of the dead jihadists - under the supervision of the authorities - who had succumbed from recent and previous injuries, while some had been devoured by the animals.

Read more:

• Mozambique insurgency: Why 24 countries have sent troops

Rhoda Odhiambo
BBC Africa Health Correspondent

Image source, AFP

The World Health Organization’s office in sub-Saharan Africa says the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Uganda was detected late.

Preliminary investigations suggest that the patient could have developed symptoms in August but it was not immediately picked up as an Ebola case.

At least 24 people have so far tested positive for the Sudan strain of the Ebola virus, which has left four people dead.

Dr Patrick Otim, who is overseeing the Ebola response in Uganda, told the BBC that response teams on the ground are finding it difficult to identify patient zero.

This is because by the time Uganda declared the outbreak several deaths had already been reported in the community - with many more having attended funerals.

Dr Otim said it is suspected that these deaths could have been caused by the Ebola outbreak.

The symptoms of the Sudan strain are similar to other diseases such as malaria and typhoid, which are endemic in the affected areas, and is proving a challenge to medics.

There is no vaccine for the Sudan strain of the Ebola virus, as this type of outbreak is rare.

The only available vaccine is effective against the Zaire strain that has caused outbreaks in West Africa and neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mark Pivac
BBC World Service Newsroom

Image source, AFP

The Roman Catholic Church says the Algerian authorities have ordered the closure of its charity, Caritas, after 60 years of work in the country.

The Archbishop of Algiers, Jean-Paul Vesco, said Caritas was deemed an unauthorised organisation and that work such as aid to migrants would stop completely at the end of the month.

Religious charities were due to be exempted from regulations requiring non-profit organisations to submit new documentation, but this never happened.

Algerian law guarantees freedom of religion, though places of worship and preachers must be licensed.

Vatican-based Caritas operates in 160 countries.

Anna Holligan
BBC News Hague correspondent

Image source, AFP

One of the last main suspects in the 1994 Rwandan genocide is due to go on trial on Thursday at the UN tribunal in The Hague.

Félicien Kabuga is charged with genocide and crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the slaughter of about 800,000 people - most of them ethnic Tutsis.

Once one of Rwanda's richest men, he's accused of inciting the killings through a radio station he owned, and of funding and arming the militia that carried them out.

Mr Kabuga, who's in his late 80s, has pleaded not guilty.

He was arrested in Paris two years ago after long evading capture.

At his age, lawyers have argued he is too frail to stand trial but judges have decided to go ahead but with shorter court sessions.

Prosecutors are expected to call more than 50 witnesses in a trial that could last for years.

Survivors of the genocide have called for swift justice, fearing he may die under the presumption of innocence.

Patience Atuhaire
BBC News, Kampala

Image source, AFP

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has said that there is no need to impose restrictions in Ebola hotspots in the central region because the viral disease is not airborne.

Ebola is spread through contact with an infected person or infected surfaces and human waste.

The association of medical workers in the country had previously called for the affected region to be put under quarantine to stop further spread of the haemorrhagic fever.

Mr Museveni said his government had the capacity to control the epidemic due to previous experience with similar outbreaks. This is the fourth time Ebola has broken out in Uganda.

He said that health experts who had previously dealt with Ebola outbreaks had been deployed to the affected region.

It is currently taking 24 hours for samples to be tested and laboratory results to be released.

The president said the government would set up a laboratory at Mubende district headquarters, the epicentre of the outbreak, to quicken the sample processing.

Six medical workers who treated the 24-year-old man who was later identified as the first case, have tested positive for Ebola.

A total of 24 people have been confirmed to be infected by the virus in the country, five of whom have died, since the outbreak was declared last week.

Read more:

• Why Ebola is so dangerous
• Why it keeps coming back

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

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And we leave with this image of motorcyclists riding through evening traffic in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou.