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The mummy was found inside a sarcophagus that has remained unopened for 4,300 years.

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team until Friday morning Nairobi time.

There will be an automated news feed until then. You can also get the latest from the BBC News website and listen to the Africa Today podcast.

A reminder of Thursday's wise words:

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And we leave you with this photo of an antiquity worker looking at newly discovered archaeological artefacts in Egypt on Thursday.

Image source, Getty Images

BBC World Service

Rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have clashed with government troops and rival militias, cutting a vital link to the region's main city, Goma.

M23 rebels have captured swathes of territory in mineral-rich North Kivu province since last year, advancing towards its capital, Goma.

Police and local officials confirmed that the Tutsi-led group had cut off the road between Kitchanga and Goma.

The main highway leading north out of Goma has been cut off since an earlier M23 advance.

The fresh clashes come after the M23 was required to withdraw from territory it occupies, under the terms of regional mediation efforts.

East African mediators have warned that the situation is deteriorating sharply.

Hanna Temauri
BBC News

Image source, AFP

The Synod of Ethiopia’s Orthodox Tewahdo Church, the largest religious denomination in the country, has announced the revoking of spiritual titles of 28 breakaway clergy who were involved in the appointment of new so-called bishops without its knowledge.

The suspension includes three archbishops who had a leading role in designating new "bishops" in a small town situated in Oromia region, 110 km (68 miles) away from the capital Addis Ababa which is the seat of the Synod.

As a result they are prohibited from using their religious titles and any of the church’s resources.

The Synod, which is the highest decision-making body of the church, announced the decision on Thursday after holding an emergency meeting.

On Wednesday one of the breakaway bishops appointed was said to have apologised for his involvement and reversed his course.

The breakaway group has not commented on the decision yet but it earlier threatened to elect its own patriarch and run as a separate entity if the synod failed to endorse the appointments.

This is seen as a major challenge for the church after the renegade archbishops accused the synod of lacking diversity.

The Ethiopian Orthodox church says it is expanding religious facilities and services aimed at reaching its followers in multiple languages. It also denounced the move as an attack on the church’s unity.

Some of the faithful see the latest controversies as a reflection of the country’s widening ethnic rifts, while other say there are political actors involved in the move.

Ethiopia has five different major languages - Afar, Amharic, Oromo, Somali and Tigrinya.

Vumani Mkhize
BBC Africa business reporter, Johannesburg

Image source, Getty Images

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says Washington wants to deepen its economic ties with Africa, during a bilateral meeting with her South African counterpart, Enoch Godongwana.

Ms Yellen is on the last leg of her Africa tour, having previously visited Senegal and Zambia.

Top of the agenda is the restructuring of Zambia’s debt - which the country defaulted on in 2020.

Closer to home, discussions around financing South Africa’s energy transition away from coal towards less carbon-intensive methods will be at the fore.

A figure of $8.5bn (£6.8bn) has been put on the table by the US and some EU countries to fund South Africa’s transition.

Ms Yellen also paid President Cyril Ramaphosa a courtesy visit last night, but no comment was made about the closed-door meeting.

This trip marks the beginning of a year-long US charm offensive in Africa, with President Joe Biden and his deputy expected to visit the continent later in the year.

Over the past week Russian, Chinese and EU officials have also been to the continent to strengthen their relationships.

BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

Archaeologists in Egypt say they've found a limestone sarcophagus that has remained sealed with mortar for the past 4,300 years, just as the ancient Egyptians left it.

The director of the research team, Zahi Hawass, a former Egyptian minister of antiquities, said inside was a mummy covered with gold leaf that may be one of the oldest and most complete ever found.

He said it was discovered at the bottom of a 15m shaft among a group of royal tombs near the Step Pyramid at Saqqara.

Ahmed Rouaba
BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

Algeria has unveiled a series of policies aimed at eliminating its dependence on fossil fuels.

The oil-and gas-rich nation will invest heavily in renewable energy, according to the government's energy transition strategy.

"Algeria has more than 3,000 hours of sunshine per year. Some regions of the country count 3,900 hours per year, including the plateaux and the desert," Minister of Energy and Mines Mohamed Arkab told the BBC.

The Algerian Renewable Energy Programme aims, in the short and medium terms, to build a capacity to produce 15,000 MW of solar energy, increasing the share of renewables in the energy mix of the country, which is currently just 1%.

The state-owned oil and gas company, Sonatrach, plans to replace its conventional power plants throughout the south of the country with renewable energy plants with a capacity of 1,300 MW.

Algeria has also announced the deployment of 1,000 chargers for electric vehicles throughout its 58 provinces by March this year to promote sustainability in the highly polluting transport industry.

The new annual budget has also imposed a blanket ban on the manufacture and importation of diesel vehicles.

Local car makers must also start a line of electric vehicles to continue their activity, according to the budget.

The minister has also expressed his country’s keen interest in new technologies and the various applications of hydrogen as a significant contributor to its clean energy transition.

Priya Sippy
BBC Focus on Africa

Image source, AFP

Tanzanian opposition politician Tundu Lissu told the BBC's Focus on Africa that it feels “awesome” to be back in the country after six years of exile in Belgium.

He fled the country in 2017 after what he alleged was an assassination attempt – and had been arrested several times in the year leading up to the attack.

While he briefly returned to challenge then-President John Magufuli in the 2020 elections, he left Tanzania for a second time, citing security threats.

His return to Tanzania comes after President Samia Suluhu Hassan lifted a ban on opposition rallies that was implemented by Mr Magufuli, who died in 2021.

Mr Lissu says that the political landscape has changed "dramatically" under her leadership.

"The political space now is certainly greater than we had previously and this gives us the opportunity then to take our message to the country – every corner of the country," he said.

"And the message and focus now is constitutional and political reform."

You can listen to his full interview below:

Image source, AFP

A South African farmer has told the BBC’s Newsday radio programme that the energy crisis in the country is having a “disastrous” effect on all industries and a “big impact” on agriculture.

The country is facing regular blackouts which have been blamed on the government’s poor management of the power utility, Eskom, and an ageing fleet of coal-fired stations.

Regarding agriculture, crops need to be irrigated, while poultry farming “relies on a lot of electricity”, Gift Mafuleka said.

Mr Mafuleka, who grows potatoes and grains, said he currently has crops that need irrigation. The heatwave the country is currently facing makes it hard to “keep up” with watering crops and tending to livestock, he said.

“It’s very tough,” he continued, saying that he has been discussing the possibility of “scaling down” his produce with his staff.

He warned this could have a wider economic impact in terms of job losses if other farmers followed suit.

Cameroonian journalists wore black on Wednesday in a day of mourning for their colleague Martinez Zogo who was found dead after he disappeared in a suspected abduction.

Mobilisation for the mourning was done by the main journalists' union, the SNJC.

Mr Zogo was director of the privately owned Amplitude FM and had recently talked in a broadcast about an alleged embezzlement case involving a wealthy businessmen and top officials.

"Men and women of the media, we are in mourning because one of our own died in the most cynical, savage, inhumane, odious way, while he was in the exercise of his profession," SNJC president Marion Obam is quoted as saying by French broadcaster RFI.

The union has called for the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry to investigate the death.

Image source, AFP

Nigerians have questioned why presidential candidate Bola Tinubu is making claims that powerful people are trying to sabotage his electoral chances.

Nigerians go to the polls on 25 February, with Mr Tinubu standing as the presidential candidate for the governor APC party.

Speaking to a crowd on the campaign trail in Ogun state on Wednesday, Mr Tinubu said that a fuel shortage in the country as well as moves by authorities to ban old naira notes as legal tender, in favour of newly designed notes, at the end of the month were covert attempts to stop him from becoming president.

President Muhammadu Buhari says the introduction of new notes will help to tackle corruption, counterfeit money and the illicit hoarding of cash.

Mr Tinubu then accused authorities of "hiding" the fuel and the naira notes, but said his supporters would still vote and so he would win.

However, people are questioning what a change in the naira design has to do with Mr Tinubu winning the presidency.

In previous Nigerian elections there have been cases of politicians paying people to vote for them.

"This is quite major," broadcaster Ayo Mairo-Ese said on Arise News. "How does the redesigning of the naira or the unavailability of the naira affect his particular campaign, or the presidential election?" Ms Mairo-Ese asked.

"We have 18 presidential hopefuls. Why is it only the APC presidential candidate that is worried about the redesigning of the naira and saying that it is an act to sabotage his campaign? That's a question that he must answer."

Mr Tinubu has always denied allegations of corruption and vote-buying made against him and says those accusing him of wrongdoing are just jealous of his wealth and success.

He has been a longstanding figure in Nigerian politics for decades and assisted in President Buhari winning office.

You can read more about him here.

Image source, Getty Images

The Vatican’s envoy to Kinshasa, Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, has told the BBC’s Newsday programme that Pope Francis’ visit to DR Congo is “a dream which is coming true” which has made everyone in the capital “very happy”.

Pope Francis will next week visit the country, which is home to the largest Roman Catholic community in Africa. It is more than 37 years since the previous Pope, John Paul II, visited the country - when it was called Zaire.

However, the pope arrives at a time when DR Congo is facing escalating conflict in the east of the country as government forces battle against armed groups.

The pontiff regularly talks about DR Congo and the “terrible situation” there which results in “the slaughters” of people, Archbishop Balestrero said.

He wants to “console” people and “condemn all the massacres that are ongoing” and ask God to “forgive all the blood” that is being shed, the archbishop said.

However, there has been some controversy surrounding the Catholic leader’s visit.

Some market workers in Kinshasa have been told to dismantle their stalls to make roads tidy before the pope’s arrival.This has left some people feeling aggrieved.

The archbishop said he was “sorry” for this and that the Church had no role in the authorities' decision.

After becoming a cyclone, Cheneso will bring more heavy rain, strong winds and possible flash flooding to the region.

Image source, Getty Images

Zimbabweans have paid tribute to musician Stella Chiweshe, who died at the age of 76 and was laid to rest in Harare on Wednesday.

She was internationally renowned for her singing and playing of the mbira - a traditional instrument of the Shona people, which is also known as the thumb piano.

"Go well our Mbira icon," one person tweeted., external

She "defied colonial and traditional norms that were against women playing mbira, her defiance gave way to many women finding their voices in the industry," the Women's Coalition of Zimbabwe tweeted. , external

In the 1960s when Chiweshe started to play the mbira, it was considered a taboo for women.

During her career she performed all over the world, including in Asia and Europe.

She also founded the Chivanhu Centre in Zimbabwe to promote traditional music and culture.

A journalist who knew Chiweshe, Ish Mafundikwa, spoke to BBC's Focus on Africa radio programme, which you can listen to here.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is in Sudan on an official visit to the country for talks with the country's military ruler, Lt-Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

On Thursday, Mr Abiy was welcomed by the military leader on arrival in the capital city Khartoum.

Ethiopia's state television ETV reported that the prime minister would discuss ways to bolster "all-round relations" between the two countries.

Mr Abiy's office said that during the discussions, the Prime Minister shared Ethiopia's "solidarity with Sudan in the political dialogue process that they have embarked upon".

Sudan's military and civilian groups have been in long-running negotiations to end the political crisis that followed the October 2021 coup.

Relations between Ethiopia and Sudan are thawing after years of tensions over a fertile agricultural land in Al-Fashaga border area and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.

BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

France is recalling its ambassador to Burkina Faso, a day after it announced that its military mission there was to end.

The French foreign ministry said Luc Hallade was returning for consultations on the state of relations between Paris and its former West African colony.

There have been weeks of demonstrations against the French presence in Burkina Faso, whose military rulers have been seeking military assistance from Russia to help defeat an Islamist insurgency.

Read more:

• Burkina Faso unrest: France agrees to pull its troops out

Burkina Faso wants to defend itself against jihadists, who have forced two million from their homes.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Image source, EPA

Angola has expressed concern over the use of heavy military equipment in the war in Ukraine as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visits the oil-rich southern African country.

In a statement on Wednesday, external, the Angola foreign affairs ministry said the use of "increasingly sophisticated equipment might lead to a greater involvement of the different parties to the conflict, and eventually lead to a third world war”.

The statement also highlighted Angola's historic “friendship ties” with Russia and its “good co-operation ties” with Ukraine.

Angola initially abstained from condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but in October last year it voted in favour of a UN resolution condemning the annexation of Ukrainian territory by Russia.

Earlier this month, Angolan President João Lourenço appealed to Moscow to declare "a definitive and unconditional ceasefire" in Ukraine.

Speaking after meeting President Lourenço, Mr Lavrov said that Russia and Angola will deepen co-operation despite "the illegal pressure" from the US and its allies.

Unconfirmed reports said that Mr Lavrov might visit Eritrea as the last stop of his African tour that started in South Africa and also took him to Eswatini.

A court in Mali has sentenced a man to death over the killing of three UN peacekeepers (Minusma) in the country’s south in 2019.

The accused, who was not named, was convicted of acts of terrorism, criminal association, murder, robbery and illegal possession of firearms.

The death penalty has not been applied in Mali since a moratorium on executions was put in place in 1980.

In a statement, external, Minusma said this was the second time that specific attacks against its troops had been at the heart of a legal charge that has resulted in a trial and convictions

The Minusma peacekeeping force which has had 12,000 troops in Mali since 2013 – is the UN’s largest and deadliest operation.

Peacekeepers are frequently killed or wounded in attacks by al-Qaeda and Islamic State fighters.