Kennedy Gondwe
BBC News, Lusaka

Image source, Patrick Chishala

A statue honouring Zambia's first President, Kenneth Kaunda, has been removed after weeks of ridicule.

Residents of Kabwe town in Central Province disapproved of the workmanship, with most saying the statue looks nothing like Kaunda.

Earlier this month the authorities wrapped up the statue in protective sheet after it was targeted by vandals.

Many Zambians have been comparing the Kabwe statue to another one of Kaunda unveiled in the capital Lusaka in December, which some have described as "stately" and "respectable".

Image source, MUTALE Bonaventure

Dr Andrew Mulenga, a historian and academic head at Zambia's Open Window University for the creative arts, says he has an idea why the Kabwe sculpture drew condemnation in comparison to the one in Lusaka.

“Drawing from my experience on covering the visual arts, the Zambian audience prefers ‘naturalistic’ or ‘hyper realistic’ artworks. In other words, it prefers an artwork that bears an almost photographic resemblance to its subject. This is why genres such as abstract art don’t sit very well,” he said.

“From what I observed on social media, the Kabwe statue... was continuously made fun of as being a caricature owing to its somewhat quirky anatomical features and ‘poor’ craftsmanship.”

The authorities in Kabwe finally removed the statue on Wednesday morning, but it's unclear if it will be displayed elsewhere or if another one will be commissioned.

Kaunda died two years ago aged 97 - he was the last of the generation of African leaders who fought against colonial rule.

Peter Mwangangi
BBC Africa

Image source, Getty Images

Somalia has marked a key step in its bid to join the East African Community (EAC) as the eighth member.

The regional trade bloc on Wednesday kicked off a verification exercise to assess the country’s readiness to be admitted into the community.

Experts from the seven EAC member countries will be in Mogadishu for the next week to establish the country’s level of conformity with the criteria of being admitted to the bloc.

The senior officials drawn from Kenya, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo will assess Somalia’s legal frameworks, policies, development strategies, infrastructure, peace and security among other things.

Following last year’s admission of DR Congo to the bloc, Somalia has been keen to join the EAC saying it does not want to be "a liability anymore" but wants to contribute positively to the bloc through business, agriculture, blue economy and other sectors.

The Horn of Africa country made an unsuccessful bid to join the EAC in 2012.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud launched a fresh request in July 2022 during EAC’s summit in Tanzania where he was invited as a special guest.

Upon completion of the verification mission, a report on the findings will be presented to the EAC Council of ministers, who will then table it before the heads of states for consideration during a summit expected to be held at end of February 2023.

A presidential candidate in next month's Nigeria election has challenged other politicians gunning for the top job to join him in a marathon.

Omoyele Sowore tweeted that he would be participating in the Lagos Marathon next week and wanted 100 runners to join him.

He named frontrunners Bola Ahmed Tinubu, 70, Atiku Abubakar, 76, and Peter Obi, 61 as among those who he was keen on joining him.

A total of 18 candidates are campaigning for the top job.

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Omar Wally
Journalist, The Gambia

Image source, Edrissa Marong

Gambians are mourning the passing of Edrissa Marong, an international sprinter and national record holder in the 800m event.

Marong, 27, died on Tuesday morning after a brief illness.

He represented Gambia in international competitions, including the regional Ecowas Athletic Youth championship.

"This sad event occurred last night after a brief illness. He will be laid to rest today. Funeral arrangements will be communicated as and when received. May his gentle soul rest in peace,” the Gambia Athletic Association said.

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, AFP

South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), is holding a march in Johannesburg to protest against worsening power cuts across the country.

The march is heading towards the headquarters of the governing party, the ANC.

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

“This is an ANC-created problem,” chanted a speaker from a makeshift podium set up in the Johannesburg city centre - where thousands of DA supporters have gathered.

Many are carrying placards written “enough is enough”.

The crowds will walk through the city’s streets to the ANC's Luthuli House offices.

The DA says the ANC-led government is to blame for the persisting power crises.

South Africa has been experiencing regular blackouts since last year, leaving homes, hospitals and businesses in the dark for several hours each day.

There have been small pockets of unrest as a result, but this appears to be the largest demonstration in recent months.

The blackouts, known locally as “load shedding”, are carried out by energy utility Eskom - supposedly to keep the grid from collapsing.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Angola on Tuesday evening and was received by his Angolan counterpart, state media reports.

Local media report that there were worries that Moscow was angry over recent moves by Angola that could be seen as a shift from its neutral stance on the Russia-Ukraine war.

In September, the country condemned Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian regions and asked Moscow to initiate an end to the conflict.

One privately-owned media outlet commented that it would take "political tact" for Angola to protect its ties with both Russia and its western allies.

Mr Lavrov is expected to meet President João Lourenço on Wednesday at the presidential palace in the capital, Luanda, where the two leaders are expected to discuss bilateral relations among other matters.

Samba Cyuzuzo
BBC Great Lakes

The International Monetary Fund's director has arrived in Rwanda for a two-day visit to "support building resilience on climate".

Kristalina Georgieva is expected to attend a roundtable discussion on climate change financing with East African finance ministers and governors of central banks, the East African newspaper reports.

She announced on Twitter that she was looking forward to “hearing local and regional perspectives on how the IMF can be even more helpful - especially in boosting climate resilience”.

Ms Georgieva is visiting after the IMF, under a new facility, approved a $319m (£258m) fund to Rwanda, the first African state to get the fund to build climate change resilience.

The Rwandan opposition has questioned the government's transparency in the use of international aid and loans.

President Paul Kagame has however recently said that the government “efficiently uses every coin” of the aid from its partners.

Ms Georgieva arrived in Rwanda from Zambia.

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation says Africa's progress achieved over the last decade is under threat as overall governance in the continent stagnates.

The London-based Foundation said Africa was struggling to manage the "combined impacts of Covid-19, climate change, conflict and coups, as well as food and energy insecurity".

Its latest report, external indicates that African governance has flatlined since 2019 and economic opportunities are being undermined by widespread democratic backsliding.

“These are challenging times. More than ever, commitment to strengthen governance must be renewed, unless we lose all progress achieved,” said Mo Ibrahim, the founder of the foundation.

The foundation runs the world's most valuable individual prize for African ex-leaders to encourage good governance on the continent.

Mr Ibrahim, a Sudan-born telecoms entrepreneur, launched the prize in an attempt to encourage African leaders to leave power peacefully.

Image source, Reuters

Cameroonian journalists have called for more protection following the murder of their colleague Martinez Zogo, who was a critic of the government.

Mr Zogo’s multilated body was found near the capital, Yaoundé, on Sunday, five days after being abducted by unknown people.

Prior to his death, he had threatened to expose corruption in government.

Media rights group Reporters Without Borders called on the authorities to conduct an independent investigation into the killing, calling it a “grave blow to democracy and press freedom”.

“We urge the Cameroonian authorities to conduct an independent investigation that does not falter, and to end the climate of violence against media personnel,” it said.

The government spokesman said an initial investigation revealed the the journalist had been tortured. Rene Emmanuel Said said the killing was “barbaric and unacceptable”

Reports, results and scorecards from England's brief limited-overs tour of South Africa, featuring three one-day internationals.

The South African government has urged people to take caution as the death toll from an ongoing heatwave in parts of the country rises to eight.

State broadcaster SABC quoted a state official as expressing concern over the impact of the hot weather that the country had been experiencing.

“We are extremely sad to hear about the passing of eight people that have died of heat stroke in the Northern Cape after a heatwave hit the province over the week. Government sends its deepest condolences to the bereaved families,” Michael Currin, the head of the government communication service (GCIS), is quoted as saying.

Some parts of the country have recently been experiencing temperatures of above 40C.

The government has urged people to take measures such as drinking water and wearing light clothing to avoid heat exhaustion.

The South African Weather Service says cooler weather is "expected by the weekend".

Alfred Lasteck
BBC News, Dar es Salaam

Image source, AFP

Tanzania's former presidential candidate, Tundu Lissu, is expected to return to his home country on Wednesday from exile in Belgium.

The opposition leader returns home after the government recently lifted a ban on political rallies, and he is expected to address supporters later in the afternoon.

The ban, imposed by former president John Magufuli in 2016, allowed only elected politicians to conduct rallies in their constituencies.

Mr Lissu was shot 16 times in an assassination attempt in 2017 in the country's capital, Dodoma, and has spent most of the years since in Belgium.

He then returned for a few months in 2020 to challenge Mr Magufuli in a presidential election where he only secured 13% of the votes.

His Chadema party rejected the outcome over claims of widespread irregularities.

Image source, TWITTER / NBS TELEVISION

Some eight Arsenal fans who were arrested in the Ugandan city of Jinja after celebrating the club's win against Manchester United in the English Premier League have been released.

They were wearing the club's red jersey and carrying a symbolic trophy during their arrest on Monday.

Police said they didn't have a permit to hold the procession which is a public order offence.

But on Tuesday a joint security team agreed to free them with a caution, said James Mubi, the regional police spokesman.

One of the fans told journalists that they would "seek for permission [to celebrate] if Arsenal wins the premier league".

"We shall have the celebrations in Bugembe stadium," the self-proclaimed ambassador of Arsenal in Uganda added.

The police spokesman claimed the fans did not know the basics about the club - that they didn’t know which year Arsenal had their unbeaten run and had named a former Ugandan goalkeeper as an Arsenal player.

Samba Cyuzuzo
BBC Great Lakes

Image source, Social Media

The Rwandan government says “defensive measures were taken” on a Democratic Republic of Congo fighter jet that “violated" its airspace on Tuesday evening.

Images shared on social media show a military plane being shot at while flying at a low altitude between the towns of Goma in DR Congo and Gisenyi in Rwanda.

Other images show the damaged plane – a Soviet Union-made Sukhoi-25 – being cooled down with water at Goma airport.

In a statement,, external DR Congo's information ministry condemned the incident and denied that its jet had flown over Rwandan airspace.

It said the government "does not intend to let this [incident] go" and had the "legitimate right" to defend itself.

"The government considers this umpteenth attack by Rwanda as a deliberate action of aggression that is equivalent to an act of war," the ministry noted.

Rwanda said this was the third incident involving a Congolese fighter jet on its airspace and asked its neighbour "to stop this aggression”.

Last November, a Congolese Sukhoi-25 jet briefly landed at Gisenyi airport in Rwanda. Kinshasa said the fighter jet had “mistakenly landed” there.

DR Congo accuses Rwanda of supporting M23 rebels, which Kigali authorities have consistently denied.

The latest incident adds to the tensions between the two neighbours.

Our proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

With book prices doubling, Egyptian authors are also being more economical in their writing.

Cheneso reintensified to become a tropical storm again with more flooding rains on the way over the next few days.

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team until Wednesday 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 Tuesday's wise words:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this photo from a bar on Virage beach in Senegal's capital, Dakar:

Image source, AFP

Nichola Mandil
BBC News, Juba

Image source, Image supplied

"Today we are still in the situation of war, we need unity - that is what you are going to sing when the Pope comes," the Emeritus Catholic Archbishop of Khartoum Cardinal Gabriel Zubeir Wako has told worshippers.

The cardinal, who is already in Juba ahead of the pontiff's visit next week, added "let’s do away with division, let us do away with hatred and sow love".

He said unity is what South Sudanese want at this time because "it’s missing very much", and said Pope Francis' visit must re-plant the seed of unity, hope, love and togetherness in people's hearts.

"We are asking the Pope to pray with us for peace and understanding amongst our people," Cardinal Wako added.

Thomas Naadi
BBC News

Image source, AFP

The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged member countries to take immediate action on sub-standard medicines to prevent child deaths.

Since October, seven countries have reported incidents of contaminated medicines containing diethylene glycol (DEG) and ethylene glycol (EG) - these are toxic chemicals used for industrial purposes.

Last year, 300 children in total died aged five and younger in The Gambia, Uzbekistan and Indonesia after taking sub-standard medicines that caused acute kidney injuries.

In all instances, the WHO issued a global alert demanding countries to immediately withdraw the medicines from the market and increase surveillance to detect them.

Now, the global body is urging manufacturers to buy raw ingredients from qualified supplies and test their products while keeping records of the process. Distributors have also been advised to sell only products approved by competent authorities and check for signs of falsification.

Poor regulatory regimes and lack of logistics to detect outbreaks early have often been blamed for the high fatalities. In most instances, the companies involved have denied their products are contaminated. Countries have therefore been urged to spend more resources to inspect manufacturers' sites.

In The Gambia, a parliamentary committee recommended the prosecution of Maiden Pharmaceuticals, the Indian manufacturers of cough syrups linked to the deaths of at least 70 children.

Read more on this story:

• Cough-syrup scandal: How did it end up in The Gambia?