Youssef Taha
BBC World Service News

The Prime Minister of Iraq, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, has arrived in Cairo to seek Egypt's help to repair dilapidated public services such as water and electricity supplies.

Four years ago, contaminated drinking water left thousands needing hospital treatment, and frequent power cuts led to nationwide protests which toppled the government.

Mr al-Sudani, who assumed office last October, will also try to attract Egyptian companies to invest in Iraq after years of sanctions and terror attacks.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

Military officials from the southern African regional block, SADC, are in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to assess security at a time when there is increased international attention on the conflict there.

The EU has just announced an operation to fly in aid to help the hundreds of thousands of people who have been displaced since M23 rebels relaunched a rebellion several months ago.

A decade ago a SADC military operation helped drive M23 rebels out of the country.

We don't know if this latest inspection will lead to yet more boots on the ground, but it's a sign of a growing international dimension to the conflict.

As well as more than 12,000 UN peacekeepers, Kenya and other east African countries have also sent in soldiers.

A ceasefire is due to begin in a couple of days.

But the key to stopping at least some of the violence will be improving the relations between DR Congo and Rwanda which is widely known to be backing the M23 rebel group. Rwanda, however, denies this.

Related articles:

• Why Kenya decided to put boots on the ground in DR Congo conflict
• Rwanda-DR Congo tension: Shooting of plane an ‘act of war’
• Soldiers get death sentence for cowardice against M23 rebels

Youssef Chebbi triumphs at Fespaco film festival with his first feature-length production, Ashkal.

The Scottish government has given £500,000 to Christian Aid, Mercy Corps, Sciaf and Tearfund.

Bex Yearworth has been integral to a charity that has helped more than 14,000 people walk again.

BBC World Service

Two workers for the International Committee of the Red Cross have been kidnapped in Mali.

The organisation said the abductions took place on a road between the north-eastern cities of Gao and Kidal - an area which has long been a hotspot for violence by Islamist militias.

Mali has been gripped by a security crisis since 2012 and kidnappings are common, with motives including demands for ransom and acts of reprisal against security operations by the government.

Last month in Mali, a World Health Organization doctor was freed weeks after he was kidnapped from his car in the district of Ménaka. And back in May 2022, gunmen abducted three Italians and a Togolese national.

The violence has also spread into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, killing thousands and displacing more than two million people in the region.

More on Mali:

• Emmanuel Macron's mission to counter Russia in Africa
• Russia in Africa: How disinformation operations target the continent
• UK withdraws troops from Mali early blaming political instability
• Coups that promised - and failed - to bring safety
• The iconic photos of Mali's Malick Sidibé

An archive of photos from Ghana stretching back a century offers a glimpse of how things have changed.

The French president is back in Africa trying to fend off challenges from Russia and China.

Administrators in Kenya say they will no longer focus on winning medals as they bid to ‘smoke out’ drug cheats.

Opposition parties say they will go to court - what happens next?

DJ Edu
Presenter of This Is Africa on BBC World Service

Image source, 5K Records

Libianca has an astonishing voice, warm, melodious and versatile – Rolling Stone magazine called her "the afro-soul siren who can do everything".

At 21, she wowed the judges on The Voice talent show in the US, and it was a shock to many, as well as to Libianca herself, that she did not win:

Not winning did Libianca’s career no harm at all. A year later she released her smash hit People which she tells me changed her life overnight:

The latest development in the story of People is that it’s been jumped on by none other than Ayra Starr and Omah Leh, two of the best voices in Afrobeats.

The lyrics of the song were inspired by Libianca’s personal experience with depression. She hasn’t had it easy. She’s been diagnosed with cyclothymia, a mood disorder, and wrote People when she was not coping well. It’s a cry for help that has clearly resonated with many people.

Libianca also told me about having to be uprooted from the US aged four because her mother was being threatened with deportation, then settling in Bamenda, Cameroon until her teens. The family then moved back to Minnesota, and the young Libianca had to adjust again:

But Libianca got stuck in, with music as her constant companion:

Libianca’s combination of feisty self-belief and honesty about her vulnerability seems to be a winning one when it comes to making it in the music industry. She’s now been signed to 5K Records, a subsidiary of Sony, and is living her best life:

You can hear the full conversation between Libianca and DJ Edu on This is Africa this Saturday, on BBC World Service radio and partner stations across Africa, as well as online here: BBCworldservice.com/thisisafrica

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Burundi says it is deploying about 100 soldiers to North Kivu province in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where dozens of armed groups are fighting.

They are to join a regional East African force - which also includes soldiers from Kenya.

It was deployed in November following the resurgence of the M23 rebel group which Rwanda is accused of backing but the Kigali government denies.

The rebels are due to withdraw by the end of the month from areas they have captured.

Previous deadlines have been missed and there have been recent demonstrations in eastern Congo by people who want the East African force to take a more aggressive stance against the rebels.

Social media sensation Khaby Lame, who was born in Senegal and raised in Italy, has joined the judges' panel of reality TV show Italia’s Got Talent.

Lame is currently the world’s most-followed content creator on TikTok, where he is known for his famous shrug and for myth-busting various "life hacks". He launched his page in 2020 after losing his job in a factory, and quickly built a huge following.

The BBC profiled him a year ago, asking his fans in Senegal what they made of his fast rise:

Peter Mwai
BBC Reality Check

As controversy continues about Nigeria's election, a prominent opposition politician has shared a misleading video that questions the official results from one area.

Senator Dino Melaye from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whose candidate Atiku Abubakar is challenging the results, tweeted about what he called “INEC magic”,, external referring to Nigeria’s official election commission.

The video has had thousands of views and shows a results screen from a TV channel with people heard off-camera joking about the total for the ruling APC party, because the figures shown in the rows above don’t add up to anything close to the total seen at the bottom. They don’t mention that the results for other parties shown also don’t add up.

The reason for that is the Twitter video only shows part of a full table displayed on a television screen, which we've found matches the results from Delta state.

It's clear from watching the official announcement ceremony, external that there are rows of numbers above those seen in the tweet, and these can be heard being read out by officials.

The state has 25 local government areas, not just the 10 visible in the social media post.

We’ve contacted Senator Melaye about his tweet, but have not yet had a response. The Labour Party won the state, and the PDP came second with the APC in third place, according to the official results.

Some African parents on moving to the UK discover that attitudes towards disciplining your children is very different.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

An explosion at a crude oil pipeline in southern Nigeria has killed at least 12 people.

Police in Rivers State said the blast was caused by thieves who were trying to steal oil.

In the creeks of the Niger Delta, criminals frequently break into the pipelines and take the oil to illegal refineries.

This hurts the country's economy and also causes environmental damage.

A civil society group said the number killed was far higher, as all the people who had gathered at the tapping point were killed in the explosion.

Related stories:

• Nigeria's stolen oil, the military and a man named Government
• Can Africa replace Russian gas supplies to Europe?
• The story of oil, Shell and Nigeria

Midfielder Iliman Ndiaye praised by Sheffield United team-mate and manager after his late winner knocks Spurs out of the FA Cup.

Kennedy Gondwe
BBC News, Lusaka

An alleged suicide attempt by a judge in Zambia - who is facing corruption accusations - has been foiled after he was rescued from a river he is said to have thrown himself into.

Wilfred Muma, a high court judge in western Zambia, is currently facing allegations of transferring a land title involving a Zambia Army property in Lusaka to the governing party, which wanted to use it to build its offices.

He has denied the charges in court.

He was arrested two weeks ago but according to Zambia police spokesperson Danny Mwale, the judge on Wednesday went missing after sending "suicide-like" messages to his relatives.

Mr Mwale said police started investigations, leading to the recovery of Mr Muma’s official vehicle, which was found abandoned at the Zambezi Bridge with keys in the ignition.

“Initial investigations indicated that Judge Muma committed suicide by throwing himself in the Zambezi river and around 06:00 hours, Zambia Police Marine officers and members of the public were on site again continuing with the search,” Mr Mwale said in a statement.

The police spokesman said officers received information two hours later that the judge had been rescued by a fisherman who heard him calling for help while clutching grass - and took him to a river island.

He was later ferried using a canoe to the location where he had abandoned his car and was handed to the police, Mr Mwale said.

He was rushed to hospital where he is currently receiving medical attention. Police have opened an inquiry into the matter.

After developing in early February the storm is now one of the longest running in the southern hemisphere. It's currently re-intensifying as it moves back towards Madagascar.