Dorcas Wangira
BBC News, Madagascar

Image source, Reuters

At least 14 people have died, seven in Madagascar and seven in Mozambique following a tropical cyclone.

The number of people affected by Cyclone Freddy has also risen to 383,000, that includes 226,000 in Madagascar and more than 163,300 in Mozambique, according to the latest UN situation report, external.

“Even though the intensity of Cyclone Freddy was not as much as we expected, hundreds of thousands of people are in need of humanitarian assistance. Recovery will take months,” Pasqualina Di Sirio, the World Food Programme's representative in Madagascar told the BBC.

Flooding is unlikely in south-eastern Zimbabwe as cyclone Freddy did not extend as far inland as previously forecasted.

Image source, Reuters

Tunisia tennis star Ons Jabeur on Wednesday posted a tweet against “discrimination” calling for “the right of everyone to live with dignity".

It came a week after President Kais Saied called for a crackdown on sub-Saharan African migrants, which has sparked mass repatriations and attracted global criticism.

Jabeur shared a picture of a Tunisian stamp from 1961 celebrating Africa Day.

President Saied last week said that illegal migration from sub-Saharan Africa was causing “demographic” changes in the country, and accused migrants of being behind rising crime.

He said those who were there illegally would not be allowed to stay.

His remarks were criticised by rights group as racist but the president said those accusing him were seeking to sow discord with Tunisia’s neighbours.

Dozens of Guineans and Ivorians have sought refuge in their countries' embassies and some have reported being physically assaulted following the president’s remarks.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has congratulated Nigeria President-elect Bola Tinubu on his election win.

"I look forward to working together to grow our security and trade ties, opening up opportunities for businesses and creating prosperity in both our countries," Mr Sunak said in a tweet.

Nigerian President-elect Bola Tinubu visited outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday evening in his first engagement since winning the presidency in the elections.

Mr Tinubu "personally thanked the president for his efforts and commitment to ensure a free, fair and credible election", according to a presidential aide.

The president-elect was accompanied by Vice-President-elect Kashim Shettima during the visit.

In a tweet, President Buhari described the pair as "two men who are true believers in Nigeria and genuinely committed to progress and development".

Karim Keita, 19, is hoping to represent his father's country - Senegal - in street skateboarding.

Image source, AFP

The US has congratulated Nigerian President-elect Bola Tinubu and citizens following the just-concluded general elections.

"This competitive election represents a new period for Nigerian politics and democracy," US State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement, external.

The State Department however acknowledged the frustration among some Nigerians and parties regarding the way the elections were conducted amid technical problems that have fuelled accusations of fraud.

It called on the electoral body to improve on the highlighted issues before the 11 March gubernatorial elections, noting that Nigerians were right to expect them to do better.

The US also urged all parties to avoid “violence or inflammatory rhetoric at this critical time” and seek to resolve any disputes through legal channels.

Mr Tinubu, 70, was declared the winner of the 25 February election with 37% of the vote on Wednesday but opposition parties have disputed the results.

The Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi, who finished third in the elections, has promised to challenge the results in court.

Tracy Bircham
BBC World Service News

Ornithologists are celebrating the rediscovery of the dusky tetraka - an olive coloured, yellow-throated songbird native to Madagascar - that was last seen in 1999 and was feared extinct.

The bird was once on the Top 10 most wanted "lost birds" list after eluding scientists for 24 years.

Now three of the rare ground-dwelling songbirds have been sighted in recent weeks, during an expedition into the remote rainforests of north-east Madagascar.

Excited ornithologists say the discovery may cause a rewriting of text books, as the birds were seen on rocky banks by mountain streams - not previously thought to be its natural habitat.

Scientists say this may explain why they haven't been seen, or indeed heard for so long, as the sound of rushing water would have drowned out the bird's calls.

The expedition team found them in two separate locations, on the Masoala peninsula and near Andapa.

Image source, Justice for Greenwood Foundation

Two survivors of the 1921 massacre of black people in the US city of Tulsa have been granted citizenship of Ghana, according to the Justice for Greenwood Foundation, external.

Viola Ford Fletcher, 108 and her brother Hughes Van Ellis, 102, became the oldest African Americans to be granted Ghanaian citizenship.

They are two of three living survivors of the massacre that claimed up to 300 African-American lives.

About 300 Black residents of the prosperous Greenwood town then known as "Black Wall Street" in Tulsa, Oklahoma, were murdered and their businesses and homes destroyed by a mob of white people.

Viola Fletcher, known as Mother Fletcher and her brother Van Ellis, known as "Uncle Red" visited Ghana in August 2021 as part of a week-long tour of Africa to mark the centenary of the killings, known as the Tulsa Race Massacre.

Image source, Justice for Greenwood Foundation

Our proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

Articles critical of powerful African oil lobbyists are being targeted by false copyright claims.

President-elect Bola Tinubu can thank an opposition split for paving his way to the presidency.

In the last few years, powerful criminal gangs have terrorised a swathe of north west and central Nigeria. From camps in the forest, gangs of bandits on motorbikes have attacked villages killing and kidnapping men, women and children. So how can Nigeria's new leader restore security? What does it say about the future of security in Africa's most populous nation? Alex Last has been to the north western city of Katsina to meet some of those battling the bandits.

Photo: Some of the weapons used by vigilantes in Zamfara state, north west Nigeria, 2019 (Photo by Kola Sulaimon / AFP via Getty Images)

Reporter: Alex Last Producer: Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar Sound mix: Rod Farquhar Series Editor: Penny Murphy Production assistant: Helena Warwick-Cross

Bola Tinubu has been announced as the winner of Nigeria’s presidential election. But what's on the president-elect to-do list?

On the day Bola Tinubu has been declared president-elect, Nigerians have different reactions to the election result.

Bola Tinubu, 70, is declared the winner of Nigeria's election despite opposition calls for a rerun.

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

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

A reminder of Wednesday's wise words:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this picture from Bissau, the capital of Guinea Bissau.

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Rwandan refugees in Mozambique have described as "frightening" the ratification of an extradition treaty between the two countries.

A spokesman for the refugees said he believed it would be used to persecute opponents of the government in Kigali.

A number of Rwandan dissidents have been murdered in southern Africa in recent years.

One was shot dead two years ago in the Mozambican capital, another was found floating in the sea in 2012.

Rwandan troops have been deployed to Mozambique to help fight an Islamist insurgency.

Image source, Getty Images

When news spread that a massive earthquake had hit Turkey and Syria in February, the children of Becky’s Foundation, a residential home and school in Ghana, started praying.

A young man many referred to as "uncle" or "Father Christian" was lost in the rubble.

To the rest of the world he was the international footballer, Christian Atsu, who had played for Premier League sides Newcastle and Everton before his current team Hatayspor.

But for the children, he was a pillar of support who would appear unexpectedly on visits bearing football shirts and leading the children in games.

The director of the project, Seth Asiedu, remembers the first time he visited: “It was like a festival.

"The whole community came out in their numbers to have a glimpse of him… And then there was a game between the girls and boys with different Newcastle jerseys."

As the son of a fisherman, 31-year-old Atsu had struggled to get to training and buy football boots - and was determined to help children who’d had a similarly hard start.

So when the news of the footballer's death finally came, many were inconsolable. All the children have been given counselling.

And the question of who will continue Atsu’s support is also at the forefront of Mr Asiedu's mind. They were halfway through the construction of a new school building.

He remains hopeful though – especially as Newcastle fans have themselves started fundraising in tribute to their former player.

In the meantime, he can’t help but speak of the football star, his friend, in the present tense:

“Anytime he comes here you see that there’s full joy… And when he gets out of his car all the children will run and jump on him and embrace him... And he himself will feel very happy.”

• Listen to the full episode on the Africa Daily podcast

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

Ivory Coast and Guinea are despatching specially chartered aircraft to Tunisia to bring hundreds of their citizens back home.

Officials in both Conakry and Yamoussoukro expressed alarm at inflammatory comments made last week by the Tunisian President, Kais Saied.

Mr Saied said that illegal migration was causing “demographic” changes in the country, saying those who were there illegally would not be allowed to stay.

He accused them of being behind rising crime in Tunisia.

He also instructed Tunisian security forces to take urgent measures against undocumented migrants from sub-Saharan Africa.

Dozens of Guineans and Ivorians have sought refuge in their countries' embassies. Some have reported being physically assaulted.

Nduka Orjinmo
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, Getty Images

According to official results, voter turnout in Nigeria's election was 27%, one of the lowest since the end of military rule in 1999.

With about 8.8 million votes cast for president-elect Bola Tinubu, the statistics show he was the choice of less than 10% of the record 93 million who registered to vote, helped by a divided opposition.

But voter apathy is not thought to have been as much of a factor as possible issues with the voters’ roll and problems on voting day.

Since 2011, when the electoral commission began using biometrics to register voters, 87 million people have gone to the trouble of physically going to collect their voter cards.

Yet the voters’ roll is not automatically updated when people die or leave the country and with the introduction of a new electronic voting system, known as Bvas, those who cheated the system and voted multiple times in the past might also have been greatly reduced this time - so the 27% turnout might be reflective of the actual voting strength in the country.

A recent cash crisis and fuel scarcity in parts of the country also affected those that often travel to vote.

On election day itself many potential voters left polling stations without casting their ballots after voting did not start on time in many places.

In some opposition strongholds, voting did not take place at all and there were also cases of ballot-box snatching and voter intimidation in southern states such as Rivers, Lagos and Delta.

2 March 2023: This post has been updated to make it clear that 87 million voters cards have been collected since 2011.