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Image source, UNFPA SOMALIA/X

Thousands of people are trapped in flooded areas following heavy rains in Somalia's Jubbaland state, the UN's humanitarian agency says.

The heavy rains that started last month have elevated the water levels on the Juba River, causing flooding in riverine areas of the state, the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said in a statement.

"In Luuq district, 2,400 people have been trapped in an area surrounded by water," it added.

Efforts by the authorities and rescue partners are under way to evacuate the stranded locals.

At least 14 people have died and 47,000 been displaced in the flash floods across Somalia since last month, Ocha had said earlier.

Somalia's Information Minister Daud Aweis said the floods, which also affected Hirshabelle and South-West states, have caused widespread damage. He appealed for support, adding that the situation was critical.

The country is experiencing heavier than normal rains after emerging from one of its worst droughts in four decades.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned of a high risk of flooding, particularly in the south-western Gedo region.

Upheavals in West Africa mean France can no longer take its "backyard" for granted.

The deadline means people with non-British family who need to apply for UK visas risk overstaying.

Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia will contest the presidency under the NPP's banner in elections.

The meteoric rise of a Nigerian Afrobeats star prepared to hustle his way to global domination.

Moussa Dadis Camara is back in prison after he and three others were broken out early on Saturday.

Kelvin Mariuki Mwithi tried to save Londoner Shilpa Shah as she fell walking down a mountain.

That's all for the week from the BBC Africa Live team.

There'll be an automated service here but you can also find the latest updates on the BBC News website, or listen to our Focus on Africa podcast.

Our proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

We leave you with this photo of a young rugby fan in Cape Town looking on as the South African national team continue their four-day World Cup victory tour.

Image source, AFP

Paa Kwesi Asare
BBC News

Ghanaian MPs have said Health Minister Kwaku Agyeman Manu should appear before parliament next week to answer questions about the five-month closure of the renal unit at the publicly funded Korle-Bu hospital in the capital, Accra.

The country’s largest treatment centre for patients suffering kidney disease shut because of budgetary issues and it was unable to pay for the everyday needs of those needing its services.

Nineteen people have died since the facility was closed, according to the head of a patients' group. Kofi Baffour Ahenkorah told the BBC that the situation has left most of his members stranded because they cannot afford the treatment at private hospitals.

Patients on dialysis have to visit the hospital three times a week. At Korle-Bu, the treatment cost is $190 (£160) per week - private hospitals charge far more than that.

The health ministry has said it issued a directive for the facility to be re-opened, and that the debt issue has been resolved, but that has not yet happened.

The hospital authorities said they have received no such directive.

Danai Nesta Kupemba
BBC News

Image source, AFP

Sunday will see South Africa playing host to the final of the prestigious opera competition, Operalia.

Two South Africans, Siphokazi Molteno and Nombulelo Yende, are among the 16 singers who will be trying to impress the judges in Cape Town.

Initially 800 people from more than 15 countries had applied to take part.

South Africa has an "international reputation for the quality of its singers", Operalia vice-president Alvaro Domingo said.

Alex Gabriel, the CEO of Cape Town Opera, said hosting the event will illustrate "the remarkable talent of our South African opera singers, who are taking the world by storm".

Pretty Yende, Yende's older sister, won in 2011 and went on to sing at King Charles III's coronation this year.

In the final, every contestant will perform with the Operalia founder, Plácido Domingo - a world renowned maestro - and the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, assisted by guest conductor Kamal Khan.

The South African pair will compete against singers from Armenia, South Korea, and France.

Domingo founded Operalia in 1993 to create a platform for promoting young opera talent from around the world. This year the competition celebrates its 30th anniversary.

The final round of the competition will be live-streamed by medici.tv free of charge.

Emery Makumeno
BBC News, Kinshasa

More than 100 schools in the Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern region of Beni have been closed for almost two weeks amid a protest by teachers.

Dozens of school staff refuse to return to class following the killing of three teachers during a jihadist attack last month.

The staff, co-ordinated by unions, have said they will only begin teaching once the results of an investigation into the attack are published.

At least 26 people were killed by machetes when a militia group stormed the Masosi locality overnight on 24 October.

Congolese Army spokesperson Captain Anthony Mualushayi told the BBC that five people are still missing following the attack.

The army attributed the killings to an Islamist group called the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), originally from Uganda.

As an investigation into the attack continues, negotiations between authorities and the protesting education unions have stalled.

According to the International Organization for Migration, around 6.9 million people in DR Congo have been forced from their homes this year, with the majority fleeing due to instability caused by the 200-plus armed groups active in the east of the nation.

Image source, PA

King Charles and Queen Camilla have ended a state visit to Kenya by posing in a tuk-tuk used by commuters on the streets of Mombasa.

Sat in the three-wheeled vehicle, the King quipped to reporters: "Maybe we can use this to get to the airport."

Tuk-tuks are used widely across Kenya as an affordable form of transport.

The visit was the King's first to a former British colony since he came to the throne last year.

He focused on the two countries' cooperation on economic development, climate change and security issues.

He also expressed his "deepest regret" for the violence endured during Kenya's struggle for independence from the UK.

However, King Charles did not offer the apology that many victims and their descendants had called for.

Ahead of Charles' trip, protests took place along Mau Mau road, which was named after the group that fought against the colonial rule.

Activists and former freedom fighters held signs bearing statements like "King Charles not welcomed by the Kenyan people" and "decolonise Kenya".

Read more: Mau Mau uprising hangs over King Charles Kenya trip

Image source, EPA

US investment could help African countries make the most of its critical minerals and industrialise their economies, South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has said

At the opening ceremony of a major US-Africa trade summit in Johannesburg, he said, external: "Africa is an important source of critical raw materials, but we do not want to be defined as simply the producers of commodities."

He added that African countries would profit greatly from keeping these materials in-house and transforming them into goods that can then be sold globally, rather than exporting the resources to countries with greater manufacturing capabilities.

"We look forward to the United States working with African countries to foster an investment-led approach that aims to diversify international supply chains of critical minerals by beneficiating these resources here on the African continent," Mr Ramaphosa said.

In terms of natural resources, Africa is the most abundant continent on earth. It has 40% of the world's gold, according to the UN, and the largest reserves of cobalt, uranium, platinum and diamonds.

However, several countries face high levels of poverty and inequality.

The meeting in Johannesburg is looking at the future of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), a trade initiative passed in 2000 to deepen trade ties between the US and Africa.

It provides duty-free access to the US market and is due to expire in September 2025. African countries are pushing for an early 10-year extension, without changes, to reassure businesses and investors.

Elsewhere at the summit, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said President Joe Biden's administration wanted to work with Congress to improve Agoa not just renew it without changes.

Read more on Agoa:

• Agoa Forum: Has the US trade pact helped Africa?

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said that a diplomatic adviser had resigned following a prank call fiasco, the Reuters news agency reports.

Ms Meloni's office earlier this week admitted she had a phone call with a Russian comedian who pretended to be a high-ranking African Union official.

Falling for the prank, Ms Meloni spoke of international "fatigue" with the war in Ukraine. She also complained that Italy had little support from European partners in dealing with migration.

The call took place in September.

Ms Meloni announced that her aide had quit on Friday. She said: "This matter was not handled well, we are all sorry, Ambassador (Francesco) Talo took responsibility for it."

More should be expected from Victor Osimhen after the Nigeria striker came eighth in the Ballon d'Or, says Emmanuel Amuneke.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

A Somali military court has sentenced a former soldier to 10 years in prison and ordered him to pay blood money to the family of a police officer killed in clashes in August.

The court issued the ruling against Shegow Ahmed Ali, a militia leader, on Thursday following a one-day trial in the capital, Mogadishu, the state-owned Sonna news agency reports.

It also sentenced militiaman Ahmed Mohamed Hassan to death and handed 18 others various jail terms, ranging from three to six years.

Ali, more commonly known as General Shegow, was arrested in August following heavy clashes in Mogadishu between police officers and a militia he led.

Police said the violence broke out after officers tried to arrest members of the militia, which was linked to robberies and money laundering in the capital.

At least one policeman and two militiamen were killed during the incident.

General Shegow's arrest sparked an outcry on social media, with some Somalis saying it was part of the oppression of the Jareerweyn, a historically marginalised group sometimes referred to as “Somali Bantus”.

DJ Edu
Presenter of This Is Africa on BBC World Service

Fally Ipupa is one of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s biggest stars.

His song Un Coup, featuring Congolese-French singer Dadju, for example, has been viewed more than 80 million times on YouTube, and his live performances attract thousands of fans.

In fact, so many people were desperate to see him perform in DR Congo’s capital last year that Kinshasa's Stadium of Martyrs was over-full and there was a crush at the end.

Initial reports from the government said that 11 people lost their lives. According to Ipupa and the BBC’s Kinshasa reporter, this figure was never conclusively confirmed.

This is not the only one of Ipupa’s concerts that ended up in the news. When he performed in France in 2020, there were riots outside the venue in Paris with protesters setting fire to bins and motorbikes.

It was all linked to politics. For the last decade members of the diaspora have tried to stop Congolese musicians from performing in Europe, in order to show their opposition to politicians back home.

They have accused big stars of being too close to power and of failing to speak out against abuses happening in DR Congo.

Image source, AFP

So it is a big moment for Fally Ipupa that for the first time in his career he is finally due to perform in London. His concert will be in December, when elections are scheduled to be held back home.

The 45-year-old singer and his management tell me that an agreement has now been reached with sceptical Congolese communities and he is set to perform again in Paris and Brussels.

“Most of the people know now that I don’t do political things, I am just a musician and they have realised that you cannot punish your child all his life,” he said.

Ipupa does have some sympathy for those who boycotted his concerts but he feels it is time to move past politics and support DR Congo's music industry.

“I agree that things were happening politically which were not correct in DR Congo, and I’ve always told them that I agree with certain of the protesters who wanted to get the message across and raise awareness in people.

"But now the time has come to say look guys, we have punished the artists, we have slowed down Congolese culture, it’s time to show the world that we have very, very strong music.”

He feels that Congolese music has really suffered, losing its place in Europe to music from Nigeria, Ghana and Jamaica. Nigerian Afrobeats artists are now filling the major venues that Congolese artists used to fill 10 years ago. But he is confident that this can change.

“Congolese music is one of the most beautiful and rich, we have many talented artists, so if our brothers and sisters in Europe say no more blocking of Congolese music in Europe trust me we’re going to take our place in the world,” he said.

To hear my conversation with Fally Ipupa, and acoustic renditions of some of his best loved songs, listen to This is Africa on BBC World Service radio and partner stations across Africa, and online here.

Image source, Kenya Met Department

Flash floods have hit parts of Kenya, cutting off roads and submerging vehicles.

In the coastal city of Mombasa, many road users were forced to abandon their cars and use motorbikes to access the airport and train station on Friday, after floods cut off roads in that section of the city.

In the county of Isiolo in northern Kenya, locals are searching for a young man who was washed away by floods as he rode a motorbike on Thursday.

The conservation organisation Save the Elephants also rescued eight people from a sinking lorry on Thursday, after floods trapped them.

It is not the first time a conservation group in Kenya has stepped in to save humans from floods - earlier this year The Sheldrick Wildlife Trust used their helicopter to rescue a stranded driver.

The meteorological department had warned that El Niño rains could hit Kenya and other East African countries from mid-October and cause flooding, infrastructure damage and possible deaths.

Neighbouring Tanzania and Somalia have also experienced heavy rains in recent days.

But on 22 October, Kenyan President William Ruto caused an uproar when he claimed that the country would not experience El Niño, a natural weather event, as had been predicted.

"The meteorological department has now said there will be no El Niño. We will only have heavy rains but they will not reach a destructive level," Mr Ruto said.

As well as causing changes to rainfall, global temperatures typically increase during an El Niño episode.

There will be five new clubs in the Women's African Champions League this year aiming to topple holders AS FAR in Ivory Coast.