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

Until next week, you can find the latest updates on the BBC News website, or listen to our Africa Today podcast.

A reminder of Friday's wise words:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

We leave you with a picture of Kenyan lawyers dancing during a protest against a series of remarks from the country's president.

Image source, AFP

DJ Edu
Presenter of This Is Africa on BBC World Service

Image source, Giuilio Molfese

Vinka is one of Uganda’s most popular female artists.

She’s had a string of chart-topping hits and has collaborated with most of the big names in Ugandan music. Her latest drop is a dancehall number, called All Over You.

“There’s a Ugandan dance, like a zombie dance, and when I listened to this song I was like why not, let’s do the dance in the video, and people are loving it, people are doing the dance,” Vinka told the BBC's This Is Africa radio show.

But Vinka had to overcome a lot of snootiness when she first launched herself as a recording artist in her own right. You see, she started out as a dancer, adorning other people’s music videos. Then she became a talent manager.

“I did that for three years. I learnt that we as human beings are not easy to manage. In that job you have to put all your emotions away regardless,” she said.

“People that knew me as an artist manager were saying she’s better off as an artist manager, they really wrote me off – she can’t sing, she’s sounding like a man, what’s that deep voice,” Vinka said.

It was really hurtful, Vinka said, but it gave her thick skin and she always had enough self-belief to get through.

Despite the challenges they face, a very healthy number of female artists are doing well in Uganda at the moment and they collaborate with each other in a way that is rarer in other African countries.

Five months ago, Vinka released the banger Chekecha with Winnie Nwaji and Karole Kasiita. The song has already been viewed four million times on YouTube.

The song that Vinka says is her biggest so far is Bebe, another collaboration with a woman, this time Inna from Romania:

“We decided to do a song in French with some Kiswahili and English. I went down to Romania, it was a very beautiful experience. My music is spreading wider to different markets, so I am trying, I am not doing bad,” Vinka said.

With 26 million YouTube views to date for Bebe, I would say she’s right!

To hear DJ Edu’s conversation with Vinka, listen to This is Africa on BBC World Service radio and partner stations across Africa. You can also listen online here.

Image source, Getty Images

The Supreme Court in Nigeria has rejected attempts to overturn the results of last year's governorship elections.

This ruling has dealt a blow to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), in several states.

The country's top court ruled in favour of governors from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in three states and another opposition party in two states.

The court ruled in favour of the APC in three states, according to AFP.

In the key state of Kano, New Nigeria People's Party (NNPP) governor Abba Kabir Yusuf was reinstated after the Supreme Court overruled a lower court verdict that had sided with the APC and led to his removal from office.

Governors are powerful figures in Nigeria, where polls are fiercely contested.

Results are often disputed and the Supreme Court often has to pass down judgements.

This ruling represents the court's final major decision on last year's polls.

Last October, the Supreme Court consolidated President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's election victory and dismissed appeals from the opposition.

Will it be third time lucky for Mohamed Salah with Egypt, with several contenders for glory at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations?

Image source, AFP

The killing of aid workers, looting of warehouses and extortion of truck drivers are among the "outrageous" reasons why aid is not reaching the millions of Sudanese people that need it, a UN humanitarian boss has said.

In a post on social media platform X, external, Martin Griffiths, the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs said: "Millions of people in #Sudan need humanitarian aid now. Far too few of them are getting it".

Reasons listed in his post include:

• "A conflict-ravaged capital city, Khartoum, almost impossible to reach."
• "A humanitarian hub, Wad Madani, looted and paralysed by violence."
• "Drivers beaten and extorted for money."
• "Aid workers being detained and killed."
• "Humanitarian supplies, warehouses and offices looted."

Sudan has been gripped by nearly nine months of war, at the centre of which is a disagreement between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

At least 12,190 civilians and soldiers have been killed, according to a conservative estimate by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project.

The United Nations says more than seven million people have been displaced.

Read more:

• Sudan war: 'When a bomb fell I told my son it was an action movie'
• Sudan: Why has fighting broken out there?

Its lawyers rebuff South Africa's accusations while defending actions in Gaza at the UN's top court.

Cricket South Africa officials say they demoted David Teeger because of safety concerns after his comments about the Gaza conflict.

Samba Cyuzuzo
BBC Great Lakes

Image source, Akagera National Park/X

It has been announced that the two male lions, which were part of a group of seven brought to Rwanda's Akagera National Park in order to reintroduce the mammals to the country, have died.

Ntwali, 13 and Ngangari,12, arrived in the country in 2015.

They died from old age last year, but their deaths have only just been made public by the park.

Lions were wiped out in Rwanda in the years after the 1994 genocide when returning refugees settled in protected areas of the park, and killed the big cats to the last to protect their livestock.

Ntwali (meaning - hero) and Ngangari (the strong one) once ruled the northern plains territories of the park before eventually relocating to the north-east part of the park to spend their remaining years alongside the lioness Amahoro (peace), a group of the park experts said.

The park is now home to around 60 lions, all of them descendant of Ntwali and Ngangari.

The two late lions originated from Etosha National Park in Namibia, according to National Geographic.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

A minister from Mali's military government has said his junta wishes to hold transitional elections "as soon as possible", according to the state-owned news site L’Essor.

Col Abdoulaye Maiga said the latest challenge to the electoral process is the resumption of hostilities with former northern separatist groups, but assured the public that the government was working to ensure stability.

He also addressed the junta postponement of elections last September.

“Whether we like it or not, and whatever the arguments for or against, today Kidal [a stronghold recovered by the army last year] is the result of the extension.

"These are realities that must be taken into account,” Col Maiga said.

The junta, led by Col Assimi Goïta, seized power in May 2021.

Coup leaders has been under pressure to announce the dates for fresh transitional elections after the "slight postponement" that put of the initial polls that had been set for February 2024.

The junta cited "technical" reasons linked to the adoption of a new constitution and the revision of the voters’ register by the electoral agency.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

A statue of the late South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu wearing a Palestinian scarf has been unveiled in Cape Town to symbolise his support for the Palestinian cause.

The Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation said the statue would be temporarily on show until the bombing of Gaza stops.

Israel says it is trying to eliminate Hamas, which launched an attack on Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,300 people and taking some 240 others back to Gaza as hostages.

The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 23,350 people - mostly women and children - have been killed by Israel in the war.

Archbishop Tutu was an outspoken critic of Israel's policies towards Palestinians which he likened to the actions of the apartheid authorities in South Africa.

The governing ANC party has also long been a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause.

At the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Friday, Israel has been defending itself against South Africa's accusation that it is carrying out a genocide in Gaza.

It said South Africa has distorted the truth and that it had presented "a sweeping counter-factual description" of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

Caleb Ojewale
BBC News, Lagos

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has dismissed the boards and management of Keystone, Polaris and Union Banks this week due to a lack of compliance with banking regulations as well as corporate governance failures.

The CBN has appointed new management teams to take over at all three private banks.

This move was triggered by a report and set of recommendations from a special investigator hired by President Bola Tinubu to look into the CBN. This prompted the changes at the banks as they are regulated by the CBN.

What will happen to Keystone, Polaris and Union Bank customers’ money?

The short answer is, nothing.

Nothing is expected to change for people with deposit accounts at these banks as they have not been liquidated or declared insolvent.

It is worth remembering that this is not the first time that the CBN has sacked and appointed new management at private banks in Nigeria. In previous instances, such as Skye Bank in 2018, there was no loss of depositors’ money.

President Tinubu’s tough reforms are being driven by his bid to stop what he calls “leakages and abuse” in the financial sector. His team are looking to shore up institutions to guard against any collapse and the impact that could have on Nigeria’s economy.

The president’s plan also includes the liberalisation of the foreign exchange market to help manage the rapid fall in value of the local currency, the naira.

Ashley Lime
BBC News, Nairobi

Image source, Getty Images

Catholic bishops in Africa have rejected Pope Francis' declaration to bless homosexual couples, asserting that it is "contrary to the will of God".

The Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (Secam) - the umbrella body for Catholic bishops across Africa - said in a statement the Vatican's approval of same-sex blessings is "not appropriate".

"The constant teaching of the Church describes homosexual acts as 'intrinsically disordered' and contrary to the natural law," it read.

President of Secam, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, said the message had been approved by Pope Francis and they will continue their communion with the head of the Catholic Church.

Last month, Pope Francis declared that priests should be permitted to bless same-sex couples.

This has sparked mixed reactions from both the Catholic Church and the LGBT community.

But the Vatican said blessings should not be part of regular Church rituals or related to civil unions or weddings.

It added that it continues to view marriage as between a man and a woman.

There are 64 countries globally that criminalise homosexuality, external and about half of these are in Africa.

Image source, AFP

Campaigns for Sunday's presidential and regional elections in Comoros are set to end on Friday, amid calls for boycott by some presidential candidates.

Incumbent President Azali Assoumani is facing five challengers for his bid for a fourth term.

For months, some of the candidates have threatened to boycott the election over the detention of political prisoners and concerns about the poll's credibility.

Mr Assoumani, 65, is a former military officer who first came to power after a coup in 1999.

Both President Assoumani and the electoral body CENI have assured the country of a transparent election.

More than 300,000 people are registered to vote in the tiny African archipelago, the population of which is estimated at 836,000 by the World Bank.

Image source, Getty Images

Leaders of the East African regional bloc, Igad, will next week meet in Uganda to discuss the growing diplomatic tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia.

Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh, who is the current chair of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad), made the announcement on Thursday, through a letter to the bloc's member states.

The African Union and other international partners are also expected to participate in the talks, which will also touch on the ongoing conflict in Sudan.

Sudan has been in a civil war since a power struggle between the army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) sparked a civil war in April last year.

Igad has been steering regional efforts to broker a ceasefire between the warring parties.

Ethiopia and Somalia are currently engaged in a diplomatic standoff following Ethiopia's signing of a sea access deal with Somaliland, a breakaway state of Somalia that is not internationally recognised.

Somalia has denounced the deal as a violation of its sovereignty and vowed to challenge it "by any legal means".

AU and other international bodies have called for dialogue amid concerns that the Ethiopia-Somaliland deal could escalate tensions in the Horn of Africa region.

Cape Verde becomes the first sub-Saharan country to get rid of the deadly disease in 50 years.

Image source, Law Society of Kenya

Dozens of lawyers are protesting in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, in response to threats to defy court orders by President William Ruto.

The lawyers are marching from the Supreme Court to the president's office in the protest organised by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK).

President Ruto came under a barrage of criticism last week after he threatened to disobey court orders, alleging that some unnamed judges had teamed up with opposition politicians and "cartels" to block his administration's projects.

"The president of this country is not above the law. Therefore, we do not expect him to speak as if obeying of court orders is a favour that he is doing to the country. It is a constitutional requirement," LSK president Eric Theuri said in a media briefing on Thursday.

Mr Theuri added that LSK will consider initiating Mr Ruto's impeachment for "violation of the constitution" if he continues with his attacks against the judiciary.

LSK has assembled a legal team to file a High Court petition to declare Mr Ruto in violation of the constitution, Mr Theuri told the privately-owned Standard newspaper.

Several high-profile Kenyan lawyers have joined the protest, including former Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka and former minister Eugene Wamalwa, both currently opposition politicians.

Chief Justice Martha Koome and opposition leader Raila Odinga last week warned Mr Ruto that defying courts would set the stage for anarchy in the country.

Who has been called up for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations? Find out in our list of squads from all 24 participating countries.

Image source, WHO Regional Office for Africa/X

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is scaling up its emergency response in Congo-Brazzaville as the central African nation battles one of its worst floods in decades.

The UN health body has allocated $100,000 (£78,000) for the deployment of first responders, WHO's Africa office announced, external on Thursday.

"Heavy flooding has caused widespread devastation in Congo, with nine of its 12 [regional] departments affected," it said, adding that the floods have affected more than 336,000 Congolese, 34 health facilities and more than 2,200 hectares of farmland.

Congo Brazzaville and the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo are battling severe floods following heavy rains and the rising of water in the Congo River to the highest levels since 1961.

In DR Congo, the floods have killed more than 300 people and displaced over 300,000 households, Reuters news agency reports, citing the social affairs ministry.

Many factors contribute to flooding, but a warming atmosphere caused by climate change makes extreme rainfall more likely.

Nigeria's Supreme Court is due to deliver key judgements in governorship disputes across seven states.

The much-awaited verdicts will address several electoral appeals from Lagos, Kano, Plateau, Zamfara, Bauchi, Cross River and Ebonyi states.

A key focus will be two appeals challenging the election of Lagos state Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

The court will also deliver judgement on the appeal filed by Plateau state Governor Caleb Mutfwang, challenging his removal by the Court of Appeal.

The decision of the Supreme Court on the cases is final.

There is increased security in the states where final decisions on who are the governors will be taken, local media report.

After its civil war ended in 2011, Ivory Coast has now spent at least $1 billion on hosting the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.