That's all for now from the BBC Africa Live team, but we'll be back on Friday morning Nairobi time.

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

A reminder of Wednesday's wise words:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

We leave you with a picture of footballers from Turkish club Hatayspor, who commemorated their late teammate Christian Atsu on Wednesday - his birthday.

Atsu, who hailed from Ghana, died in an earthquake in February last year.

Image source, Getty Images

Ghana's national football team have arrived in style for the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).

The Black Stars filed out of Abidjan's Felix Houphouet-Boigny International Airport wearing traditional kente outfits, ready for their first game against Cape Verde on Sunday.

Image source, AFP

Image source, AFP

Image source, AFP

Read more about Afcon:

• When does Afcon 2023 start? Fixtures, schedule, format, groups and kick-off times
• How will Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana & Senegal fare in Groups A, B and C?
• Who will win Afcon 2023? The computer says...

Politicians and celebrities have backed Chef Failatu Abdul-Razak's attempt to break the world record.

Image source, Getty Images

Earlier, we reported that the renowned South African photographer Peter Magubane was being laid to rest in an official state funeral.

The service has now finished - here are some of the tributes that were paid to the late anti-apartheid activist:

• South African President Cyril Ramaphosa: “Beatings, detentions, imprisonment and 586 consecutive days of solitary confinement. But despite all attempts to break his spirit and to take him away from his craft he would not put his camera down”.
• Mr Magubane's grandaughter, Lungile Magubane: “Our grandfather was not just a photojournalist or a struggle photographer – no. He should rightfully be remembered as a multi-potentialite, an artist who spent his life creating visual archives for the cannon South African cultural history.”
• South African actor John Kani: “The mist of stones and dustbins and bullets flying and teargas, he wanted to photograph those that were grabbed by the police. And the police did not fear so much our stones and petrol bombs, they feared that camera exposed the brutality and it was a record.”

Image source, AFP

Anne Soy
BBC News, Nairobi

Around eight people who were travelling in a UN helicopter have been taken by the al-Shabab armed Islamist group in Somalia after their aircraft landed, reportedly by mistake, in an area controlled by the group.

The security minister for Somalia's Galmudug region, Mohamed Abdi Aadan, confirmed the incident to the BBC.

He said the group held by al-Shabab comprises both passengers and crew members.

Local sources said the helicopter was heading to Wisil town, near Galmudug.

The Somali government has in recent months intensified its fight against the al-Qaeda-linked group.

Over 30 backbenchers insist the PM's law will fail to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda unless it is changed.

Priyanka Sippy
BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

A Ghanaian tennis photographer has told the BBC that his career has reached new heights thanks to Serena Williams posting his pictures on her Instagram account.

"My phone was buzzing one night. Everybody was calling me to tell me: 'Serena Williams has reposted your photos'," Bernard Nii Bortey told the BBC Focus on Africa podcast.

"I thought 'wow' - it was a big surprise. It took me to another level. Kids now get their parents to call me to see if I am coming to the tournament to take photos.

"They want me to capture them because they think Serena Williams will see the photos. I want to send her a message so that she can come to Ghana again to meet these kids."

Mr Nii Bortey started playing tennis in Accra, Ghana's capital, aged eight after stumbling across a local tennis club.

He went on to receive a scholarship for school due to his skills on the court but was unable to play competitively due to injuries.

Unwilling to give up his passion for the game, Mr Nii Bortey began taking photos of local tournaments. He most recently travelled to Kenya to capture the Billie Jean King Cup.

"I want to shoot one Grand Slam. I want to be the first African to do that. It would be the icing on the cake," he said.

Listen to the full interview here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0h3z3c4

Image source, Bernard Nii Bortey

The Nigerian star alleges the Grammy nominee artist has threatened her - he has not yet responded.

Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

Image source, AFP

At least three community leaders in Mozambique have been killed and around 50 houses set on fire following a wave of misinformation about a cholera outbreak, the authorites have said.

Officials said most of the attacks have been led by the Naparamas, a militia group that has taken up arms against jihadists in the northern Cabo Delgado province.

This week a protest accusing authorities of spreading cholera through medicine resulted in the destruction of more than a dozen houses.

According to local sources, the Naparamas also destroyed a cholera treatment centre.

Officials have expressed concern that the Naparamas may fuel insecurity in Mozambique unless urgent measures are taken against them.

António Supeia, the secretary of state for Cabo Delgado, said earlier this month: “The Naparamas are confronting the state by attacking police, community leaders and preventing assistance to the population.

"We already have other problems, such as people being raped due to terrorism. Leaders are mobilising populations daily to combat terrorism and we do not want another terror to emerge."

Read more: Mozambique cholera: Why outbreaks have sparked unrest

She was convicted, along with three other women, of stabbing to death her niece at her home.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Image source, BBC News

Somalia's president says his Eritrean counterpart has declared support “for Somalia’s sovereignty” amid tensions with Ethiopia over a controversial sea access deal.

Eritrean leader Isaias Afwerki voiced this stance in a meeting with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud yesterday, state-run Somali National News Agency, external reported.

The Somali leader also made comments to the same effect to the Eritrean press, but there was no official statement on the issue by Mr Afwerki's government.

Mr Mohamud, who was on a two-day visit to the Eritrean capital Asmara, said he had briefed Mr Afwerki on the current sea access row.

Tensions were sparked at the beginning of last week after Ethiopia signed a deal with the self-declared republic of Somaliland.

The agreement would give Ethiopia commercial and military access to a port in the breakaway region.

Somalia called the deal an act of aggression - it considers Somaliland a part of its territory and has vowed to defend its sovereignty.

Somaliland is not recognised as an independent nation by any other country or major global organisation.

Before travelling to Asmara, President Mohamud said his government "will seek the support of any ally willing to help us".

Somali state media reported that Mr Mohamud will also travel to Cairo "soon" after receiving an invite from his Egyptian counterpart, Abddul Fattah al-Sisi.

Read more:

• Why Ethiopia's deal with Somaliland is making waves

Image source, AFP

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has capped the number of aides allowed to accompany him abroad following a backlash against the country's massive delegation at last year's COP28 climate conference.

The president’s media aide Ajuri Ngelale said that from now on, a maximum of 20 aides will be eligible to join the president on foreign trips, while the vice president and first lady will be limited to five aides each.

Mr Ngelale described the announcement as a cost-cutting exercise that will also be applied to ministers and head of agencies who travel abroad for work.

President Tinubu came under attack, especially on social media, after his government sponsored over 400 people to attend the COP28 climate conference in Dubai.

Minister of Information Mohammed Idris said delegates comprised of government and agency officials.

Other African countries, such as Namibia, Tanzania and Kenya were also criticised for sending large delegations to COP28.

Read more:

• Anger in Namibia over Dubai COP28 trip by president's children

As we reported earlier, global Afrobeats star Davido has been accused of threatening fellow Nigerian singer Tiwa Savage.

Tiwa, known for hits such as Koroba and Somebody's Son, filed a petition to the police on Tuesday.

Here are some key quotes from Tiwa's letter, which has been seen by BBC News:

• "Mr David Adeleke [Davido] sent messages to my manager - who's also part of his management team - that I shouldn't worry and should never say a word to him and that I was taunting him, utterly very disrespectful, malicious and derogatory words to my person"
• "I feel like I have been there for Mr David Adeleke and his daughter, Imade and more importantly when he lost his son"
• "He has also told our mutual connections to warn me to 'be careful in Lagos [along with an expletive-ridden threat of violence]'"
• "The actions of Mr David Adeleke are unethical and can be viewed as a direct threat to my right to life, privacy and dignity of my person"
• "In the event that anything untoward or harmful were to happen to me or any member of my family, I will like the members of the Nigerian Police force to hold Mr David Adeleke responsible."

BBC Monitoring

Image source, AFP

Zambia expects to receive one million cholera vaccine doses from the World Health Organisation amid an outbreak that has killed 249 people since last October.

Roma Chilengi, the health adviser to President Hakainde Hichilema, said the doses will be deployed to the most at risk regions and are due to arrive by Saturday.

“But we will try and prioritise places where the [cholera] problem is highest,” Mr Chilengi told the state-run Daily Mail newspaper.

President Hichilema is on Wednesday expected to visit the main treatment centre at National Heroes Stadium to inspect response measures.

The government has delayed the reopening of schools and rolled out further preventive measures in a bid to contain the outbreak.

Image source, Gauteng Province/X

The funeral service for prominent South African photographer and anti-apartheid activist Peter Magubane is under way in Johannesburg.

He was granted a provincial official funeral service, which is a special funeral service "reserved for distinguished persons specifically designated by the president of South Africa".

President Cyril Ramaphosa and former president Thabo Mbeki are among the attendees.

Magubane died last week aged 91.

He has been eulogised as a key figure in South Africa's liberation movement due to his coverage of key events in the struggle against apartheid, including the 1976 Soweto uprising in which hundreds of protesting black students were killed.

Magubane's work pitted him against apartheid authorities, leading to his arrest, solitary confinement for 586 days and a five-year ban from photography.

The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations begins on Saturday and BBC Sport have worked with Opta to look at who might be crowned champions.

Image source, AFP

More than 5.6 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines bought on loan by the Ugandan government have expired, an audit report has said.

The vaccines are valued at 28.1bn Ugandan shillings ($7.3m; £5.8m) and were purchased using a World Bank loan.

Authorities say the expired vaccines will be withdrawn from health facilities and destroyed.

In the report submitted to parliament on Tuesday, Uganda's Auditor General John Muwanga also said that other drugs worth $8.6m, mostly HIV antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), have expired after they were phased out by changes in recommended treatment guidelines by the WHO.

Authorities expect the total losses from expired Covid vaccines to surpass $78m by the end of this year.

“The demand for Covid vaccines is now at zero. We no longer receive any Covid vaccine orders. If we don’t have any people that need or health facilities requisitioning for these Covid vaccines, we expect more covid vaccines to expire on us,” the head of Uganda's drug procurement agency Moses Kamabare told public broadcaster UBC.

Image source, EPA

Liberia's former Chief Justice Gloria Musu Scott and three of her family members have been sentenced to life imprisonment for murder.

The four were arrested and indicted in June last year in connection with the death of Charlotte Musu, who was reportedly Ms Scott's niece.

In February last year, Charlotte was murdered by unknown people at Ms Scott's home in Brewerville, north-west Liberia.

The former chief justice had insisted intruders attacked her residence and killed her niece.

But after a five-month trial, a court in the capital, Monrovia, last month found her and three family members guilty of Charlotte’s murder.

The four women were also found guilty of conspiracy and raising a false alarm to law enforcement officers.

Throughout the trial, the accused maintained their innocence and pleaded not guilty to the indictment.

The court on Tuesday said it found the prosecution's evidence compelling and sentenced the four to lifetime imprisonment.

Liberia abolished the death sentence in July last year.

Ms Scott's lawyers said they would appeal the judgement.

She served as Liberia's chief justice from 1997 to 2003.

Image source, AFP

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni has said that external attempts to "pressure" his country are futile, more than a week after Uganda was expelled from a major US-Africa trade programme.

The US first threatened to sanction Uganda and expel it from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) trade pact in May, after the East African country passed a controversial anti-homosexuality law.

The law places a death penalty on certain same-sex acts.

"For now, those who put pressure on us, they're wasting their time. And we don't have to worry ourselves about that," President Museveni said in a national address on Tuesday, speaking out for the first time since the expulsion took effect.

"What we should concentrate on is to fight corruption among ourselves. These are the real problems. Not foreign pressure, because that one has no meaning," he added.

Mr Museveni also said that Uganda will trade with international partners that "respect" it.

Uganda also doubled down on its punitive anti-homosexuality law last August, when the World Bank halted funding to the country.

The Bank said the law "contradicts" the organisation's values.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

A court in Switzerland has ruled that the trial of a former Gambian minister can go ahead on charges including murder, torture and rape.

Ousman Sonko denies the accusations, which are said to have happened under the repressive regime of The Gambia's former President Yahya Jammeh.

The Swiss court on Tuesday dismissed the defence lawyer's argument that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the case.

Mr Sonko fled to Switzerland in 2016 and is on trial under the principle of universal jurisdiction. It allows countries to prosecute people even if the alleged crimes were committed elsewhere.

The court case is expected to last a month with a verdict coming in March.

Read more on Ousman Sonko's case:

• Gambian ex-minister goes on trial in Switzerland for murder