A selection of the best photos from the African continent and beyond.

Police struggle as cash-in-transit heists increase and the murder rate hits a 20-year high.

Mohammed Kudus nets twice for Ghana but Egypt - who lost Mohamed Salah to injury - hit back to secure a 2-2 draw at the Africa Cup of Nations.

William Troost-Ekong's penalty gives Nigeria a crucial 1-0 win over 2023 Africa Cup of Nations hosts Ivory Coast in Group A.

Watch highlights as William Troost-Ekong's match-winning penalty helps Nigeria edge past hosts Ivory Coast 1-0.

34-year-old striker Emilio Nsue scores a hat-trick as Equatorial Guinea beat Guinea-Bissau 4-2 at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

That's all for now from the BBC Africa Live team. There'll be an automated service until our team is back on Monday.

In the meantime, you can find the latest updates on the BBC News website, or listen to our Focus on Africa podcast.

A reminder of Thursday's wise words:

Click here to send us your proverb.

We leave you with this picture of fans from Guinea-Bissau at the Africa Cup of Nations ahead of the kick-off for Thursday's match with Equatorial Guinea - their team went on to lose 4-2:

Image source, Reuters

Adedayo Okedare
BBC Yoruba, Ibadan

An overpowering stench dominates the scene of Tuesday night’s explosion in the Nigerian city of Ibadan where emergency agencies are still hard at work.

The death toll has risen from two to five following the blast in Bodija, a residential district of Ibadan, the capital of south-western Oyo state.

Officials say a total of 58 houses were destroyed.

The Oyo state governor has blamed illegal miners for the blast, saying they had been storing explosives in a house.

There is a heavy military and police presence at the scene on the second day of rescue operations.

The PM warns peers not to "frustrate the will of the people", after MPs approve his asylum plan.

Equatorial Guinea striker Emilio Nsue scores a hat-trick in a 4-2 win over Guinea-Bissau at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

BBC Focus on Africa

A planned protest in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, on Thursday was deliberately timed to coincide with the city hosting the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (Nam), opposition leader Bobi Wine has told the BBC's Focus on Africa television programme.

Earlier in the day, Bobi Wine said he was under house arrest after security forces prevented him from leaving his home.

The police said they had "taken some measures to stop [him] from instigating some people to hold unlawful assemblies and political demonstrations".

a government spokesperson said the planned protest was "simply a publicity stunt to disrupt the on-going meetings which constitutes breaches of public order and peace bordering on criminality".

But Bobi Wine told the BBC that holding protests was a constitutional right.

He wanted to use the fact that delegates from more than 100 countries are in Kampala for the Nam meeting, to highlight the opposition's issues with the government. Heads of state are due to arrive on Friday.

"We targeted the conference because [Nam] was established to fight for oppressed people of the global South. It was involved actively in the fight against apartheid.

"We want to send a strong message to the Non-Aligned Movement and remind them that the movement is losing its soul."

The opposition leader, who has been under arrest several times, has frequently complained of police harassment.

President Yoweri Museveni has been in power since 1986.

Nam was originally set up in 1961 - during the Cold War - to represent countries that were neither allied to the US nor the USSR. It has since developed into an organisation that tries to give voice to the concerns of the global South.

If you're outside the UK you can watch the interview with Bobi Wine on BBC News at 17:30 GMT.

Watch highlights as 34-year-old striker Emilio Nsue scores a hat-trick as Equatorial Guinea beat Guinea-Bissau 4-2 at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.

Nigeria has asked its citizens in Kenya "to be vigilant and to avoid unnecessary movements" amid reports of "sporadic attacks" on its citizens in the country.

Nigeria's high commission in Kenya issued the advisory after some Kenyans attributed the recent high-profile murders of two young women to Nigerian men.

Authorities arrested a Kenyan suspect in one of the murders, while in the other case, a foreigner with a Mozambican passport has been detained.

Despite this, some Kenyans have speculated that one of the suspects could be a Nigerian national.

The speculation has fuelled attacks against Nigerians on social media, with some accusing them of perpetrating femicide and violence against Kenyan women.

Kenya hosts a significant Nigerian population, especially in the capital, Nairobi.

The ex-deputy PM hits back at "keyboard snipers" who claim she got it wrong in a Commons debate.

Bushra Mohamed
BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

State media in Somalia have recently been broadcasting what some have described as an “incitement” song performed by the Somali police band.

It revives historical feelings of enmity towards Ethiopia in light of the controversial 1 January deal the country struck with the self-proclaimed republic of Somaliland.

The lyrics relate to a territorial war fought nearly 50 years ago - in 1977 - between Ethiopia and Somalia.

“If you don’t want peace, we will give you a chance to remember what we did to you in 1977,” says the song.

In that conflict, Somali soldiers went deep inside Ethiopia, capturing a huge swathe of the country before being beaten back by a better equipped Ethiopian army.

Both sides claim victory.

The song, called Remember What We Did to You in 1977, plus two others also relating to Ethiopia, have been widely shared across social media by Somalis.

Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991, but this has not been recognised internationally.

The deal, which could see Somaliland leasing part of the coastline to Ethiopia, has caused profound offence in Somalia which sees this as Ethiopia as trying to take part of its sovereign territory.

Recently, Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and the country’s prime minister have publicly said that their ancestors have fought Ethiopia for many generations and defended their country, and they are obliged to do the same.

‘’The person who is dividing our people is an enemy, they deserve resistance, we used to fight with them for generations, we’re the same people, we haven’t changed,” President Mohamud said.

The country’s leadership has also described Ethiopia as a threat to its national security.

Read more on the Ethiopia-Somaliland deal:

• Ethiopia-Somaliland deal makes waves in Horn of Africa

Fans in Lagos are cautiously optimistic ahead of the Super Eagles' clash with the host nation.

Therese Coffey is not impressed when the shadow home secretary refers to the Rwandan government by the name of the nation's capital.

Emery Makumeno
BBC News, Kinshasa

Image source, Reuters

Three opposition leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo have called for a nationwide protest on Saturday, when President Félix Tshisekedi is due to be sworn in for a second term.

He won last month's election with 73% of the vote, according to the electoral commission. But the result was condemned as a "sham" by several opposition candidates who demanded a rerun.

The call for a demonstration on Saturday was made jointly at an online press conference by Moïse Katumbi, who, according to the official results, came second with 18%, Martin Fayulu, who came third with 5% and Anzuluni Bembe, who got 1%.

They have alleged that there was fraud and ballot stuffing in the election.

But the leading opposition candidates declined to mount a legal challenge to the result and the Constitutional Court has validated Mr Tshisekedi's victory.

The defence minister hits out at those paying ransoms to kidnappers after the abduction of six sisters.

Dorcas Wangira
BBC News, Nairobi

Image source, AFP

Kenyan cult leader Paul Mackenzie and 94 others have been charged with terrorism following the deaths of 429 people.

The defendants all denied the charges which were read out in a magistrates' court in the coastal city of Mombasa.

Charges relating to child torture and assault are due to be brought at a separate court hearing.

Mackenzie - a self-proclaimed pastor - was detained in April last year after hundreds of bodies were found in mass graves in a remote forest about two hours' drive from the coast.

Most showed signs of starvation, but some - children among them - may have been assaulted.

Mackenzie is alleged to have encouraged members of his Good News International Church to move to Shakahola forest and prepare for the end of the world.

One witness told the BBC that people were given instructions in January last year to begin fasting so that they could "get to heaven".

But Mackenzie has said the deaths could not be blamed on him as he closed his church in 2019.

The request by the suspects’ defence lawyer for bail has been referred to another court.