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

You can listen to the latest Focus on Africa podcast here - or read the latest updates on the BBC News website.

Our proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave with you with this photo of Kenyan skier Ashley Tshanda Ongonga in action at the Winter Youth Olympics:

Image source, Reuters

Azeezat Olaoluwa
BBC News

Image source, Reuters

Victims of last December's oil terminal explosion in Guinea's capital, Conakry, that left 20 dead, have protested against what they call the failed promises of the military government to help rebuild their houses.

In addition to those who were killed at least 240 others were injured in the inferno.

Buildings were damaged, windows were blown out and residents were forced to flee their homes.

Hundreds of those affected held an impromptu demonstration on Thursday, which was led by women, and paralysed activity in Kaloum, the administrative and business centre of Conakry.

They carried placards with messages such as "we don't want false promises”, “stop the killings", "Guinea is suffering. Kaloum is suffering” and “We are tired! Our children are in danger!”.

Demonstrators blocked the highways in the morning, preventing workers from getting to their offices.

They also condemned the government's cut in food aid, the high prices of food items, as well as internet and media restrictions.

After hours of protest, the police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Moses Kollie Garzeawu
Journalist, Monrovia

Image source, EPA

The US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield has rated Liberia as an example for democracy for the whole of Africa.

Following her recent visit of the region, she told journalists in New York that with the second post-civil war democratic transition and a sitting president gracefully accepting defeat, Liberia “is truly an example for not just West Africa, but the entire continent of Africa".

"We really should commend Liberians for that success," she said.

Her comments follow a spate of coups in the region which some have equated to a lack of faith in democracy in the region.

President Joseph Boakai was sworn in at the beginning of last week after he defeated football icon turned President, George Weah, by a slight margin.

Ambassador Greenfield attended the ceremony on President Joe Biden’s behalf.

She reassured Liberia of the US' unflinching commitment to supporting the country’s development.

“Liberia has been very supportive and worked closely with us here at the UN, and we’re committed to helping President Boakai succeed,” she said.

"We have been a close ally and partner to Liberia throughout."

Kalkidan Yibeltal
BBC News

Image source, House of Peoples Representatives of FDRE/Facebook

An Ethiopian opposition lawmaker has been arrested by government security forces in the country's capital Addis Abbaba, his family members said.

Dessalegn Chanie’s relatives told the BBC no official reason has yet been provided for his detention.

Mr Dessalegn won a federal parliamentary seat representing opposition party National Movement of the Amhara (Nama) in 2021.

Due to Mr Dessalegn's status as an MP he is entitled to immunity from prosecution.

Parliament is meant to convene and revoke this immunity before a lawmaker is arrested, but this has not happened.

He is the second opposition legislator to be arrested, since fighting in the Amhara region began last year.

Last August, Christian Tadele, an MP from the Nama, was arrested and still remains in custody.

Both lawmakers were known for voicing strong criticisms against Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration.

These arrests come as the conflict between local militia and the army in Amhara continues to rage on.

Prime Minister Abiy imposed a six-month state of emergency in early August to try to stop the clashes.

Fighting has continued to be reported in some areas in Amhara, with media outlets affiliated with the militias accusing government forces of killing unarmed civilians in a small town called Merawi, 35 km south of the regional capital Bahirdar.

The authorities have not yet responded to the accusations and the BBC has not independently confirmed the allegations.

Read more stories from Ethiopia:

• Why Ethiopia's Amhara militiamen are battling the army
• Ethiopia plans vote to solve Tigray-Amhara territory dispute

Shingai Nyoka
BBC News, Harare

Image source, Reuters

Southern African leaders will hold an extraordinary summit on Friday amid concerns about the cholera epidemic across multiple countries.

Thousands of people have been infected and hundreds have died in the region from the disease since late last year.

Cholera is water-borne and can kill within hours if left untreated. It largely affects communities with poor water and sanitation infrastructure.

This is the worst cholera outbreak in southern Africa in years.

At Friday's virtual summit, the heads of state, including from Zimbabwe and Zambia, will focus on the factors driving the outbreak.

They are also expected to discuss how countries can collaborate to control the epidemic and to stop it from spreading further.

UN agencies have recorded more than 200,000 infections including over 3,000 deaths in 13 African countries since last year.

January alone saw 6,000 new cases and 355 deaths in nine countries.

Read more on the outbreak:

• Zambia cholera: Families grieve as infection kills loved ones
• Zimbabwe's cholera crisis fuelled by chronic water shortages

Sudan's former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok told the BBC that he in part blames the international community for the country's devastating war that is now stretching into its 10th month.

Mr Hamdok spoke to the BBC's HARDTalk programme about the conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

He expressed frustration at the international community who he said failed to help bring peace and stability to Sudan after long-time President Omar al-Bashir was ousted in 2019.

Mr Hamdok first became prime minister in the aftermath of Bashir's exit but finally left power, after a second brief stint, in 2022 amid protests and a dispute with the military.

"We fought such a great revolution in Sudan and it took [the West] more than a year to lift sanctions," he said.

He argued that the East African country should have been "integrated" into the global community sooner.

"I think the world needed to have rewarded that great change," he said.

Mr Hamdok solemnly added that Sudan's story is one of "neglect".

The former prime minister has been trying to broker talks. He controversially met RSF leader Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo at the beginning of the year.

He is yet to meet the head of Sudan's army, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, but Mr Hamdok said there are plans in the works to do so.

The former prime minister has faced a backlash for engaging with the two leaders, but he emphasised that his goal was to "end of the role of the military in the politics of Sudan" through talks.

The interview can be seen on the BBC News Channel at 22:30 GMT on Thursday, or 04:30 GMT and 10:30 GMT on Friday.

Viewers in the UK can watch the full interview on the iPlayer here.

Mansur Abubakar
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, Hamisu Sani

Some Nigerians on Wednesday offered prayers over what they described as the country’s worsening economic situation.

Muslim traders in Nigeria’s biggest textile market, Kantin Kwari, in Kano state came out of their shops to pray on the streets saying they need God’s intervention on the economy.

One of the shop owners Hamisu Sani told the BBC that the situation has become unbearable for many as feeding is now a major problem for them.

“We offered this special prayer so that God can help us because we don’t know what our leaders are doing about this (the economy).

“A bag of rice and sugar are now out of reach for a poor person, we want God to help us," he said.

In recent years, food prices have been on the rise across Nigeria.

The situation was made worse as a result of the impact of government policies such as the removal of subsidies on petrol.

Nichola Mandil
BBC News, Juba

Image source, Reuters

The chief administrator of the disputed Abyei administrative area between Sudan and South Sudan says at least 21,000 returnees who fled the conflict in Sudan are in dire need of humanitarian assistance following deadly clashes over the weekend.

The returnees are scattered in different villages and in Abyei town, the BBC has learned.

On Saturday and Sunday, two armed youth groups from Warrap State in South Sudan raided Abyei, killing at least 52 people, including two UN peacekeepers.

The UN’s Interim Security Force (Unisfa) in Abyei is providing some food assistance for those who were displaced by the fighting and are camping inside its base. But the assistance cannot last long.

“The situation in Abyei is ‘more complicated’. There has been a lot of population here over the last two years, but they have not been able to cultivate because of insecurity. The influx of so many people – the returnees from Sudan – has also increased the population of the area,” chief administrator Chol Deng Alak told the BBC by phone from Abyei on Thursday.

He described the situation of the returnees in Abyei following Sunday’s deadly clashes as ‘dire’ and said that there was a need for “an urgent intervention” by humanitarian agencies.

Mr Alak says a delegation from the UN’s humanitarian agency and other international agencies are expected to arrive in Abyei on Friday to assess the needs of the people there.

Sudan and South Sudan have not yet resolved the dispute on the status of the oil-rich Abyei area. It is currently governed by a temporary 'special administrative' arrangement between the two countries.

Mansur Abubakar
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, Getty Images

Bureau De Change in Nigeria’s capital Abuja has ceased operations indefinitely as a result of dollar scarcity.

Nigerians rely on the American currency to carry out international financial transactions.

Abdulahi Dauran, chairman of the association, told the BBC they took the decision to show Nigerians that they are concerned by the dollar scarcity, which he blamed on cryptocurrency and online speculators.

“The reason why we want to close the Bureau market is that we want people to know that we are also worried by what is happening," he said.

Mr Dauran added: “The situation is made worse by speculators such as Binance and Aboki website and Nigerians hugely rely on them.”

The development is coming amid fresh moves by the Central Bank to stabilise the country’s volatile exchange rate.

The apex bank has ordered banks to sell their excess dollar stock by February 1, 2024.

They also warned lenders against hoarding excess foreign currencies for profit.

Ian Wafula
Africa security correspondent, BBC News

Image source, AFP

The United States Treasury imposed sanctions on three Sudanese companies they say are funding the devastating war in the country.

Those sanctioned include Alkhaleej Bank and Al-Fakher Advanced Works, controlled by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The third company, Zadna International, is linked to the Sudanese army, according to the statement from the US Treasury Department on Wednesday.

The statement said all three entities have undermined the peace, security, and stability of Sudan by either laundering money or raising funds from gold exports.

The sanctions are part of measures aimed at stemming the nine-month war.

Over 12,000 people have died and nearly eight million people have fled their homes because of the conflict, according to the UN.

On Tuesday, General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan the commander of the Sudanese army, called for a full-scale offensive against the RSF.

He added that he was not interested in talks as they were a waste of time.

Both the army and RSF have been accused by the US government and other civil rights groups of committing war crimes, accusations they both deny.

Read more on the Sudan conflict:

• 'When a bomb fell I told my son it was an action movie'
• ‘Our lives have become a piece of hell’

Bouchra Karboubi, the only female referee at Afcon 2023, on promoting fair play and fighting female stereotypes in the Arab world.

French broadcast company Canal+ has made an offer to purchase South Africa's MultiChoice, Africa's largest provider of subscription TV services, which include DStv.

Canal+ is already a majority shareholder in MultiChoice and has a 30% stake.

The company is proposing to buy the remaining shares for 31.7 billion rand ($1.6bn, £1.3bn).

Canal+ currently has more than seven million subscribers across 25 African countries and is the leading TV operator in French-speaking Africa.

MultiChoice has been struggling in recent years, with its main product, DStv, losing thousands of subscribers, amid increased competition from streaming services.

Canal+ has said that its acquisition of the South African company promises to turn around its fortunes by creating "a group with significant scale, putting MultiChoice on a secure long-term path and enabling the company to thrive".

However, it added that the progression of the purchase is still uncertain "at this stage".

Image source, Getty Images

Ghana's former president and leading opposition figure John Dramani Mahama has opposed LGBTQ practices, saying they contradict his Christian faith.

"The faith I have will not allow me to accept a man marrying a man, and a woman marrying a woman," Mr Mahama was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.

"I don't believe that anybody can get up and say I feel like a man although I was born a woman and so I will change and become a man," he added, speaking to a group of Ghanaian religious leaders on Wednesday.

LGBTQ rights are a heated issue in Ghana.

The parliament of the West African country is currently considering a controversial anti-LGBTQ bill, which will impose tough penalties on members of the LGBTQ community if passed.

The bill forbids Ghanaians from identifying as LGBTQ and increases the sentence for same-sex activities from a maximum of three years to a maximum of five years.

The bill also bans the supporting of LGBTQ rights.

Gay sex is already against the law and carries a three-year prison sentence.

Mr Mahama served as Ghana's president between 2012 and 2017 but lost in his bid for a second term to current President Nana Akufo-Addo in the 2016 elections.

The 65-year-old is again seeking re-election in the December presidential elections, under the main opposition party National Democratic Congress.

Image source, EPA

Health ministers from the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), have rejected a proposal to declare cholera a public health emergency in the region.

Sylvia Masebo, the Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC) board chairperson, on Wednesday said individual countries should independently decide whether to declare the cholera outbreak as a health emergency or not.

Speaking during the CDC extraordinary session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Ms Masebo, who is also Zambia’s health minister, urged member states to develop proactive interventions to curb the spread of the current outbreak.

She said the outbreak had affected about 15 Sadc member states.

Zambia is among countries battling the worst outbreak in decades, with nearly 600 deaths and more than 16,000 cases reported since last October.

The country has experienced cholera outbreaks at least 30 times since 1977, with the charity WaterAid saying the latest one is the worst since 2017, external.

Zimbabwe and Malawi have also been affected by the current cholera outbreak.

Sadc leaders are set to hold a virtual summit on Friday to assess the state of preparedness and responses to the cholera outbreaks in the region.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Ethiopian rebel group Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) has burnt vehicles that ignored its call for a transport strike in the populous Oromia region, local media report.

Reports say many businesses, including banks and government offices have been closed since the strike was declared on Monday.

Several trucks were destroyed in various parts of Oromia during the strike that also left some civilians injured, privately-owned Wazema Radio news website reported.

"Unknown number of people were also reportedly injured in a grenade attack in Nekemt town, East Wollega Zone," it added.

The OLA claims to fight for self-determination of the Oromo people - Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group.

It was designated a terrorist organisation by the Ethiopian federal parliament in May 2021.

The national army continues to conduct operations against the rebel group.

Azeezat Olaoluwa
BBC News, Lagos

Kidnappers of five pupils and four teachers from a school in Ekiti state, south-west Nigeria, have demanded a ransom of 100m naira ($110,000; £87,500) for their release.

They were taken during an attack on a school bus.

The kidnappers have threatened to take unknown actions against the schoolchildren if the ransom is not paid, Gabriel Adesanya, the proprietor of the Apostolic Faith Group of Schools told local media.

"Many of the parents cannot even afford one-tenth of the money. It's a pathetic situation for the school and the community. We have not been able to resume classes since the attack," he added.

One of the students who was on the bus during the attack on Monday told the BBC that the incident happened after school hours.

He said the kidnappers ordered them to disembark the bus before selecting the targets they wanted to take along with them.

President Bola Tinubu has ordered for the immediate rescue of the victims, assuring that such incidents will not recur.

Meanwhile, security chiefs have been summoned to appear before the senate next week over the spate of insecurity in the country.

Kidnapping for ransom has worsened in Nigeria in recent years with armed gangs targeting road travellers, students, as well as residents in rural and urban areas across the country.

The Newsroom
BBC World Service

Image source, Reuters

Burkina Faso's military-backed president has said Russian troops could deploy to fight jihadists in the West African country, if needed.

In an interview, Ibrahim Traoré said Russia is offering logistical and tactical training and they are willing to sell whatever weapons are required by Burkina Faso.

Mr Traoré added there are no restrictions on what can be bought from Russia, China, Turkey or Iran, unlike other countries.

This comes amid reports that at least 100 Russian fighters were sent to the African country as military instructors last week.

The development also fuels speculation of Burkina Faso deepening security ties with Russia like neighbouring Mali, where Russian Wagner mercenaries operate.

The junta-led country's relations with Moscow have been in the spotlight since it booted out French troops in early 2023.

Burkina Faso has been battling Islamist groups linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State, which have taken over large swathes of land and displaced millions of people in the Sahel region.

Image source, Getty Images

Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu has pushed back against the "blanket stereotyping" of Nigerians as cybercriminals, saying that such generalisations misrepresent the West African country.

He said such a move tarnished the reputation of the majority of citizens, who are law-abiding.

"Over the decades, Nigerians have been victims of mislabelling. Such gross misrepresentation fails to reflect the true essence of our diverse and resilient nation," President Tinubu, who is currently on a private tour in France, said in a speech read by Deputy President Kashim Shettima.

Mr Tinubu added that "the association of internet crimes with the entire Nigerian populace lacks statistical evidence" and does not reflect "everyday Nigerians", whom he described as "hardworking, honest citizens who contribute significantly to various fields globally, from artificial intelligence to medicine".

In 2020, the FBI, the US internal security and intelligence agency, ranked Nigeria 16th among countries most impacted by cybercrime.

Cybercrime costs the country $500m (£395m) every year, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission.

Image source, Getty Images

Zambia's former President Edgar Lungu has asked citizens to call for an early election, accusing his successor Hakainde Hichilema, popularly known as HH, of failing to run the economy.

Mr Lungu also accused President Hichilema of failing to manage the cholera outbreak which has claimed the lives of nearly 600 people since last October.

Speaking at an opposition media briefing on Wednesday, Mr Lungu said Zambians should put pressure on the president to accept that an early election was "imperative".

"If you Zambians demand that we call upon HH to resign and call for an early election, let's go that route, but it should come from you," Mr Lungu said.

There was a swift response from the government spokesperson. Cornelius Mweetwa dismissed Mr Lungu's allegations and urged Zambians to give the president enough time to deliver his campaign promises.

Mr Mweetwa accused the former leader of ruining the country's economy during his six years in office.

Mr Lungu announced a comeback to politics last October, prompting the government to withdraw his retirement benefits.

He had retired from politics in 2021 after suffering a crushing defeat in a presidential election.

His return to politics sets a stage for a bruising 2026 presidential race.

Our African proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.