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

In the meantime you can listen to the BBC Focus on Africa podcast here.

A reminder of our proverb of the day:

We leave you with this photo of Egypt's Mohamed Loha in action during a match against the USA at the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup:

Image source, Getty Images

Mike Thomson
BBC World Service News

Image source, Getty Images

The jailed head of Tunisia’s Islamic opposition Ennahda party, Rached Ghannouchi, has joined a hunger strike by other political detainees to mark a year since their detention began.

Mr Ghannouchi – who has accused Tunisia’s President Kaïs Saïed of mounting a coup – was given a three-year prison sentence earlier this month after being convicted for accepting external financing.

President Saïed has closed the Ennahda party’s headquarters, jailed many leading political opponents and critical journalists and reduced the independence of the country’s courts.

He claims the measures were necessary to prevent chaos and root out corruption.

Anglo American Platinum, the world's largest producer of the precious metal, plans to cut thousands of jobs at its mines in South Africa.

The cuts come a year after the company's profits slumped by 71%.

On Monday, Anglo American said it was embarking on a restructuring that could affect about 3,700 South African jobs - that's 17% of its workforce in the country.

The restructuring decision "has not been taken lightly", Anglo American CEO Craig Miller was quoted by Reuters as saying.

"It's very much a last resort, not least as we recognise the unemployment challenges in South Africa and the socio-economic impact that the proposed restructuring may have on our people and the communities we are part of."

A Senegalese man who piloted a boat in the English Channel has been found guilty of the manslaughter of four migrants who drowned when it ran into difficulty.

Ibrahima Bah, a migrant himself, had offered to steer the dinghy in December 2022 in exchange for a free crossing.

He had claimed that he was forced by violent smugglers to make the journey with at least 43 other migrants.

A jury at the UK's Canterbury Crown Court also found Bah guilty of facilitating a breach of immigration law.

• Read more about the case here: Dinghy pilot guilty over Channel migrant deaths

BBC World Service

Fifteen of the 20 candidates approved to stand in Senegal's delayed presidential elections have called for the new vote to be held no later than 2 April - the date when current President Macky Sall is due to end his term.

The 15 candidates also insist the list should not be altered.

The document was signed by some of the leading contenders, including Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who has been detained on incitement charges, and former Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall, who is no relation to the president.

President Sall wanted to postpone the elections for several months so that disputes over the eligibility of other candidates could be resolved.

But the country's top court said the delay was unconstitutional and Mr Sall says the vote will now be held "as soon as possible".

Read more:

• Senegal steps back from the brink - what next?

Newsday
BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

The number of African migrants who arrived in Mexico last year was nine times higher than the year before, according to official statistics.

Figures released by Mexico's Interior Department at the weekend show that almost 60,000 migrants arrived from Africa in 2023 - a huge jump from the previous year when 6,500 made the journey.

Dana Graber Ladek, head of mission at the UN's International Organisation of Migration in Mexico, told the BBC's Newsday programme that most of these migrants come from Guinea, Angola, Mauritania, Senegal, Nigeria and Cameroon.

She said: "People leave their countries for many different reasons and it tends to be complex, anything from generalised violence to extreme poverty to political upheaval - and of course there's also the effect of climate change and natrual disasters."

"The grand majority" of African migrants that arrived in Mexico in 2023 do not wish to build lives there and are looking to cross the border into the United States, Ms Graber Ladek said.

She added that many migrants pay smugglers to facilate their journey to Mexico, and the trip can cost from around $10,000 to $20,000.

Image source, AFP

A foul smell spreading through South Africa’s city of Cape Town is being blamed on a ship carrying livestock that arrived at the port on Sunday night.

Residents of the city and its suburbs have been questioning the source of the odour.

The City of Cape Town said on its X account, external that it was aware of the smell, acknowledging that it was coming from the ship.

The city’s official in charge of water and sanitation, Zahid Badroodien, said the ship, external carrying cattle was due to leave the port on Monday night.

He had earlier said that the “sewage smell blanketing parts of the city” was not linked to a Koeberg sewer pump station in the city.

Some South Africans on social media have expressed concern about the conditions of the livestock on the ship, with others wondering how people on the vessel might be coping.

The incident comes as ships carrying livestock bound for Western countries are being diverted through South Africa’s coast because of recent attacks in the Red Sea, according to local reports.

BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

Protests are being held in the Nigerian cities of Oyo and Ibadan against the rising cost of living.

The latest demonstrations in the south of the country follow similar ones held in northern Nigeria two weeks ago.

Protesters are angry at the high rate of inflation, driven largely by high food prices and the government's decision to end a long-running fuel subsidy.

On Friday, the African Development Bank warned that Nigeria could see social unrest caused by rising fuel and food prices.

In its economic outlook for this year, the bank warned that other countries, including Kenya, Ethiopia and Angola could face similar problems.

Read more:

• 'Divine intervention': Nigerians fast over steep food prices
• Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu declares state of emergency over food

Mansur Abubakar
BBC News

Image source, Sani Hamisu

Several Nigerians in the northeastern state of Borno are refraining from food after their governor called for "divine intervention" over the country's grave economic and security situations.

On Friday, Governor Babagana Zulum urged residents to partake in a one-day statewide fast on Monday in response to the rising cost of food and the spate of landmine explosions across its major roads.

Bello Zabarmari, a resident of Borno state, told the BBC that he and many others are fasting and praying to God to solve their problems.

“We woke up with a fast today and hopefully all our prayers will be answered soon, the governor did the right thing by calling on people to fast,” he said.

Umar Shehu, a resident who works with the state fire service department, said he and his colleagues are also fasting, as instructed by the governor.

Nigerians are going through one of the country's roughest economic periods in history - the prices of food and basic items have skyrocketed in recent months.

• Read more: Nigerians turn to 'throw-away' rice amid rising cost of food

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Security forces in Somalia’s north-eastern Puntland region on Sunday arrested Jamal Osman, a reporter for British broadcaster Channel 4, on charges of spreading al-Shabab propaganda, private news site Puntland Post reported., external

Mr Osman, who won a Rory Peck award in 2022 for a feature on al-Shabab, was detained shortly after he arrived in regional capital Garowe, the website said.

“Security sources have confirmed that journalist Jamal was taken [from the airport] to Garowe town, where officials from the Puntland intelligence agency were questioning him,” it added.

Channel 4 and Puntland authorities have not commented on the reports.

Sources have indicated to the BBC that Mr Osman will be deported later on Monday.

Osman was briefly detained in Mogadishu in 2022 shortly after landing at the city’s airport from an undisclosed location.

He has reported for Channel 4 on al-Shabab, piracy in the Horn of Africa and Somalia’s long-running instability since 2008.

His “Inside al-Shabab” report, which aired on Channel 4 in 2022, led to the Somali government accusing him of promoting al-Shabab’s ideologies.

Mr Osman reported for the BBC in 2019, following a deadly al-Shabab attack on a hotel in southern Somalia.

Image source, AFP

Rwanda has faulted the US for criticising it over escalating violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo while expressing "deep concern" over what it terms the abandonment of the regional peace processes.

In a statement by the foreign affairs ministry, Rwanda also says the international community is indifferent to DR Congo’s “dramatic military build-up”, adding that the country’s massive operation in its eastern North Kivu region is in contravention of decisions made by regional mechanisms.

Troops from the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) have been helping DR Congo's military as it confronts a series of armed groups including the M23.

Last week, two South African soldiers who are part of the SADC forces were killed and three were injured after a mortar bomb landed in their base.

Over the weekend, the US condemned Rwanda's alleged backing of Congolese M23 forces and called on the East African country to immediately withdraw all its forces from DR Congo. Rwanda denies backing the M23.

A statement by the US State Department spokesman asked Rwanda to “remove its surface-to-air missile systems in DR Congo, which it said threatened lives of civilians, peacekeepers and commercial flights.

Rwanda says the US statement distorts the reality, adding that DR Congo’s actions threaten its security and it reserves the right to take measures to defend itself against this threat.

It says it will seek clarification from the US as the statement contradicts the tone of the confidence-building process initiated by the US Director of National Intelligence last year.

Four police officers have been arrested in Kenya after they were found drinking at a bar, in violation of a directive that ordered the closure of all bars in the central Kenyan county of Kirinyaga.

The county's governor, Anne Waiguru, imposed the order last Saturday, after more than 20 people in the county died from consuming alcohol laced with ethanol.

"I have today ordered the closure of all bars in Kirinyaga to pave the way for fresh vetting, those bars that will be found to have been operating without license or had previous cases of selling unauthorised products will not be allowed to open again,” Ms Waiguru said on Saturday during a mass burial of some of the victims.

The officers were arrested on Sunday during a raid on the bar, after a local resident tipped authorities.

The bar's owner was also detained, but several customers escaped arrest, privately-owned Citizen Digital news website reported.

Image source, EPA

Nigeria's Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has dismissed calls for the resignation of President Bola Tinubu as "an attempt at distraction".

Some governors from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Nigeria's largest opposition party, last week urged President Tinubu to resign if he could not tackle the country's economic challenges.

On Sunday, Mr Idris said that President Tinubu would not resign and was capable of addressing the economic difficulties plaguing the nation.

“President Tinubu is not and will never be overwhelmed by the current challenges the country is facing. He will not abdicate his responsibilities," Mr Idris said in a statement.

"He will courageously continue to wrestle with the challenges and surmount them, laying a durable foundation for the new Nigeria that is emerging."

The West African country is currently experiencing its worst economic crisis in years, with the value of the local currency plunging to a record low and many residents struggling to afford basic necessities.

Read more on Nigeria's cost-of-living crisis:

• Nigeria cost of living: People turn to 'throw-away' rice for food

Image source, Amensisa Ifa/ BBC

Some Tanzanians online are expressing concern that a new statue in honour of their founding president Julius Nyerere does not look like him.

The statue was unveiled on Sunday outside the African Union headquarters in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

“I know the gesture counts most but this statue’s face has very little or no resemblance to Mwalimu Nyerere (old or young),” Maria Sarungi says on X (formerly Twitter).

“That is not our Nyerere,” another says.

Nyerere was the leader of what is now Tanzania from independence in 1961 until 1985.

He was a committed pan-Africanist and hosted independence fighters opposed to white minority rule in southern Africa.

Last year, a statue honouring Zambia’s first President, Kenneth Kaunda, had to be removed after weeks of ridicule, with people similarly saying that it did not look like him.

The Newsroom
BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

Recently released victims of kidnapping in Nigeria say snakes were used to terrorise them into raising ransoms.

The West African country has seen a sharp rise in kidnappings, with ever greater sums being extorted.

One abductee told the government-owned News Agency of Nigeria some victims were forcibly taken to areas known to be snake-infested.

"That's when a victim will ask friends and family to sell everything to raise the ransom – house, cars, goods, just everything," the agency quoted an abductee as saying.

Local doctors have confirmed that some kidnap victims have required treatment for snake bites following their release.

Image source, Royal Moroccan Armed Forces/X

Morocco’s navy has rescued 141 African migrants onboard a boat that experienced difficulties while sailing from Mauritania to Spanish archipelago the Canary Islands.

The rescue was carried out on Sunday, about 274 km (170 miles) south-west of the city of Dakhla in the Western Sahara desert.

The migrants had left the Mauritanian coast on 10 February, the Reuters news agency reported, citing the Moroccan navy.

Last year, the Canary Islands received nearly 32,000 migrants, the highest number recorded since 2006.

In January, Spanish authorities said they continued to record a surge in migrant arrivals to the islands, with most boats originating from Mauritania.

Our proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

Updates from cross the African continent.

The island of Mauritius is well established as a luxury holiday destination with five star hotels, beautiful beaches and clear blue waters.

But in the last couple of years it has also become Africa’s financial hub, attracting billions of dollars of investment by leveraging on decades of political and economic stability, a strategic location on the Indian Oean plus a multiple taxation system that incentivise investors.

Critics say it’s a tax haven - an allegation the island is keen to put at bay.

Can Mauritius sustain its status as a high income country and attract the skilled labour it seeks to expand the economy?

Presenter/producer: Peter MacJob

(Port Louis is Mauritius main settlement. Credit: Getty Images)

Emma Tracey starts 2024 by hearing from Kenya and Costa Rica, two of the countries ranked highest in the fightback against climate change. She talks to on-the-ground reporters in Nairobi and San Jose, while Climate Question regular Mia Moisio explains which nations score well on the Climate Action Tracker and what the rest of the world can learn from them.

Reporters: Michael Kaloki in Kenya and Cindy Regidor in Costa Rica Producer: Ben Cooper Researcher: Shorouk Elkobrosi Series producer: Simon Watts Sound engineer: Tom Brignell

Email us: theclimatequestion@bbc.com