Africa Live this week: 4-10 March 2024

For the latest updates, go to bbc.com/africalive.

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

We'll be back next week at bbc.com/africalive. Until then, there'll be an automated service here, plus you can get the latest news on our website or listen to our podcasts - Africa Daily and Focus on Africa.

Our African proverb of the day:

Quote Message: If you eat the fruit of a big tree, do not forget to thank the wind." from A Baatonum/Bariba proverb from Benin sent by Yvon Atsiba in Quebec, Canada

If you eat the fruit of a big tree, do not forget to thank the wind."

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this shot from Cape Town in South Africa - it's one of our favourites this week:

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Moses Kollie Garzeawu/BBCCopyright: Moses Kollie Garzeawu/BBC

Women in Liberia who lead initiation ceremonies tell the BBC it's no longer worth carrying out female genital mutilation (FGM).

Speaking on the sidelines of an International Women's Day event at the Sande bush school in Gbanga, Emma Belleh told the BBC that young initiates were no longer given the time they once were to learn cultural values:

Quote Message: In the past, women or girls would stay for about three years to learn different skills and family values.

In the past, women or girls would stay for about three years to learn different skills and family values.

Quote Message: But [now], the basic thing they do is just cutting because the students are staying just maximum three weeks - which means [they are missing] the true essence."

But [now], the basic thing they do is just cutting because the students are staying just maximum three weeks - which means [they are missing] the true essence."

Ms Belleh and others say they want to build community teaching centres where young women learn important life skills, without subjecting them to the harm of FGM.

At least six out of 15 counties in Liberia recently announced that they were stopping the practice.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Men should not feel threatened as women stride forward in the world of work, says the first woman to lead First Bank of Nigeria in its 130-year history.

Speaking at the Oxford Africa Business Forum in the UK, Ibukun Awosika said it was time to be more radical:

Quote Message: We're dealing with mindsets of time - in multiple cultures. It’s about resetting how we think.

We're dealing with mindsets of time - in multiple cultures. It’s about resetting how we think.

Quote Message: In resetting, my challenge for the girls is this - you can’t wait for the time when everyone else understands it. If we had to wait for that, we'd still be waiting.

In resetting, my challenge for the girls is this - you can’t wait for the time when everyone else understands it. If we had to wait for that, we'd still be waiting.

Quote Message: For the guys, be open-minded enough to understand, when girls wins - you win!"

For the guys, be open-minded enough to understand, when girls wins - you win!"

AFPCopyright: AFP

"Wars and other natural phenomena are attracting the world’s attention and leaving Mozambique’s situation almost invisible," warns the UN's refugee chief.

The country's mineral-rich province of Cabo Delgado has been plagued by Islamist violence, and the UN says it only has 17% of the funding it needs to provide short-term relief to the many locals who need urgent aid.

"I appeal to the World Bank and other partners to support Mozambique in development projects, to not only avoid a humanitarian crisis, but also stop the spread of terrorism in the world," UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said.

"As a United Nations organisation, [we] are committed to providing a large-scale response to the humanitarian drama in Cabo Delgado, but unfortunately, without sufficient resources, we will have no alternative but to do less of what we should do."

More on Mozambique's insurgency:

• Why IS is so hard to defeat in Mozambique
• UN warns of rising violence in Cabo Delgado
• Why 24 countries have sent troops

CPJAfrica/TwitterCopyright: CPJAfrica/Twitter

The trial of a prominent journalist in the Democratic Republic of Congo has resumed in the capital Kinshasa, with the prosecution calling for a prison sentence of 20 years.

Stanis Bujakera was arrested in September after writing an article in the magazine Jeune Afrique, alleging that an opposition politician, Cherubin Okende, was assassinated by intelligence officers.

In July, Okende's body had been found in a car riddled with bullets.

The prosecutor's office maintained he had killed himself.

Human Rights Watch described Mr Bujakera's case as politically motivated and Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi suggested he'd been the victim of what he called "sick justice".

The press freedom campaign group, Committee to Protect Journalists, is calling for Mr Bujakera's "immediate and unconditional release".

Courtesy of the artistCopyright: Courtesy of the artist

Nineteen-year-old singer-songwriter Khaid’s musical journey is quite the story. It started on the streets of his hometown Ojo, 40km (25 miles) west of Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos.

Born Sulaimon Shekoni Abiola, Khaid was working as a roadside mechanic and freestyling during his free time.

In 2021 one of the videos he posted on Instagram of him rapping went viral – and was spotted by media personality, comedian and actor, Stanley Talker, who was also into music.

"At first when I saw he followed me on Instagram, I didn’t really believe that it was him. I thought it was a fake page, to be honest," Khaid recalls.

But when Khaid clicked on Talker’s page and saw one million followers he knew it was the real thing. He sent him a message asking to come and see him in Lagos.

"I was really scared when I sent that message because I thought he would be like: 'Who do you think you are' but he was great.

"When I got to his house my adrenaline was pumping and I freestyled six Afro-trap songs."

Khaid, then 17 years old, was signed the same day – the first signing for Talker’s Neville Records, which he launched in January 2022.

"When I got home, I felt like Jay-Z!”

In 2022 Khaid shot to fame with the track With You and he’s currently making waves with his latest catchy track Run Away, featuring Ghanaian superstar Gyakie.

Khaid’s music ranges from playful dance tunes to introspective love songs and he says his style is evolving all the time.

"I don’t really know how to describe my style – I do all sorts, from trap to pop – let me just say Afro-unknown because it can go anywhere."

To hear the full interview with Khaid, listen to This is Africa on BBC World Service radio and partner stations across Africa, and online here: bbcworldservice.com/thisisafrica.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Concrete barriers are being built along a stretch of the South Africa-Mozambique border to prevent people crossing over to steal and smuggle vehicles.

South African authorities have budgeted close to $2.7m (£2.1m) to build the wall. It's made up of three sections:

• An 8km (5 mile) barrier near Tembe Elephant Park
• An 8km-long stretch near iSimangaliso Wetland Park
• A 9km wall from the western boundary of Tembe Elephant Park towards Pongolo River

Building works on the Tembe Elephant Park section "are currently underway," according to a joint briefing by the South African government and KwaZulu-Natal province.

"The impact of the project has been positively received by the community and the South African National Defense Force," it added.

That the barrier is already foiling crime was emphasised by a failed attempt to drive a stolen SUV over the barrier using "iron ladders". It appears the ladders buckled, causing its drivers to set the vehicle on fire to destroy evidence.

According to Defenceweb, there are 15 companies of troops safeguarding South Africa’s borders, particularly "high-risk borders" with Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Lesotho.

EBCCopyright: EBC

Africa's first black female athlete to win gold at the Olympics, Derartu Tulu, will now be featured on postage stamps in her home country Ethiopia.

The stamps were unveiled today in the capital, Addis Ababa, to mark International Women’s Day.

Each stamp in the series shows moments in her career starting from her first Olympic win in 1992 in Barcelona, when she was aged just 20, state broadcaster EBC reported.

Derartu is a huge figure in the country and has been the president of the Ethiopian Athletics Federation (EAF) since November 2018.

Her Olympic wins also included 10,000m gold in 1992, the same again at Sydney 2000, and a bronze at Athens in 2004.

She is the latest Ethiopian athlete to be honoured with a stamp in the East African nation - previous figures include Abebe Bikila and Haile Gebrselassie.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Zambia has announced it will start rationing its electricity, as the effects of the drought that's hitting much of southern Africa continues to bite.

Eight hours of load shedding per day will begin by the start of next week, announced the managing director of the state-owned power company Zesco on Thursday.

Victor Mapani said the move was a result of the low water levels at Kariba Dam which is used to generate most of Zambia's hydroelectricity.

He said Zambia would continue importing power from Mozambique to cushion the energy deficit on the economy.

Mr Mapani advised consumers to use alternative sources of energy.

Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema has declared the drought a national emergency and urged local and international partners to help in fighting its effects.

Besides affecting the country’s energy sector, the dry spell is already hurting Zambia’s agriculture sector with an estimated one million subsistence farmers having their planted crops damaged.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

The so-called Islamic State group (IS) has belatedly said it carried out the 25 February attack on a Catholic church in north-eastern Burkina Faso, in which at least 15 people were killed.

IS issued the claim on 7 March through its weekly newspaper al-Naba, which offered a round-up of the group's recent activities in the Sahel.

It said that IS militants armed with guns attacked a church in the village of Essakane in Oudalan province, near the border with Mali, during Sunday service.

"As the mujahidin entered the church gate, they opened fire on the Christians, killing over 15 of them," the group said.

While IS regularly targets Christians and their places of worship in DR Congo and Mozambique, where it has active branches, such attacks by the group in Burkina Faso are not common. IS attacks there normally target armed forces.

On the same day as the church attack, unknown assailants attacked a mosque in eastern Burkina Faso, in the town of Natiaboani, reportedly killing dozens of people. While no group claimed responsibility for that attack, IS's rival, al-Qaeda, claimed activity against the army in the same town that day.