Africa highlights: Lion kills Nigeria zookeeper
Bringing you the latest news from around Africa on Wednesday 7 February 2018 and every weekday at bbc.com/africalive.
Bringing you the latest news from around Africa on Wednesday 7 February 2018 and every weekday at bbc.com/africalive.
Live Reporting
By Natasha Booty and Farouk Chothia
All times stated are UK
Get involved
Scroll down for Wednesday's stories
We'll be back tomorrow
That's all from the BBC Africa Live page today. Keep up-to-date with what's happening across the continent by listening to the Africa Today podcast or checking the BBC News website.
A reminder of today's wise words:
Click here and scroll to the bottom to send us your African proverbs.
And we leave you with this photo taken by Ghanaian photographer Nana Kofi Acquah:
Fake death notice of Kenyan opposition financier
Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service
A leading Kenyan newspaper has apologised for publishing a funeral announcement for a prominent opposition financier even though he was still alive.
The Daily Nation said it published Jimi Wanjigi's death notice in error and was working with the police to find out who placed it.
Rights groups say the announcement amounted to a death threat.
Mr Wanjigi funded the opposition leader Raila Odinga's recent election campaign.
A number of Mr Odinga's associates have been arrested and intimidated in recent weeks.
'Why I challenge homophobia online'
Georgina Rannard
BBC News, UGC & Social news
When the question "What will you do if your son comes out as gay?" led to viciously homophobic comments online, Oratile Keith decided to act.
Twitter user @OnimoleOfLagos had posed the question last week, prompting abusive and threatening comments in response.
"This is why we commit suicide," replied Oratile, who is 21 and a student and fashion stylist in Johannesburg, South Africa.
"I wanted to highlight that this is the type of abuse that leads LGBT people to suicide - when we say we face problems, we are not looking for attention," Oratile told the BBC.
Oratile explained he was motivated to respond because he had recently been accused of over-reacting when telling a friend he struggled with discrimination in South Africa.
The country legalised same-sex marriage in 2006, but Oratile said LGBT people still faced serious problems, including murder and "corrective" rape.
"By tweeting, I was saying this is a real issue - I wanted to show what's really going on. This is the first step in educating people," Oratile said.
His tweet has been widely shared, with more than 28,000 people retweeting it, and many describing their shock and solidarity.
Read more here
Nigeria bomb-making factory 'destroyed'
Nigeria's military says it has destroyed a bomb-making factory operated by militant Islamist group Boko Haram in its Sambisa forest hideout in the north-east.
Ground troops, backed by the air force, killed several militatns who tried to defend the factory, it added.
The military has tweeted photos of what it says are some of the weapons seized during the operation:
Hundreds of children freed by South Sudan militias
BBC World Service
The United Nations mission in South Sudan says armed groups have released more than 300 children in the southern region of Yambio, 87 of them girls.
The children will now begin the process of learning new skills and reintegrating into their communities.
It is the largest release of children abducted by armed groups in nearly three years, says Unicef's South Sudan Representative Mahimbo Mdoe:
All sides in the South Sudanese conflict have been accused of using child soldiers.
War broke out in the country in 2013, just two years after it gained independence.
Missing Nigerian masterpiece found in London
A missing Nigerian masterpiece has been found in a "modest north London flat".
Ben Enwonwu's 1974 painting of the Ife princess Adetutu Ademiluyi, known as Tutu, became a symbol of reconciliation after the Nigerian-Biafran conflict.
The painting is expected to sell for £300,000 ($415,000) at auction - a record for a modern Nigerian artist.
Booker Prize winning novelist Ben Okri called it "the most significant discovery in contemporary African art in over 50 years".
"It is a cause for celebration, a potentially transforming moment in the world of art," he added.
Mr Enwonwu, considered the father of Nigerian modernism, painted three versions of Tutu.
All three went missing after his death in 1994. The whereabouts of the other Tutu paintings remain a mystery.
Read the full story at BBC London
South Africans prepare for 'Zexit'
Andrew Harding
BBC News, Johannesburg
South Africans have started calling it “Zexit" - the long, fractious process of nudging President Jacob Zuma out of his job.
Quite why it’s proving so difficult is still not entirely clear.
Today, the man poised to replace him, Cyril Ramphosa, said only that they’d been busy discussing “pertinent matters.”
The best guess is that Mr Zuma, who is facing multiple corruption charges, may be looking for some sort of legal guarantees - although an amnesty is not an option in South Africa.
Mr Ramaphosa, already sounding like the country’s new president, said both he and Mr Zuma were aware of people’s anxieties, and the need for a speedy resolution in the “coming days”.
He made it sound as if "Zexit" was now inevitable.
Pushing the boundaries of agriculture in Kenya
Kenya is a predominantly rural country, with three-quarters of people living outside of towns and cities.
Most of the nation's produce come from small-holder farms rather than big commercial ones, and land use on many of these small farms is inefficient.
One institution is trying to change that.
Bukura Agricultural College in western Kenya is the only agricultural college in the country which teaches a practical-based diploma:
Video content
More from BBC Newsday
Tunisia helicopter crash kills soldier
BBC Monitoring
The world through its media
A Tunisian army helicopter has crashed, killing one soldier shortly after taking off from a military base in Sousse governorate.
Two other soldiers are in a critical condition in hospital, a health official has been quoted by local media as saying.
Old Ethiopian plane becomes popular cafe
After reaching the end of its life in the skies, an Ethiopian Airlines passenger jet has been relaunched as a cafe, drawing crowds with its unusual setting and homemade honey wine.
One customer describes the quirky venue's appeal:
Video content
Video journalist: Yadeta Berhanu
Lion kills zookeeper in Nigeria
Ishaq Khalid
BBC Africa, Abuja
A zookeeper has died after a lion mauled him in a park in northern Nigeria.
The lion broke out of its cage in the popular Gamji Gate amusement park in Kaduna city, injuring Mustapha Adam in the neck.
Mr Adam was admitted to hospital, where he died of his wounds in the early hours of Wednesday.
Authorities say the lion was lured back into its cage after the attack.
It is the second time in six months that an escaped lion has killed a person in Nigeria. In September last year, a lion killed a man feeding it in the city of Ibadan.
In 2015, a lion escaped from its cage in the central city of Jos but was tranquilized and killed before it could harm anybody.
Kenya's chief justice tells politicians to obey the courts
Kenya's chief justice has taken the rare step of issuing a statement, warning that the failure to obey court orders was not only "a violation of the constitution but a dereliction of public duty".
David Maraga's statement comes at a time when President Uhuru Kenyatta's government has been accused of ignoring court rulings.
In one case, a court had ordered that pro-opposition lawyer Miguna Miguna should be bailed, but this did not happen.
Instead, Mr Miguna was deported to Canada following his arrest on treason-related charges for attending opposition lawyer Raila Odinga's unofficial inauguration as president.
In his statement, the chief justice said:
The chief justice has posted his full statement on Twitter:
See earlier post for more details
Children die in arson attack in Guinea
Officials in Guinea say five children have been killed in an arson attack during violence which broke out after Sunday's local election.
They died after homes were set on fire in the central town of Kalinko. At least one person died on Monday during clashes between the security forces and opposition supporters who say the poll was rigged.
The local elections were meant to be held eight years ago, but were delayed due to cash shortages, political wrangling and the outbreak of the deadly Ebola disease.
Hundreds protest Israel's 'anti-African' migration laws
Hundreds of protesters have gathered outside the Rwandan Embassy in the Israeli city of Herzeliya to protest against tough new migration laws.
Some held banners reading "deported to death because I'm black", suggesting African migrants are less welcome in Israel than Europeans because of racial discrimination.
Demonstrators are calling on Paul Kagame, the AU chairman and president of Rwanda, to oppose Israel's plan to expel 38,000 migrants - who are mostly of Eritrean and South Sudanese origin.
At the start of the year, the Israeli government issued a notice for thousands of African migrants to leave the country or face imprisonment.
It said migrants would be given up to $3,500 (£2,600) for leaving within the next 90 days, and would be given the option of going to their home country or third countries.
But if they do not leave, the Israeli authorities have threatened that they will start jailing them from April.
Zuma's future will be clarified in 'coming days'
South Africa's Deputy President Ramaphosa says he is in "direct talks" with President Jacob Zuma about his future - and the two of them would report back to the nation in the "coming days".
In a statement, Mr Ramaphosa added:
Mr Zuma, who has been dogged by allegations of corruption, has so far resisted pressure to resign.
Mr Ramaphosa replaced him as leader of the governing African National Congress (ANC) in December.
If Mr Zuma resigns, it is unclear whether Mr Ramaphosa will move into the president's office or whether he will appoint a caretaker leader until next year's general election.
FGM ban could change lives of millions
Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service
If the religious edict banning some forms of female genital mutilation in the self-declared republic of Somaliland is observed, it has the potential to change the lives of millions of Somali women.
The World Health Organization estimates 98% of them are circumcised. Many undergo an extreme procedure whereby much of their external genitalia are removed.
The women are then sewn up, leading to severe problems with urination, menstruation and childbirth.
Somaliland says it will set up neighbourhood watch committees to ensure the ban is implemented. But in this intensely conservative society it's likely to take time.
See earlier post for more details
Kenya's Raila Odinga calls for new elections
Video content
Kenya’s main opposition leader, Raila Odinga, has said he wants new elections by August 2018.
Mr Odinga told BBC Hardtalk’s Zeinab Badawi he also aimed to create a "people’s convention" to deliberate on issues from regional assemblies - but not appoint ministers.
Watch the full interview on Wednesday 7 February 2018 on BBC World News and the BBC News Channel.
Cheddar Man: DNA shows early Briton had dark skin
Video content
A cutting-edge scientific analysis shows that a Briton from 10,000 years ago had dark skin and blue eyes.
Researchers from London's Natural History Museum extracted DNA from Cheddar Man, Britain's oldest complete skeleton, which was discovered in 1903.
University College London researchers then used the subsequent genome analysis for a facial reconstruction.
It underlines the fact that the lighter skin characteristic of modern Europeans is a relatively recent phenomenon.
The news has prompted a range of reactions on social media.
Some are non-plussed:
While others were more sceptical:
Read the full story on BBC News
Kenya lawyer held passport 'unlawfully'
Kenya's Ministry of Interior has defended the deportation of opposition lawyer Miguna Miguna to Canada, saying he was a Canadian national who had illegally obtained a Kenyan passport when he was an adviser to then Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Mr Miguna had "deliberately failed" to disclose that he had citizenship of another country when he was given a Kenyan passport in March 2009, ministry spokesman Mwenda Njoka said in a statement.
Therefore, Mr Miguna's Kenyan passport "was and still remains illegal", he added.
Mr Miguna was deported to Kenya after taking part in Mr Odinga's unofficial inauguration as "people's president" at a ceremony last month.
Mr Odinga boycotted an election re-run last year, saying conditions for a free and fair poll did not exist.
President Uhuru Kenyatta was re-elected by a landslide.
See earlier post for more details
Embattled Zuma's fate still unclear
Andrew Harding
BBC News, Johannesburg
An uncomfortable lull has settled over South African politics. Urgent meetings and key diary events have been cancelled. And President Zuma’s fate remains unclear.
The governing African National Congress (ANC) says progress has been made in constructive discussions between Mr Zuma and the man poised to replace him, Cyril Ramaphosa.
Many here assume that means Mr Zuma is close to agreeing to step down as president. But the timescale remains a mystery - and the apparent chaos within the ANC is provoking anxiety here.
Why Zuma is under pressure: Six key dates