Africa Live: As it happened

1. Welcome to the BBC's new Africa Live page
2. Nigeria awaits results after crucial poll
3. Trevor Noah to replace Jon Stewart on The Daily Show
4. Ten feared dead in Burundi landslide

Good night - we'll be back tomorrow

And that's it for our first day of the BBC Africa Live page. The Africa Today podcast, with a round-up of the latest news from the continent, will be available to download from 18:15 GMT.

For the latest on the Nigerian election results, visit BBCAfrica.com - and we leave you with this photo from the northern city of Kano of an indigo fabric dyer using pits said to have been in use for more than 500 years.

AP

Ouaga rock festival ends

Rock music isn't the most popular genre in Africa, nonetheless, the eighth Ouagadougou Rock Festival in Burkina Faso's capital has just concluded, reports Sasha Ganking for BBC Focus on Africa.

Tear gas in Nigeria

Tear gas was fired in Nigeria's southern oil city of Port Harcourt earlier during a protest by supporters of opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari over alleged voting irregularities in the tightly contested presidential election.

AP

Coming up on Focus

Tune into BBC Focus on Africa radio at 17:00 GMT for the latest on Nigeria's election. The programme also has an interview with Lesotho's renowned culinary chef Ska Mirriam Moteane and a report from Leslie Goffe in New York on Trevor Noah's appointment to The Daily Show.

Egypt kicks off

Egypt's premier football league has resumed after a seven-week break because of the Zamalek disaster in which 20 fans died in February. Zamalek won its game against Dakhleya 2-0.

'Golden voice'

Tanzanian broadcaster Charles Hilary is leaving the BBC after nearly 10 years. He is admired by millions across East Africa as the golden voice of sport.

BBC Africa editor Solomon Mugera recalls how in April 2009, when Charles strolled into a restaurant in Dar es Salaam the clattering of cutlery and clinging of glasses went silent for a second and then the room erupted "into a deafening applause".

BBC

"They cheered. Charles had just arrived from Tanzania's lake town of Mwanza, a day after successfully completing a five-day special broadcast that gripped millions in East Africa. Why? It was 30 years since Tanzania kicked Uganda's Idi Amin Dada out of power and into exile." And BBC Swahili had organised for the sons of the two leaders to meet.

SA union leader sacked

Milton Nkosi

BBC Africa, Johannesburg

South Africa's main trade union federation, Cosatu, says it has sacked its general-secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, following a unanimous vote by its top leadership body. Cosatu has been hit by a power struggle between rival factions.

Swing to Buhari?

The Economist Intelligence Unit's Africa team has been tweeting on the results from Nigeria's presidential election: "So far vote much as expected. Definite swing to Buhari, but unclear if enough to unseat Jonathan. #Nigeriadecides"

Ferdinand Omondi

BBC Africa, Mombasa

A court in Kenya has granted police 20 more days to detain three young women without charging them. They were recently arrested along the Kenya-Somalia border on suspicion that they may be training to be suicide bombers.

Suspended minister turned away

Suspended Kenyan government Felix Kosgei was turned away when he presented himself at the offices of the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission in the capital, Nairobi, earlier today, reports the BBC's Robert Kiptoo from there.

Officials told Mr Kosgei there was no case pending against him, and asked him to return on Thursday, our reporter says.

He was among four government ministers suspended at the weekend after being named in a report be the commission.

Thousand 'likes' for Obama

Followers of BBC Africa on Facebook have given a thousand "likes" in an hour to the news that US President Barack Obama is to visit Kenya in July, his first trip to the country since being elected to the White House.

Facebook/Getty

This has been accompanied by a lot of positive comments but also by negative reaction which runs from "He's too late" and "It will just cause us traffic jams" to "US influence is unwanted".

Mr Obama's father was a Kenyan, and there were wild celebrations in the country when he won the 2008 US election.

'Political interference'

US Under-Secretary for African Affairs, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, has told the BBC's Andrew Harding that the complaints about political interference in the collation of votes in Nigeria's presidential election come from private individuals around the country, and involve both main parties.

Reuters

Full results are expected by Tuesday

'Is Trevor Noah single?'

Buzzfeed has compiled tweets from people reacting to the news that Trevor Noah will replace Jon Stewart as host of The Daily Show. Many tweeters in the US asked, "Who is Trevor Noah?", while others, attracted by his good looks, speculated on whether he was single.

South Africans responded with pride that one of their own will be making Americans laugh.

Trevor Noah's 'illegal birth'

Nomsa Maseko

BBC News, Johannesburg

Trevor Noah is the son of a black South African woman and a white Swiss man. His parent's relationship was illegal, under South Africa's then-apartheid system, at the time of his birth in 1984.

His mixed-race heritage, experiences of growing up in Soweto and observations about race are the leading themes in his comedy.

AP

Last year, he became the first African comedian to perform on Jay Leno's The Tonight Show in the US and made his debut as an international correspondent on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show, offering an outsider's perspective on life in America.

Nigeria results tally

Ibrahim Shehu-Adamu

BBC Africa, Abuja

tweets about the breakdown so far from Nigeria's election: "Results from 8 states and the FCT so far: APC - 2,302,978 PDP - 2,322,507"

Indomitable Lions victorious

Nick Cavell

BBC Africa Sport

tweets: "Monday international friendly results: Thailand 2-3 #Cameroon - Cameroon were 2-0 down. Belarus 0-0 #Gabon."

EPA

Aliyu Tanko

BBC Hausa, Abuja

We've a long wait until the next results are announced by Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec). So far, out of 36 states, eight have been declared, plus the results for the Federal Capital Territory.

'Healing through laughter'

South Africa's Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthetwa has welcomed Trevor Noah's appointment to replace Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.

AP

"Over the years Mr Noah has proved that laughter is the best medicine and has helped our country and its people to find healing through laughing at themselves," he said in a statement.

Nigeria result break

Nigeria's electoral chief Attahiru Jega has left the hall where election results are being announced. According to Inec's twitter feed the gathering will reconvene at 20:00 local time (19:00 GMT).

'Staff held captive'

Aliyu Tanko

BBC Hausa, Abuja

tweets about Nigeria's election results: "Over 70,000 votes cancelled in Nasarawa [state] due to disruption, staff held captive until rescued by soldiers. #Nigeriadecides"

'Mudslides' in DR Congo

BBC Monitoring

UN-sponsored Radio Okapi in the Democratic Republic of Congo is reporting deadly mudslides after heavy rains in the east of the country over the weekend. It said 14 people had died and "many hectares of farmland have been devastated and enormous loss of property registered" in South Kivu's Fizi region with "cattle, farms and whole schools carried away up to Lake Tanganyika". In neighbouring Burundi, 10 people are missing in landslides.

First Nigeria results

The first results from Nigeria's presidential elections are in. President Jonathan has so far won three states and Gen Buhari four, according to results announced by Inec, the electoral commission. The Abuja Federal Territory, which includes the capital, has been won by Mr Jonathan, it says.

AP

Testing times

Sammy Darko

BBC Africa, Accra

High school pupils have begun their West Africa Certificate exams with a science paper. Here's a photo of students in Ghana's capital, Accra, hard at work - the exams go on until May.

BBC

Five things about Trevor Noah

South Africa's private Channel24 entertainment station has published five things it says Americans need to know about Trevor Noah, including the fact that he speaks seven languages: English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana, Tsonga and German.

South African joy

Milton Nkosi

BBC Africa, Johannesburg

South Africans are overjoyed by the news that their compatriot Trevor Noah will replace Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. Trevor Noah is now trending on most social media platforms. Host of South Africa's Late Nite News (LNN) TV comedy show Loyiso Gola tweeted to his more than 500,000 followers, "Congratulations comrade @Trevornoah".

Mr Noah is a much-loved figure in South Africa. In a racially polarised country, he cuts across racial divisions with his great sense of humour. Soweto, the famous township of his birth, is abuzz with excitement too.

'Best damn news show'

Trevor Noah has tweeted: "No-one can replace Jon Stewart. But together with the amazing team at The Daily Show, we will continue to make this the best damn news show!"

Nomsa Maseko

BBC News, Johannesburg

Emerging economies that make up the Brics nations - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - are strengthening long-standing trade relations. So it comes as no surprise that Mandarin will be offered as a second language in some schools in South Africa.

The subject will be offered to pupils from their fourth year when they are aged about nine or 10. The move also forms part of the ongoing cultural and educational exchanges between South Africa and China.

You can read more here on a South African university's controversial decision to board up the colonial-era statue of Cecil Rhodes, following protests by students.

Obama to visit Kenya

US President Barack Obama will visit Kenya in July to attend a global entrepreneurship summit, the White House has announced.

Yaya Toure faces big decision

Ivory Coast football captain Yaya Toure has revealed he will decide this week whether to retire from international football. The 31-year-old, who plays his club football with English Premier League side Manchester City, said that by winning the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations his "target was done".

Getty Images

Yaya Toure (right) has played 95 times for Ivory Coast and scored 19 goals since his debut in 2004

Inec denies 'political interference'

AFP news agency is reporting that Nigeria's electoral commission has dismissed UK and US fears of political interference in the collation of votes following Saturday's tightly contested presidential poll.

"There is no interference at all. We are about to start the collation process. We have no evidence of political interference," commission spokesman Kayode Idowu is quoted as saying.

Bridges destroyed

BBC Afrique's Judith Basutama has been to the scene of the mudslide in Burundi about 30km (18 miles) south-west of the capital, Bujumbura, along the shore of Lake Tanganyika. Officials have told her that 10 people are missing, not 18 as earlier reporter, and bridges and hundreds of homes were destroyed as swollen rivers with rocks and other debris gushed into the lake.

BBC

BBC

Nigeria opposition HQ 'buzzing'

The BBC's Nkem Ifejika in Abuja says: "We've just been to both the APC and PDP headquarters. The difference couldn't be more stark - APC dynamic, buzzing. PDP dead - only security presence."

Mansur Liman

BBC Hausa editor

The chairman of Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec), Attahiru Jega, has started speaking to welcome everyone to the collation centre in the capital Abuja. There are domestic and international observers present.

Mansur Liman

BBC Hausa editor

Party agents are now introducing themselves at the electoral commission headquarters in Nigeria's capital, Abuja. The opposition APC is being represented by Olurumbe Mamora and Hakeem Baba Ahmed - and the ruling PDP is being represented by Orubebe Godsday Orubebe and Bello Fadile.

Zambia football coach 'betrayed'

Outgoing Zambia coach Honour Janza says he feels "betrayed" by the country's football association after learning through the media of the decision to replace him with a foreign coach.

Getty Images

Janza has been in charge of Zambia since August 2014 and led the team at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations

He told BBC Sport: "I was surprised to read about my departure because no-one has told me anything."

Mansur Liman

BBC Hausa editor

The chief electoral officer and returning officer for the Nigeria presidential election has taken his seat to start the collation of votes.

Umaru Fofana

BBC Africa, Freetown

tweets from Sierra Leone: "Kids of Mabela slum in #SierraLeone having fun despite harsh surrounding. Watch out for the next Man United player."

Umaru Fofana

It has been confirmed - South African comedian Trevor Noah is to replace Jon Stewart on The Daily Show.

The 31-year-old made his debut as a contributor to the nightly satirical show last December.

Twitter/Trevor Noah

Laughing to the top

South African comedian Trevor Noah is to succeed Jon Stewart as the host of the Comedy Central's The Daily Show in the US, the New York Times is reporting.

Getty Images

Mr Noah, who is on tour in Dubai, told the paper he could not believe the news for the first few hours: "You need a stiff drink, and then unfortunately you're in a place where you can't really get alcohol."

Football friendly

After 20 minutes played in an international friendly, it is Thailand 1-0 Cameroon, reports BBC Africa sport's Nick Cavell.

Malema denies CIA spy claim

South Africa's controversial opposition politician Julius Malema has strongly denied he was ever a CIA spy, reports the BBC's Milton Nkosi from Johannesburg.

"I was never a spy. I am not a CIA spy and will never be a spy," Mr Malema told the Foreign Correspondents Association.

AP

Julius Malema (C) used to be a member of the governing party

South Africa's State Security Minister David Mahlabo caused a stir earlier this month when he said intelligence agencies would investigate allegations that Mr Malema and other prominent personalities were spies.

'Disturbing indications'

A joint statement from the UK and US says there has been no evidence of "systemic manipulation" in Nigeria's elections "but there are disturbing indications that the collation process - where the votes are finally counted - may be subject to deliberate political interference".

Painting stripes

Here is a photo of activists in Kenya transforming a donkey into a zebra. Five donkeys painted with slogans such as "corruption is bleeding Kenya dry" are on the streets of Nairobi as part of an anti-corruption protest.

Contributor

BBC Hausa service producer Yakubu Liman says that on his way to work this morning motorists in Abuja were stopping on a main road of Nigeria's capital to see a vehicle that had skidded off the highway and landed under a bridge.

BBC

Ignore 'rigging video'

Nigeria's electoral body, Inec, says that a "rigging video" currently circulating on the internet and social media should be ignored, reports BBC cameraman Ayo Bello from its headquarters in the capital, Abuja. Inec says the video was in circulation in 2011.

US 'worried' about Nigeria vote

Stephanie Hegarty

BBC World Service, Abuja

tweets: "US and UK concerned about the transparency of the collation process, statement expected #Nigeriadecides Why is it taking so long??"

Ghana oil row

Ghana's legal team has opened its defence at an international tribunal which will rule on its territorial dispute with Ivory Coast over oil, Ghana's privately owned Citifmonline reports.

Ivory Coast is trying to stop Ghana continuing with offshore oil exploration along their disputed maritime border, saying it will do irreparable damage to its economy.

Ghana has dismissed its claim to the area as unfounded and baseless, Citifmonline reports.

BBC

Commercial oil began flowing in Ghana in 2010

Nigeria security

Kelvin Brown

BBC News, Kano

tweets: Heavy security presence outside the @inecnigeria HQ in downtown #Kano as #Nigeria waits for election results.

BBC

Westgate 'reopening'

Kenya's private NTV is reporting on its Facebook page that Nairobi's Westgate shopping centre is due to reopen on 1 July, nearly two years after 67 people were killed in a four-day siege by Islamist militants.

Reporter Brenda Mulinya Wanga has tweeted a photo from inside the mall. Nairobi's governor Evans Kidero replied to her, saying the front of the mall will open on 1 July and the back at the end of the year - with full completion expected in 2016.

Kenyan Presidential Press Service via Getty Images

The back of the mall was badly damaged at the end of the siege

Rhodes boxed up

Here's a photo of British colonialist Cecil Rhodes' statue - boarded up with wood - at South Africa's University of Cape Town.

Martin Hall

The vice chancellor had the statue boarded up after the university's governing body agreed over the weekend that it should be removed. Students have been agitating for it to be pulled down, even throwing human excrement at it.

Election briefings

Tomi Oladipo

BBC Africa security correspondent

tweets from Nigeria's capital, Abuja: "Third press briefing and it's not even lunchtime yet"

BBC

Peace messages

Naziru Mikailu

BBC Africa

tweets: "Most local radio stations in Kano are broadcasting peace messages urging ppl to accept #Nigeriadecides result not to resort to violence."

Momentous history

The BBC World Service has put together a selection of programmes charting Nigeria's momentous history - from independence through to its emergence as a leading African nation.

BBC

Nigeria women 'tear gassed'

Will Ross

BBC Nigeria correspondent

tweets: "Opposition protest by women in Port Harcourt this morning. Report that tear gas used to disperse"

Teaching Mandarin

South Africa is to start teaching Mandarin in schools, reports South Africa's Star newspaper.

Department of education spokesperson Troy Martens told the BBC that this is part of "ongoing cultural and educational exchanges between China and South Africa".

Nigeria parliamentary results

Some of Nigeria's parliamentary results are now being released. It is a clean sweep for the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kano, one of Nigeria's most populous states. It has taken all three senatorial seats and the 24 in the lower chamber, the House of Representatives, says BBC Hausa's Habiba Adamu in Abuja.

In Katsina, home to APC presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari, it also won three senatorial seats and the state's 15 places in the House of Representatives.

Randy Joe Sa'ah

BBC Africa, Yaounde

A riot at an overcrowded prison in Cameroon's Far North region over the weekend has left at least one person dead. Security forces shot in the air as prisoners tried to break out of the Garoua Central Prison.

The protest came after a prisoner died in solitary confinement. Last month, 25 prisoners suffocated to death in another jail.

Terror alert probe

Catherine Byaruhanga

BBC Africa, Kampala

Ugandan police say operations following a terror alert by the US Embassy in Kampala are ongoing with a search for an individual believed to have entered the country last week.

BBC

Uganda's police spokesman Fred Enanga briefing journalists

The government has said the threat is believed to come from militant Islamist group al-Shabab because of the presence of Ugandan troops in Somalia.

Sierra Leone's Information Minster Alpha Kanu has been speaking to the BBC's Newsday programme about the three-day Ebola lockdown. You can hear the interview on soundcloud.

AP

And schools in Sierra Leone are due to reopen in mid-April, not today as we had earlier reported.

Donkeys 'against corruption'

Residents of Nairobi woke up to a strange protest this morning by donkeys, one painted as a zebra, says BBC Swahili's Idris Situma from the Kenyan capital.

Contributor

They had anti-corruption messages sprayed on their bodies, thought to be in support of the president's move over the weekend to suspend four cabinet ministers.

Contributor

It is not clear who tied up the animals in the city centre, but they bore the handiwork of a group of activists who unleashed pigs in Nairobi in 2013 in a protest about MPs' high salaries.

Contributor

Nigeria's 'vicious' poll

Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, in an interview with David Smith of the UK Guardian, says about the poll: "This has been one of the most vicious, unprincipled, vulgar and violent election exercises I have ever witnessed.

AFP

"I really hope the result, however gracelessly or grudgingly, will be accepted by the loser."

Thumbs up or down?

Andrew Harding

Africa correspondent

tweets: Bouncing between election observer news conferences here in Abuja. Still no results but lots of thumbs up re. process

Observer statement

Nigeria's main observer body, the TMG, tweets: "Read our full statement on the election process here: http://tmgng.org/election-observation/tmgqc-preliminary-process-statement/ … #NigeriaDecides #Nigeria2015"

The BBC's Newsday radio programme has been looking at the key issues in Nigeria's tightly contested elections. You can hear it on soundcloud.

BBC

Newsday presenter Nkem Ifejika and Lazarus Apir of Nigeria's Transition Monitoring Group

'Broken ballot boxes'

BBC Monitoring

An international observer says elections in Nigeria's Rivers state were "compromised". The executive director of UK-based Contact Project, Jennifer Lynne, said that over the course of Saturday, she and her team had monitored several polling areas in Port Harcourt.

"Some of our international community members have reported ballot boxes that were broken. We have seen violence and intimidation recorded as well at some polling areas," Ms Lynne told Nigeria's private Channels TV. She added that her team had also made attempts to report their findings at the electoral commission headquarters but were refused entrance into the facility.

Tomi Oladipo

BBC Africa security correspondent

The most frequent incidents from the Nigeria's weekend elections reported by Transitional Monitoring Group (TMG) relate to late accreditation, card reader malfunction and accreditation without the use of card reader.

Andrew Harding

Africa correspondent

Nigeria's main observer coalition, the Transitional Monitoring Group, praises "credible and peaceful" election process. So far.

BBC

Buhari heading to Abuja

Nigeria's opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari is leaving his home in northern Katsina state and is heading back to the capital, Abuja, for the results of the presidential elections, his spokesman has told the BBC's Charlotte Attwood in Nigeria.

Reuters

'Deadly landslide in Burundi'

AFP news agency is reporting that landslides have killed at least 18 people following torrential rains in Burundi's Bujumbura district, some 35km (20 miles) south of the capital.

Ten others are missing, it quotes the area's governor, Jacques Minani, as saying.

"It is a disaster... dozens of houses were destroyed, crops have been washed away," said Mr Minani.

Electoral chief on Nigeria result

AP

Nigeria's election chief Attahiru Jega has told the BBC he expects there will be a strong indication of who has won the presidential poll by the end of today, but final results will only be announced tomorrow.

Probe into peace laureate's death

The UN is due to launch today a new inquiry into the 1961 death of its then-chief Dag Hammarskjold in a plane crash over what is now Zambia.

The panel is to consider the "probative value" of new information related to the Nobel Peace laureate's death, the UN said in a statement.

AP

Many conspiracies have swirled around Mr Hammarskjold's death. His plane was travelling to what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo on a peace mission in 1961 when it crashed.

Where's Mark?

Umaru Fofana also features in this tribute to Mark Doyle, who has left the BBC's after reporting on Africa for the past 26 years. The BBC's Andrew Harding recounts how in Liberia he was recently asked: "Where is Mr Mark? Do you know him? Send him our greetings."

BBC

Umaru Fofana, in white shirt and glasses, and Mark Doyle in Kabala, Sierra Leone

Call to prayer

Umaru Fofana

BBC Africa, Freetown

tweets: "Early morning muslim call to prayer blaring again in #SierraLeone capital after three days of an #Ebola lockdown."

Ebola on the back foot?

Schools are due to reopen in Sierra Leone, where they have been closed for about eight months because of the Ebola outbreak. A three-day lockdown to curb the spread of the virus has just ended in the country.

AP

Today's African proverb is: "He who wants peace makes his own peace." A Bemba proverb sent in by Sampa Chitimukulu Lumbwe in Kitwe, Zambia.

Today eyes are on Nigeria where counting is under way after the weekend's presidential election. Incumbent Goodluck Jonathan is facing a strong challenge from former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari.

AFP

Good morning and welcome to the Africa Live page, which we are launching today. We will be bringing you updates throughout the day from around the continent, thanks to the BBC's network of reporters and Africa-focussed programmes.