Africa highlights: Pistorius taken to hospital, pilots suspended after child flies plane

1. Pistorius taken to hospital with chest pain
2. Algerian pilots suspended for letting 10-year-old fly a plane
3. UN 'deeply concerned' over killings in Burundi
4. Stanley Ntagali boycotts Anglican church leaders' meeting
5. Gambia revokes former president's diplomatic passport
6. South Africa's national carrier has run out of money

Scroll down for Thursday's stories

That's all from BBC Africa Live today. Keep up-to-date with what's happening across the continent by listening to the Africa Today podcast or check the BBC News website.

A reminder of today's wise words:

The tongue has no bones, but it can break bones."

An Oromo proverb sent by Yosef Hamba in Nairobi, Kenya

And we leave you with this image of Egypt seen from space, taken by Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly:

Rihanna is giving bikes to girls in Malawi

BBC Newsbeat

Clara Lionel Foundation/Ofo

Rihanna is giving bikes to girls in Malawi to help them get an education.

It's part of a new partnership between the singer's Clara Lionel Foundation and Chinese bike-sharing company Ofo.

The campaign called 1 Km Action will fund scholarships to help hundreds of girls attend secondary schools in Malawi.

Those who qualify for a scholarship will receive bikes to make sure they get to school.

According to the foundation, there are approximately 4.6 million students across Malawi but only 8% of students complete secondary school.

One of the reasons for this is because of the poor transport links.

"I'm so happy about the Clara Lionel Foundation's new partnership with Ofo because it will help so many young people around the world receive a quality education," Rihanna said.

Read more on BBC Newsbeat.

Police officers 'sacked for burgling Nigeria's ex-president'

AFP

TV sets, refrigerators and air conditioners were stolen from Goodluck Jonathan's home

We reported yesterday that Nigeria's former President Goodluck Jonathan had six televisions and three refrigerators stolen from his home in Abuja.

Today Nigeria's Punch news site says four policemen have been sacked over the theft of household appliances as well as designer clothing from Mr Jonathan's house.

The officers are alleged to have sold the items to traders at Pankera second-hand market in Abuja.

Speaking yesterday, Mr Jonathan's spokesman explained the extent of the burglary:

The house was totally stripped bare by thieves who stole every movable item in the house, including furniture sets, beds, electronics, toilet and electrical fittings, as well as all internal doors and frames."

Punch quotes a police statement as saying the dismissals took place following an "orderly room proceeding", and were in keeping with Inspector-General Ibrahim Idris' mission to "rid the Nigeria Police Force of criminal elements that are out to disparage the good image of the force”.

South Africa backs bid to host 2023 Rugby World Cup

Nick Cavell

BBC Africa Sport

Getty Images

South Africa's rugby bosses have been told to make the sport more racially inclusive

The South African government has given its backing to a bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup by providing the all-important financial guarantees.

The bid had been in doubt last year when former sports minister Fikile Mbalula said South Africa's rugby union would only get the government's blessing if transformation targets to increase the number of non-white players in the sport were met.

At this stage the targets have yet to be reached, but current Sports Minister Thulas Nxesi has praised rugby bosses for their improved transformation scores, which suggest the sport is fully committed to fulfilling the aim.

South African Rugby has thanked the government and Mr Nxesi for their support in providing the required financial guarantees to bring the Rugby World Cup tournament to the country in 2023.

The cabinet approved a request for guarantees to the value of 2.7 billion Rand (US$203 m; $154m), which World Rugby demands as a prerequisite for hosting the event.

CEO of SA Rugby Jurie Roux said:

We could not take this journey alone and we’re delighted to take hands with government as we bid to bring the Rugby World Cup back to South Africa for the first time since 1995."

Egyptian doctors launch operating theatre-themed restaurant

Getty Images

A group of Egyptian doctors have opened a restaurant with the theme of an operating theatre, reports Reuters news agency.

The staff dress in blue surgical scrubs and gloves in the restaurant in the city of Damanhour.

The news agency reports that the only item on the menu is grilled beef-liver sandwiches, known as Kebda.

Kebda is a popular street food in Egypt.

Mostafa Basiouny, one of the restaurant's owners, told Reuters:

We tried to take our career values and apply them to this other field. There is no contradiction between them, we are still practicing doctors."

Nigerians place bets on Buhari's return date

Nigerians speculating on when their ailing president will return from London are now being encouraged to put their money where their mouth is.

Sports gaming site NaijaBet.com has launched the 'Buhari to Return' game, departing from its usual focus on English Premier League football and other big sporting events.

President Muhammadu Buhari, 74, is currently receiving medical treatment in the UK for the second time this year for an undisclosed illness.

His long absence has become a topic of intense public debate in Nigeria.

In July, members of Nigeria's ruling party and opposition politicians visited Mr Buhari at Abuja House in London.

Autopsy shows woman found with Msando was strangled

Anthony Irungu

BBC Africa, Nairobi

Doctors in Kenya say a young woman whose body was found alongside that of an electoral commission IT manager Chris Msando was strangled to death by her killers.

Yesterday we reported that the autopsy of Mr Msando's body showed that he had also been strangled.

Kenya's chief government pathologist says the marks on Maryanne Ngumbu's neck indicate that a rope-like object was used to strangle the 21-year old.

Her body was found dumped in a forest on the outskirts of Nairobi a few metres away from the remains of Mr Msando.

Ms Ngumbu had just completed her medical studies.

Her mother is quoted in local media as saying Maryanne was a very peaceful and calm person.

Their murders were just days before the general election on 8 August.

It has sparked public outrage about the resurgence of extra-judicial killings in Kenya.

Police chief Joseph Boinett told the press in Nairobi that detectives have interrogated six people, and the hunt is on for four others.

Getty Images

Chris Msando had insisted his electronic voting system could not be rigged

Victim in SA coffin assault case testifies in court

Pumza Fihlani

BBC News

Reuters

Willem Oosthuizen and Theo Martins Jackson are on trial in Middleburg

A black man who was allegedly forced into a coffin by two white men who then threatened to burn him alive has been testifying at a court in South Africa.

Victor Mlotshwa broke down in Middleburg High Court as he recounted the events of last August.

The court played a video of the incident in which Mr Mlotshwa can be heard crying and pleading with his attackers.

He alleges that farmers Theo Jackson and Willem Oosthuizen bound him with cable ties, beat him and threatened to shoot him.

The two suspects deny this, claiming that they had caught Mr Mlotshwa stealing copper cables.

In a court affidavit, they say they didn't mean to do him any harm but merely wanted to "teach him a lesson".

The racially charged case has caused outrage in many circles and highlighted racial tensions among farming communities.

YouTube

The video caused outrage in South Africa

Data firm that boosted Trump now in Kenya

AFP

Cambridge Analytica claims that it helped Trump to win crucial swing states

A firm which purchases and compiles demographic data on voters is now reportedly working for Kenya's incumbent president.

On 10 May, The Star newspaper in Kenya reported that Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee Party had hired Cambridge Analytica and a month later, the same newspaper reported that the firm was working from the seventh floor of the party's headquarters in Nairobi.

Cambridge Analytica refused to comment on those reports to BBC Trending, but the global privacy-protection charity Privacy International suggests that the company is being paid $6m (£4.6m) for its work in the country.

Read more on BBC Trending.

BreakingPistorius taken to hospital with chest pains

Pumza Fihlani

BBC News

Jailed South African athlete Oscar Pistorius has been taken to hospital after complaining of chest pain, according to the Correctional Services department.

They add he was taken to Kalafong, a public hospital in the capital Pretoria, earlier today.

He was discharged after a medical examination and is expected back in prison later today.

In 2015 he was found guilty of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Sudan rebel leader announces ceasefire

BBC World Service

Getty Images

The most powerful rebel leader in Sudan has announced a six-month cessation of hostilities.

Abdelaziz al-Hilu is the leader of the biggest faction of the SPLM-North rebels, who are fighting the government in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile region, in the south of the country.

It is his first such announcement since SPLM-North split in two earlier this year.

The government had previously declared its own temporary ceasefire, in part because it hopes the US will remove economic sanctions on Sudan.

The civil wars in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile broke out in 2011.

'We need to talk about male rape'

BBC

Stephen was raped in 2011 during the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Rape is used as a weapon of war against men and women, yet many male survivors are reluctant to speak out.

Stephen Kigoma, who was raped during the conflict in DR Congo before fleeing to Uganda has shared his experience with the BBC's Alice Muthengi:

"If I talked about it, I would have been separated from the people... Even those who treated me would not have shaken my hands."

"They killed my father. Three men raped me, and they said: 'You are a man, how are you going to say you were raped?'"

"It's a weapon they use to make you silent."

After fleeing to Uganda in 2011, Stephen got medical help from a doctor treating survivors of sexual violence, where he was the only man in the ward.

"I felt undermined. I was in a land I didn't belong to, having to explain to the doctor how it happened. That was my fear."

AFP

Stephen was treated at the Mulago Hospital, Uganda's biggest referral hospital

Read the full story here.

Gambia 'cancels ex-president Jammeh's diplomatic passport'

AFP

The Gambian government has revoked former president Yahya Jammeh's diplomatic passport and those of his family.

AP news agency reports that they are among 207 Gambians who have had their privileges cancelled with immediate effect.

Other names on the list of people who have had their diplomatic passports removed include Mr Jammeh's ex-bodyguard Alhagi Martin, and former ministers Fatou Mass Jobe-Njie and Fatou Lamin Faye, AP adds.

Mr Jammeh went into exile in Equatorial Guinea earlier this year, having lost an election to Adama Barrow in December 2016 after 22 years in power.

Another opposition leader arrested in Zambia

Kennedy Gondwe

BBC World Service, Lusaka

Police in Zambia have arrested another leader of the opposition and a vocal critic of President Edgar Lungu.

Saviour Chishima, leader of the United Progressive People (UPP), was arrested this morning at the premises of a privately-owned television station in the capital Lusaka.

He had gone for a pre-recorded interview at Diamond Television and was picked up by plain-clothed police officers soon afterwards.

A statement by UPP spokesperson Kizito Mukuka says Mr Chishimba has been taken to the police headquarters.

In April this year, police arrested opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema after his convoy failed to give way to the president's motorcade:

How road rage led to treason charge in Zambia

He has been charged with treason and is still in prison as his offence is non-bailable under Zambian laws.

Who is running against Paul Kagame in Rwanda's election?

Rwandans are voting in elections on Friday, with many assuming victory is already guaranteed for President Paul Kagame, as he runs for a third term.

So the BBC's Robert Misigaro has looked into who is running against him and if they stand a chance:

Rwanda elections 2017: President Kagame to win one-horse race?

Who is Paul Kagame? Read our profile of the Rwandan president here.

Al-Qaeda releases South African kidnapped in Mali

BBC World Service

SITE

South Africa's foreign minister has announced that a man who was kidnapped in Mali by an al-Qaeda-linked group over five years ago is now back home.

Stephen McGown was released at the weekend.

In November 2011 he was taken by the militant group from the town of Timbuktu, which he was visiting on holiday.

The minister said no ransom was paid, and Mr McGown was undergoing medical checks. Another hostage, Johan Gustafsson from Sweden, was released a few weeks ago.

Foreign minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said:

We would like to warmly welcome him back home and wish him good health, good fortune in his life as a free man. It is with sadness though, that his dear mother passed on in May 2017 without seeing her son back home."

Read more on the BBC News website.

Algerian pilots suspended for letting 10-year-old fly a plane

Two pilots working for Algeria's national airline have been suspended because they allowed a 10-year-old orphan to fly a domestic passenger aircraft, Africa News reports.

The news site says the boy's adventure was funded by a charity and filmed by El Bilad TV, who show him dressed for the occasion in a pilot's uniform and pushing buttons in the cockpit under supervision:

It is not known how many passengers were on board the Air Algerie flight from the capital Algiers to the eastern city of Setif, Africa News says.

The news site says the pilots were suspended on 29 July pending further investigation "because the act was a breach of civil aviation regulations".

SA pays tribute to murdered actor Dumi Masilela

Pumza Fihlani

BBC News

In South Africa, messages of condolences are pouring in after news of the death of 29-year-old soap opera actor Dumi Masilela who died after being shot in an attempted hijacking.

Mr Masilela, who acted on popular prime time show Rhythm City, died this morning after spending the night in hospital fighting for his life, authorities say.

He was parked on the side of the road when the car he and a friend were in was targeted by suspects in another vehicle, they tried to flee but the suspects opened fire.

He was hit on the upper body according to police. No arrests have been made.

Last year he married long-time girlfriend and fellow actress Simphiwe Ngema, 28. The pair’s romance made them local social media darlings.

South Africa’s arts and culture minister Nathi Mthethwa is among those sending messages of support to the young widow.

Some tweeters felt for the victims:

While others asked what it says about the state of South Africa as a country:

Ex-Gambian minister 'kept in Swiss jail as torture investigation extended'

The Gambia's former interior minister Ousman Sonko is to be held in a Swiss jail for a further three months after Switzerland's top prosecutor expanded an investigation into whether he committed crimes against humanity, reports Reuters news agency.

Mr Sonko has been in custody awaiting trial since January, after the Geneva-based legal group Trial International "filed a criminal complaint accusing him of having personally taken part in torture", the news agency adds.

Reuters reports the Swiss attorney general's office as saying it has broadened the investigation into Mr Sonko's alleged activities after hearing testimony from witnesses and once additional complaints were lodged against him.

AFP

Protesters in The Gambia have called for justice for torture victims and the disappeared

Mr Sonko was the Gambia's interior minister from 2006 to 2016 serving under authoritarian leader Yahya Jammeh, later fleeing to Sweden and settling in Switzerland where he applied for asylum in November 2016.

Mr Jammeh himself fled into exile after losing an election to Adama Barrow in December and has denied allegations he tortured and killed political opponents during his two decades in power.

Mr Sonko has not commented on the case, Reuters adds.

South African Airways is 'effectively bankrupt'

Matthew Davies

Editor, BBC Africa Business Report

Reuters

Is SAA heading for severe turbulence?

South African Airways (SAA) has run out of money and is effectively bankrupt, according to a cashflow statement seen by MPs.

It has raised concerns that the embattled national carrier will be unable to pay salaries in the near future.

In July, SAA spent $42m more than came in, on an operational level. It's predicted to worsen in the coming months.

They are not officially bankrupt yet as that involves a court process.

SAA says it expects to improve its finances by October, but that depends on getting yet another bailout from the government - this time to the tune of $60m.

The airline also says it has a turnaround plan, but analysts calculate that in order to avoid being grounded, the airline needs a cash injection close to a billion dollars over the next three years.