Africa Live this week: 23-29 January 2023

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

AFPCopyright: AFP

Reports from the Democratic Republic of Congo say militants linked to the Islamic State (IS) group have killed 14 people in the north-eastern province of Ituri.

UN-sponsored Okapi radio said 10 of the victims were women.

A two-year-old child was also killed by members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

Congolese soldiers later killed two rebels in one of the four villages they had attacked.

AFPCopyright: AFP

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has said there are no plans to immediately abandon coal-fired power stations during a proposed transition to cleaner forms of energy.

The country is one of the world's most coal-dependent nations and is a significant polluter.

It is currently experiencing lengthy power cuts blamed on ageing infrastructure and corruption.

Since 2021 South Africa has secured several billion dollars in international loans and grants to support a switch to greener power.

Addressing colleagues from the governing African National Congress (ANC) party, Mr Ramaphosa suggested it would be unwise to reduce the country's capacity as it made what he called a just energy transition.

The ANC has close links with the country's mining unions.

• Why South Africa will struggle to wean itself off coal

AFPCopyright: AFP

In Madagascar, 25 people are now known to have died as a result of a severe tropical storm which hit 10 days ago.

Twenty-one people are missing. Nearly 40,000 were made homeless.

Cyclone Cheneso brought winds of more than 160km/hr (99 miles/hr). Its rains caused extensive flooding.

Madagascar's cyclone season runs from November to April.

The Indian Ocean island, Mozambique and the wider southern Africa region have been hit by severe storms and cyclones in recent years.

@OkeOsanyintoluCopyright: @OkeOsanyintolu

A lorry pulling a 20ft (6m) shipping container has toppled over, crushing a passenger bus on a bridge in the Nigerian city of Lagos.

Lagos state’s emergency management agency (Lasema) said nine people, including two children, had been killed in the accident at Ojuelegba bridge on Sunday afternoon.

“The bus was picking up passengers when it [the lorry] lost control and fell over the side of the bridge,” Lasema head Dr Olufemi Damilola Oke-Osanyintolu said in a series of tweets.

One woman was rescued alive after a forklift truck was able to the suspend the container allowing the top of the bus to be cut off, he said.

The traffic authorities tweeted some photos of the rescue operation:

Driving in Nigeria is notoriously dangerous. Roads in Lagos are jammed with traffic and many drivers do not have licences, with vehicles that are often poorly maintained.

More on this topic:

• Nigeria's roads: 'My son died in a car accident - now I control traffic'

AFPCopyright: AFP

Polls are open in Tunisia for the second round of voting for parliament, which was largely stripped of its powers during President Kais Saied's power grab 18 months ago.

Registered voters largely boycotted the first round in December, when the turnout was around 11%.

Correspondents says many Tunisians are frustrated with the president’s political chokehold since a new constitution was put in place last year.

People are increasingly preoccupied by economic stagnation and rising unemployment, leaving many failing to see how electing a largely toothless parliament might improve their lives.

• Tunisia's president - saviour or usurper of power?

AFPCopyright: AFP

The deadline for Nigerians to collect their voter card, which is required to cast a ballot in next month’s election, has been extended by a week to Sunday 5 February.

Known as a Permanent Voter's Card (PVC), it contains biometrical data of the voter and is used as further verification of identity on election day.

This is the second time the deadline for collection of PVCs has been changed by the electoral commission.

The date initially set by the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) was Monday 12 December 2022, before being moved to Sunday 29 January 2023.

The latest extension comes as many people have been finding it difficult to get their cards from collection centres, with some being told their cards have yet to be printed or cannot be found.

Voting in presidential and parliamentary elections is due to take place on Saturday 25 February 2023.

• Nigeria elections 2023: What you need to know

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team for now. We'll be back on Monday morning Nairobi time.

There will be an automated news feed until then. You can also get the latest from the BBC News website and listen to the Africa Today podcast.

Here's a reminder of Friday's wise words:

Quote Message: When it is raining porridge, you should be ready to dish for yourself." from An Afrikaans proverb sent by Alex Sutherland in Aberdeen, the UK

When it is raining porridge, you should be ready to dish for yourself."

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this photo of a hopeful dog in an Egyptian animal shelter - it's one of our favourite images taken this week:

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Twenty-five members of the Zimbabwean opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), have been released on bail by a court in Harare.

The group - including two MPs - was arrested earlier this month and charged with holding an unlawful gathering with the intention to cause violence.

The CCC says it was a private meeting in a member's home.

It was the latest in a series of arrests of opposition members and government critics on similar charges. The CCC has accused the governing Zanu-PF party of using the police against its opponents ahead of an election this year.

Another CCC legislator, Job Sikhala, has been in jail for more than seven months on charges including incitement to violence.

Authorities in Nigeria's north-central state of Nasarawa say 26 more bodies have been recovered following a reported air strike on pastoralists on Tuesday.

Fulani socio-cultural organisation Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore spokesman, Tasiu Sulaiman, confirmed the development to the BBC.

It means the death toll now stands at 54, but police have not updated their official tally which still stands at 28 deaths.

The police spokesperson in Nasarawa, Ramhan Nansel, says the herders were returning from Makurdi in next-door Benue state, where they had gone to retrieve more than 1,000 cows seized by the Benue Livestock Guards.

But an independent press release distribution agency with links to the military in Nigeria, PRNigeria, reports that a reliable source informed the news site that the air strike was ordered after the military high command received credible intelligence that Islamist militants had moved into some communities around the boundary between Nasarawa and Benue states.

The military is yet to give a clear account of the incident.

Nasarawa state Governor Abdullahi Sule condemned the act, saying that he was in touch with his Benue counterpart over the matter, as security agencies continue their investigations.

Courtesy of the artistCopyright: Courtesy of the artist

Hilary Ngaakudzwe Chipunza, better known as Hillzy, is an R&B and hip hop artist from Zimbabwe with a silky smooth voice.

He has a very international sound to his music. So much so that it took him a while to be recognised as a Zimbabwean artist despite the fact that he sings in both English and Shona.

"When I actually started out, the comments I would get were like: 'Wow, yeah you don't sound like you are based in Zim.'"

He puts this down to his musical influences which include the Grammy-award winning US singer-songwriter Chris Brown, and other Western music.

"So because of that I always try and add my African flavour to it. As time went on I decided to mix the two and just make sure it sounds nice. So now the recognition is coming all because I'm adding more Shona elements into the music, and it has definitely done wonders for me."

While Hillzy studied computer science and computer engineering at the University of Cape Town, in South Africa, he was also honing his skills as a beats maker and started recording his own material.

He says social media has been key to building his career. But being in Cape Town, he found it difficult to connect with Zimbabweans initially.

"So that's how social media built up for me because it was a way to connect with Zim. But then I learnt so much about it and I was like, 'hey why not target people in Cape Town, Johannesberg, Nigeria, to the rest of the world'?"

Hillzy released his latest EP last October, entitled In The Building. It's a mixture of R&B, hip hop and some songs with an Afrobeats vibe. But he insists he wants to stick with his first loves, R&B and hip hop.

"I recently did an Afrobeats song, Chargie, which did very well, and I do see the potential in it, but I just feel like I've already started this R&B and hip hop journey. I would love to collaborate with other artists. I just genuinely think I'd be a better 'feature' than an Afrobeats artist."

Hillzy says that wanting to be known internationally, and at the same time wanting the respect within Zimbabwe, presents him with a difficult musical balance to strike.

One of his most successful songs is Ndiwe Wega Uripo which means You Are The Only One Here. On it, he samples Zimbabwean legend Oliver Mtukudzi who wrote the song for his wife Daisy.

"People are kind of saying, 'OK I hear a little bit of some Mtukudzi here, who is this kid?' So I have a lot of elderly fans all because of just that song. I think I'm also on that kind of mission where I'm trying to bring back that old school of Zimbabwean music, so you can expect something like that in the near future."

Hillzy says his focus this year is to become part of the African roster.

"Say you're in London - when people ask you about African music you're probably going to say 'there's your WizKid, there's Tems, Nasty C'. I want people to also say there's Hillzy."

He also wants to enter into some collaborations.

"If Mr Eazi wants to do a song I want to fly to Nigeria and do a song with him. I want to be more on the road and less online. That's the next thing for me. The African roster."

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