Africa Live this week: 18-24 March 2024

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

That's all for the week from the BBC Africa Live team. Next week, we'll be back at bbc.com/africalive

Until then, there'll be an automated service here but you can also find the latest updates on the BBC News website, or listen to our Focus on Africa podcast.

Our proverb of the day:

Quote Message: When your grandmother tells you something, you don’t run to your mother to ask if it's the truth." from A Baoulé proverb from Ivory Coast sent by Ameyedowo Carlos in Ghana

When your grandmother tells you something, you don’t run to your mother to ask if it's the truth."

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

We leave you with this photo of Muslim men, who are fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, sleeping in a mosque in the Ivorian city of Abidjan.

AFPCopyright: AFP

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Presidential candidates in Senegal have been making a final push for votes ahead of Sunday’s election.

The last campaign events are taking place in Dakar before electoral restrictions kick in at midnight Friday.

The month of Ramadan - a period of fasting for Muslim-majority Senegal - has affected campaign activities.

Seventeen candidates are vying for the top job, but the race is likely to become a contest between the opposition's Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Amadou Ba, the former prime minister.

Three candidates have pledged their support to Mr Faye, including the son of ex-President Abdoulaye Wade, who was barred from the election.

Throughout the campaign period, the hopefuls have promised to address unemployment, institutional reform and the harsh economic situation.

Senegal is considered one of the continent's most stable countries. It is the only country in mainland West Africa not to have experienced a coup and it has undergone three largely peaceful transitions of power.

However, a controversial attempt by current President Macky Sall to delay the vote sparked violent protests last month. Mr Sall is not standing after serving two terms.

On Sunday, polls will open at 08:00 (local time and GMT) and close at 18:00. Provisional results are expected no later than the following Friday.

Read more:

• Senegal election dominated by freed prisoner Faye and heir apparent Ba
• Senegal election crisis: 'We feel betrayed by President Macky Sall'

Water scarcity makes countries in Africa especially likely to come into conflict with each other, the UN has warned.

The latest World Water Development Report says that 19 of the 22 African countries it studied suffer from water scarcity.

“This water scarcity can increase the risk of conflict,” the report published by Unesco said.

A dispute between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan over the impact a giant damn might have on freshwater supply is an example of this.

Most of sub-Saharan Africa suffers from economic water scarcity, the report’s chief editor Richard Connor told the BBC.

“And that is characterised not by the relative level of availability of water resources, but by the lack of appropriate infrastructure, as well as inadequate management and insufficient economic resources and incentives.

"Population growth, rapid urbanization, economic development, and changing lifestyles and consumption patterns are increasing water demand throughout sub-Saharan Africa."

The report highlighted droughts as one of the main causes of water scarcity in many parts of the world, including in Africa.

It also said climate change will increase the frequency and severity of droughts.

A 2022 report by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification said drought affected Africa more than any other continent, with more than 300 events recorded in the past 100 years, accounting for 44% of the global total.

Two-thirds of Africa’s freshwater resources cross borders.

But cooperation between countries has been lacking, the latest UN report has pointed out.

"Of the 106 transboundary aquifers [a body of porous rock or sediment saturated with groundwater] mapped in Africa, interstate cooperation has only been formalised in seven."

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Thousands of newlyweds in Zimbabwe have been suprised to learn that their marriage certificates are not valid.

It has emerged that, because of a clerical issue, certificates issued within the last 18 months are void - a discovery which could affect all those couples who got married within this period.

The matter came to light when the Zimbabwe Law Society issued an alert notice to lawyers across the country.

It noted that stationery being used for civil marriage certificates continues to cite a chapter from an old marriage act, which was repealed in 2022.

The new act, which came into effect in September 2022, brought sweeping changes, including greater rights to partners in traditional marriages. It also criminalised child marriage.

The law society has advised those affected to take their certificates to a registrar, who will correct and stamp the document.

The lawyers also warned if you have an invalid certificate you cannot get divorced.

Several newlyweds who spoke to the BBC were previously unaware that their certificates might be invalid.

The mix-up elicited mirth on various instant messaging platforms, with some joking it was an opportunity for those looking for a way out of their marriage.

The Civil Registry Department told state-owned paper The Chronicle that while it can amend existing certificates, it cannot print fresh stationery bearing the correct law without the government first announcing the change via a gazette.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Spanish police say they have broken up a gang specialising in night-time helicopter flights to import the drug hashish from Morocco.

The Guardia Civil said they had seized two helicopters and almost 800kg (125st) of hashish, derived from the cannabis plant, in a joint operation with Moroccan police.

They also arrested nine people, two of whom they said had expertise with night flying.

The operation, which took place in January, involved a raid on a ranch near the Spanish city of Cadiz after investigators observed a helicopter making a brief trip to Morocco and back.

Police said one gang leader had died in a car crash when he attempted to flee the scene.

More from Stephen May, a lawyer for South Africa's Speaker of Parliament, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.

As well as rejecting media reports that the speaker had handed herself in to the police, he said Ms Mapisa-Nqakula believed an investigation into her by state prosecutors' was politically motivated.

The probe was sparked by accusations that Ms Mapisa-Nqakula had solicited bribes in return for awarding contracts when she served as defence minister.

Mr May said Ms Mapisa-Nqakula and her team were demanding access to the prosecutors' case file in order to better understand the allegations against her.

• Read more: South Africa investigators raid home of parliament speaker