Africa Live this week: 13-19 June 2022

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

AFPCopyright: AFP

A military appeal court in Tunisia has sentenced a prominent political opponent of President Kais Saied to one year in prison and banned him from practising law for five years.

A lawyer for Seifeddine Makhlouf said his client had been charged with insulting a judge, and that the verdict was a real farce.

He said President Saied had created a judiciary that he could control and use against opponents.

Makhlouf heads the conservative Karama party, which is allied to the Islamist Ennadha party.

He has been one of the strongest critics of Mr Saied's moves to establish what is effectively one-man rule.

Earlier this month, Mr Saied sacked dozens of judges, accusing them of protecting Islamists.

More on this topic:

• Democrats, despots and the fight for power

That's all for now from the BBC Africa Live team this week. There will be an automated news feed until we're back on Monday morning at bbc.com/africalive.

You can also keep up to date on the BBC News website, or by listening to the Africa Today podcast.

A reminder of our wise words of the day:

Quote Message: A borrowed hoe does not finish weeding the patch." from A Shona proverb sent by MJ Maher in Surrey, the UK

A borrowed hoe does not finish weeding the patch."

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this picture of fishermen chatting on their boats in Pemba, northern Mozambique - one of our favourites from our gallery of the week's best photos:

AFPCopyright: AFP

OCB-PICTURECopyright: OCB-PICTURE

What must it be like being an aspiring musician in the “other Congo” - Congo-Brazzaville?

The Democratic Republic of Congo is such a massive presence when it comes to African music, it must be hard not to feel overshadowed… and when it comes to marketing yourself internationally, do you just ride on your neighbour’s shiny coat tails, or do you try to get the world to realise that you are representing Congo-Brazzaville?

Well, it turns out that there is plenty going on musically in its port city of Pointe-Noire - and one of the most successful and determined female artists goes by the name of Nestelia Forest.

She started playing in bands as a teenager, but eventually took the plunge and launched her solo career in 2012.

Quote Message: It was a very hard decision because here, musicians are often treated like people who don’t work, people who don’t know how to do anything - and especially when you are a woman, people will tell you that it’s a dodgy industry, you’re going to end up in prostitution.

It was a very hard decision because here, musicians are often treated like people who don’t work, people who don’t know how to do anything - and especially when you are a woman, people will tell you that it’s a dodgy industry, you’re going to end up in prostitution.

Quote Message: People have a lot of imagination! So sometimes it can make you give up. But I knew what I wanted, and I really gave everything to succeed.”

People have a lot of imagination! So sometimes it can make you give up. But I knew what I wanted, and I really gave everything to succeed.”

Nestelia Forest’s hard work was rewarded. She had a big hit in 2012, Cocorico, which made her name. But even now, 10 years later, she still has to cope with quite a bit of pressure:

Quote Message: The Congolese public are very demanding. Even if you have a great voice, if they don’t accept you, you are on the scrap heap.

The Congolese public are very demanding. Even if you have a great voice, if they don’t accept you, you are on the scrap heap.

Quote Message: Minguinita is a song I released in 2021 and it talks about everyday life, what we go through, the criticism that we get on social media. Even when you do some good work, people are always bringing each other down. I’m just asking people to let me do my work because it’s what I love.”

Minguinita is a song I released in 2021 and it talks about everyday life, what we go through, the criticism that we get on social media. Even when you do some good work, people are always bringing each other down. I’m just asking people to let me do my work because it’s what I love.”

She suggests that her resilience may be linked to losing her mother at the tender age of 11. She poured out her emotions around that loss in her song Yaya Lombe.

Quote Message: It was a way for me to tell her that it wasn’t easy without her, but it’s also because of all those things that happened that I am the woman I am today."

It was a way for me to tell her that it wasn’t easy without her, but it’s also because of all those things that happened that I am the woman I am today."

And Nestelia Forest is upbeat about the future of music in Congo-Brazzaville.

Quote Message: We young people are working to be recognised. We have a lot of talent. I really like what’s happening right now. Thanks to social media it’s starting to work well for us. Artists like Roga Roga are touring the world, and we are so proud of that. He is representing Congo. It’s good that things are changing.”

We young people are working to be recognised. We have a lot of talent. I really like what’s happening right now. Thanks to social media it’s starting to work well for us. Artists like Roga Roga are touring the world, and we are so proud of that. He is representing Congo. It’s good that things are changing.”

You can hear more from Nestelia Forest, as well as an interview with Batswana rapper Veezo View, on This is Africa this Saturday on BBC World Service radio and partner stations across Africa.

The Islamic State group has said it was behind an attack on a graphite mining project run by an Australian firm in Mozambique's northern Cabo Delgado province, saying it beheaded two security guards at the site.

Triton Minerals Ltd confirmed the attack on its premises which took place on 8 June in the Ancuabe district, saying two members of its security and caretaker staff were killed, according to the Club of Mozambique news site.

The district is in the south of Cabo Delgado and IS has only recently started targeting it.

Previously the militants operated further north in the province, namely in the districts of Macomia, Mocimboa da Praia and Meluco.

Cabo Delgado has been at the centre of a jihadist insurgency since 2017 that has forced hundreds of thousands people from their homes.

BBCCopyright: BBC

BBC/Nichola MandilCopyright: BBC/Nichola Mandil

Thousands of children in South Sudan are likely to drop out of schools this year because of the suspension of the UN’s food aid, students and teachers have warned.

On Tuesday, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said it was cutting food rations to almost 6.2 million people in the country - including 178,000 children fed in schools - because of a shortage of funding.

“Without that food children cannot come to school,” 16-year-old student Anita Anna Samson told the BBC.

She attends Mayo Girls Primary School in the capital, Juba - one of the beneficiaries of WFP’s feeding programme.

“I am appealing to WFP to continue providing the food. Personally I will be affected because my family cannot afford to provide enough food for me. If there is no food, I will not come to school,” she said.

Another student, 17-year-old Ijora Jovian, echoed the importance of the programme.

“The school provides for us beans with sorghum and this improves learning because children who don’t have money for breakfast rely on this food and during break time they stay in the school.”

The school’s deputy head teacher, Thomas Hakim Sebit, agreed the announcement by WFP was “sad news” as it would affect many of the more than 700 children at his school.

“If the food is cut off, the children will no longer come to school. I am appealing to WFP and the international community to continue supporting the school-feeding programme,” he said.

The news has already affected enrolment for the new term, which started on Wednesday, as only 350 girls turned up.

An investigation by BBC Africa Eye published this week revealed how children in Africa are being exploited to make personalised videos, which sometimes include racist content, that are sold and shared on Chinese social media.

Join BBC News Africa on Twitter Spaces at 17:00 GMT to hear from the makers of the documentary about the issues and reaction raised by the investigation.

The investigative journalist behind the film, Runako Celin, producer Henry Mhango as well as Africa’s biggest YouTuber Wode Maya and journalists based in Malawi and China will also join the debate.

Watch their investigation below: