Africa Live: Thursday 11 August as it happened

Summary

Polls close in Zambia election
Zambians voted in presidential, parliamentary and local elections
Hakainde Hichelema expected to be President Edgar Lungu's main challenger
Zambians also deciding on a constitutional change
South Africa wins rowing silver medal
South Africa returns as Africa's largest economy replacing Nigeria
Egypt wins two Olympic weightlifting medals
Get Involved in Zambia: Send us your pictures to WhatsApp: +44 7341070844
Email stories and comments to africalive@bbc.co.uk - Thursday 11 August 2016

Live Reporting

Clare Spencer and Damian Zane

Rio Olympics update: Tunisia's Boubakri wins bronzepublished at 08:38 British Summer Time 11 August 2016
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Tunisia's Ines Boubakri won bronze
Women's Fencing
Tunisia's Ines Boubakri won bronze after beating Russia's Aida Shayaneva.
Men’s Football
- Algeria, already out of the Games, drew their last game 1-1 with Portugal. Though the result earned them a point they finished last in their group.
- South Africa also failed to make it to the knockout stage after drawing 1 - 1 with Iraq.
Why people are tweeting pictures of their thumbspublished at 08:32 British Summer Time 11 August 2016
Tweeters in Zambia are posting their pictures of the ink put on their thumbs after they have voted.
The splodge of ink is put there to make sure they don't vote again today.
Some splodges are smaller than others:
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Do the eyes or the ears have it?published at 08:21 British Summer Time 11 August 2016
As we've said, among the five elections that Zambians are voting in is a referendum on an amendment to the constitution.
They can vote either yes or no.
And each answer has a symbol attached: eyes for the yes and ears for the no.
A Zambian election-watching Twitter account has posted a picture of the ballot paper:
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Zambia's five electionspublished at 08:15 British Summer Time 11 August 2016
The BBC's Nomsa Maseko is at the Kabulonga Boys' School polling station in Zambia's capital, Lusaka, and sent us this picture of the five ballot boxes waiting to be filled up with votes:
Nomsa spoke to Caroline Miyoba, who was the first person to vote there:
She told Nomsa that she hopes her vote will improve the lives of the poor.
Zambian elections: Key pointspublished at 08:09 British Summer Time 11 August 2016
- Polls opened in Zambia at 06:00 local time (04:00 GMT)
- Polls due to close at 18:00 local time
- There are nearly seven million registered voters
- Zambians casting five votes - for president, MPs, mayors, local councillors and an amendment to the constitution
- There are nine presidential candidates. The two front-runners are incumbent Edgar Lungu and leader of the main opposition UPND party, Hakainde Hichilema
- The economy has been one of the key issues in campaigning
- Clashes between rival groups of supporters led to a suspension of campaigning in some areas last month
Read more about the election here.
Image source, AFP
Image caption,
President Edgar Lungu is running for re-election
Image source, AFP
Image caption,
Hakainde Hichilema is Mr Lungu's main challenger
Zambians go to the pollspublished at 08:03 British Summer Time 11 August 2016
Polls have opened in Zambia as the country elects its next president, a new parliament, local mayors and councillors.
They are also voting in a referendum on a constitutional change.
Polls opened two hours ago and are due to close at 6pm local time (16:00 GMT).
People have already been sharing pictures of themselves queuing up to vote in the early morning.
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Wise wordspublished at 08:02 British Summer Time 11 August 2016
Today’s African proverb:
Quote Message
Whenever you provide support to the plantain tree, provide equal support to the banana tree."
An Ashanti proverb sent by Dawereso Boateng from Asante-Akyem, Agogo, Ghana, and Emmanuel Oscar from Detroit, Michigan, US
Click here and scroll to the bottom to send us your African proverbs.
Good morningpublished at 08:02 British Summer Time 11 August 2016
Welcome to the BBC Africa Live page where we'll be keeping you up-to-date with the Zambian elections and other news stories on the continent.