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

A reminder of our African proverb: 

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We leave you with a picture from our selection of some of the best photographs from Africa this week. This one is of a crowd at a rally in South Africa to mark the fourth anniversary of the killing of 34 miners by police:   

Image source, EPA

Isa Sanusi
BBC Africa, Abuja

Ayuba Lawan sells a mixture of fiction, history and academic titles at his stall in the northern city of Kano.

But business is very slow, he tells me.

"Days go without selling even one book. Today I sold one book, and I don't have the hope of selling any more. I used the money from the sale of the book to buy lunch."

This huge city is the home of Hausa literature, with many authors here opting to self-publish their works.  

Although Kano has a vibrant literary culture, with new romance novels being released every week, book sales are declining, local journalist Aminu Adamu, a literary man, tells me. 

Ado Danmalam, another bookseller in the market, has his own theory for the fall in sales:

Many of you have been getting in touch with your views on the issue of African athletes choosing to represent other countries at the Olympics (see earlier post).

We asked on the BBC Africa Facebook page, external whether you thought the practice was wrong:

Image source, AFP

The Democratic Republic of Congo's government has announced pardons for 24 people whom the opposition regards as political prisoners, Reuters news agency reports.

The opposition had demanded the release of 26 people as a condition for taking part in talks aimed at resolving differences over presidential elections due in November. 

The opposition has accused the government of wanting to delay the poll so that President Joseph Kabila can remain in office, rather than step down as the constitution requires him to do after two elected terms. 

Those who have been pardoned include prominent youth activists Fred Bauma and Yves Mawkambula, who were detained in 2015 on charges of plotting against Mr Kabila, Reuters reports. 

The two men not pardoned are political party leaders accused of sexual assault and real estate fraud respectively, it adds. 

Image source, AFP

Zambia's main opposition party has launched court action to annul President Edgar Lungu's victory in elections earlier this month. 

Its candidate Hakainde Hichelema told BBC Focus in Africa that that the election was stolen from him, and did not reflect the will of the people. 

His United Party for National Development (UNDP) had written to the parliamentary speaker asking him to act as president until the outcome of the court case.

Zambia's election commission had declared Mr Lungu the winner by 50.35% to 47.67%, and insisted that the poll was free and fair.

Mr Lungu defeated Mr Hichilema in the previous election, last year, by less than 28,000 votes. 

This time, his margin of victory was about 200,000 votes.

 Mr Lungu is due to be sworn in next Tuesday

We've been covering the growing trend of African athletes deciding to represent countries other than their own at the Olympics, often in order to access better training and financial support than they would receive in their home countries. 

Kenyan-born Ruth Jebet is the most high-profile example at Rio 2016. 

Despite her heritage, she ran for Bahrain in the women's 3,000m steeplechase, winning the Gulf nation its first ever Olympic gold medal.

In the past few hours, Jebet has arrived at Eldoret airport in Kenya. She spoke to the BBC's John Nene, who was there to watch her being welcomed by her family and supporters:

Her father Joel Murei (pictured below) was there to greet her, with the pair receiving garlands of flowers.

Anti-government marches have increased in Zimbabwe in recent weeks as the economic crisis worsens, and protesters signal their opposition to the central bank's plan to introduce bond notes to deal with a cash shortage. 

One of the protesters, Sten Zvorwadza, who is now in hospital after being beaten up by police, told the BBC's Razia Iqbal why he was one of those who took the unusual move of bringing flowers to the protests.

Image source, AFP

The new mayor of South Africa's capital, Pretoria, has said there will be "no more blue lights" for President Jacob Zuma when his motorcade travels through the city, alluding to the issue of police escorts for the leader's visits. 

Solly Msimanga of the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) made the comment in his inaugural speech as mayor of Tshwane, which includes Pretoria.

Mr Zuma's African National Congress was defeated in local government elections in Tshwane on 3 August. 

Image source, EPA

Joao Havelange, the former Fifa president who has died aged 100, was accused of taking millions of dollars in bribes. 

But the Brazilian could also be considered the godfather of African football. He realised that African votes would get him into power.

And after the election it was time to give back. He increased funding and brought tournaments to Africa.

Under his presidency, the tournament grew to 32 teams, which gave Africa five guaranteed World Cup places. 

And without him and his protege Sepp Blatter, South Africa may never have hosted the World Cup in 2010.

Read the full article by the BBC's Piers Edwards here

Image source, Reuters

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Police in Rwanda say they have shot dead what they describe as three "terror suspects" in the south-western town of Bugarama. 

They said that before they died the suspects admitted to working with the Somali-based militant Islamist group al-Shabab. 

On Thursday, another alleged terror suspect was killed by police in the capital Kigali. 

Some opposition supporters say he was shot dead in a secret detention centre used by the Rwandan security services. 

The man, from the north of the country, is said to have been missing for more than a year. 

Image source, EPA

A South African civil servant has put to bed rumours that the mayoral chain of Tshwane, the metropolitan area which includes the capital, Pretoria, is missing.

“It is not missing. It was never made,” Tshwane City spokesman Blessing Manale told News24.

He explained that Tshwane was created after apartheid, bringing together Pretoria and other towns which had mayoral chains, but the new metropolitan area did not have one.

“The city took a conscious decision not to create a new chain until issues like the coat of arms has been resolved. The city currently sits without a coat of arms,” he said. 

Solly Msimanga from the opposition Democratic Alliance has now been sworn in as the new mayor - without a chain.

It is the first time the governing African National Congress (ANC) has lost control of the capital’s municipal council in 22 years.

The BBC’s Milton Nkosi in Johannesburg says the change of guard and mutual suspicion has led to the rumour mill going into overdrive.

Two Nigerian Olympic athletes have told the BBC that they didn't get their Olympic kits until Thursday, three days before the end of the games, by which time they had both finished competing.

It adds to Team Nigeria's Olympic woes, including a dispute over payment for a flight which saw the football team arriving only hours before their first match.

One of the two unnamed athletes said that they were "disappointed and embarrassed" about the issue.

Image source, Getty Images

BBC World Service

The authorities in Mali have released a popular radio talk show host, whose arrest on Monday led to violent protests in which one person was killed. 

The presenter, known as Ras Bath, often criticises the government in his broadcasts. 

Social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, have been blocked for the past three days. 

The BBC's  Alou Diawara in Mali says the protest were linked to growing frustration with the poor state of the economy and continuing insecurity in the north.

Image source, AFP

Photographer Edward Echwalu has been trying to decrypt this personalised numberplate (reading 2 FOOLS) on a car he spotted drawing up to a petrol station in the capital Kampala:

"Depending how you want to interpret this picture, it could be either, 'To Fools' or 'Two Fools.' My gut feeling goes with the former," he writes.

Milton Nkosi
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

Image source, EPA

Where is Pretoria’s mayoral chain? That's the question on people's lips as South Africa's main opposition party gets ready to take control of the capital for the first time since the advent of democracy in 1994, ending the dominance of the African National Congress (ANC). 

The ANC says it has been stolen, while others are wondering whether it is a case of sour grapes following its defeat in the 3 August local government. 

The Democratic Alliance's Solly Msimanga is expected to be sworn-in as mayor in a short while, taking over from the ANC's Kgosientso Ramokgopa. 

Image source, AFP

About 2,000 dead seahorses posted from Guinea-Conakry have been seized by customs officers at a post office in a suburb of France's capital Paris, officials say.

The endangered creatures were hidden in airmail packages destined for Vietnam, they added. 

Paris customs official Olivier Gourdon said that seahorses were confiscated "pretty often", quoted by AFP news agency.

They were used in traditional medicines and as as aphrodisiacs in Asian states such as Vietnam, China and Hong Kong.

It is unclear how much the seahorses were worth, but 19,000 of them, seized in 2015 en route from Madagascar to Hong Kong, were valued at about $225,000 (£170,000), AFP reports. 

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Meredith Hutchison/IRC

Twenty-five-year old Somali refugee Sadia Mohamed helps women and girls who have experienced domestic or sexual violence and other forms of abuse in the Dadaab, the world's largest refugee camp, in Kenya.

She says they come to the centre where she works for many different reasons.

Many of the women are traumatised and they need to be handled with sensitivity, says Ms Mohamed who works for the International Rescue Committee. 

Afterwards, she counsels the women to reassure them that they are not to blame or alone. 

But she says she is proud of her job and that the women she sees leave “knowing they will be ok”.  

Image source, Getty Images

Dutch coach Martin Jol has quit Egypt's Al Ahly after spending just six months at the club over fears for his safety.

The club's fans reacted angrily to their side's failure to reach the semi-finals of the African Champions League.

Jol argued with fans last Friday as his team drew 2-2 with Zambia's Zesco United to end their chances of progressing.

Since then he has also received threats on social media prompting his decision to leave.

Read the full BBC Sport story

Africa Business Report presenter Lerato Mbele is in Botswana, filming for the #BBCWorkingLives season:

Botswana's diamond mines have been enjoying a boom year, after the world's second largest diamond was discovered there, the most prominent in a series of remarkable finds.

Read more: Why have so many huge diamonds been found recently?

Image source, LUCIAN COMAN/LUCARA

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

The Nigerian navy says it has foiled a pirate attack on a British-flagged cargo ship about 20 nautical miles from the coastal city of Bonny. 

A navy spokesman said it deployed a warship which used its superior firepower to fight off the pirates. 

Special forces then rescued the ship's crew who had locked themselves into a safe room.

There has been an increase in hijackings and other violent activity in Nigeria's oil-rich Delta region since President Muhammadu Buhari took office last year. 

Read: Chasing West Africa's pirates