Image source, AFP

Zimbabwe's opposition MDC Alliance is expected to present its legal challenge to last week's presidential election result.

The MDC Alliance has to submit its case to the Constitutional Court on Friday to comply with a deadline under Zimbabwean law.

A lawyer for defeated presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa said the party had all the evidence it needed to mount a credible, sustainable case.

The opposition party said the election was marred by "mammoth theft and fraud".

However, the electoral commission says there was "absolutely no skulduggery".

The official winner of the election, President-elect Emmerson Mnangagwa - who is known as "the crocodile" because of his political cunning, has called for unity, peace and reconciliation.

The court must rule on any challenge within 14 days.

Meanwhile, the US has said it is gravely concerned by reports of the detention and beating of opposition activists since the election.

It comes after the arrest of top MDC Alliance politician Tendai Biti, who was deported on Thursday by Zambia after the government there rejected his request for asylum.

Prosecutors say he falsely declared Mr Chamisa the winner of the election, and encouraged his supporters to damage property during protests against the election results

Mr Biti was granted bail and is expected back in court on Friday.

Our proverb of the day:

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Welcome to BBC Africa Live where we will bring you the latest news from around the continent.

That's all from the BBC Africa Live page for now but 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 today's wise words:

And we leave you with this photo from a shisha bar in Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott:

Zimbabwe's President-elect Emmerson Mnangagwa says that opposition politician Tendai Biti has been released on bail following his "intervention".

He added in his tweets that "due process will continue":

It means that Mr Biti will return to court at a later date to face charges of inciting violence after last week's elections.

He had preempted the official announcement of the results by saying MDC Alliance candidate Nelson Chamisa had defeated Mr Mnangagwa in the poll.

Mr Biti fled to neighbouring Zambia on Wednesday, but was deported to Zimbabwe earlier today and taken to Harare Magistrates Court in the afternoon.

BBC Tigrinya

Security agents in Eritrea are hunting for Pentecostal Christians who attended an informal sermon given by an Ethiopian evangelist last month.

Preacher Surafiel Demssie had travelled to the capital, Asmara, on the first Ethiopian Airlines flight to Eritrea after the two countries ended their 20-year feud.

Eritrea only has four religions - Orthodox Christianity, Sunni Islam, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Evangelical-Lutheran church of Eritrea. Other religious groups are considered illegal.

So far, five of those who welcomed the preacher have been arrested in Asmara and others have gone into hiding fearing arrest.

One person, who is believed to have hosted the preacher, was arrested at the airport and taken away by security.

Security agents dressed in civilian clothes picked up some of those arrested.

"At first the police said they were arrested for blocking a road and would be released soon," said a relative of one of those arrested.

But later it transpired it was the National Security Agency who had arrested them, he said.

"We were very happy when the peace agreement was signed between Ethiopia and Eritrea," said Kesete Beraki, who advocates for the release of those in detention.

"We were hoping there would be changes in Eritrea too, but so far we have been disappointed."

Those arrested have not appeared before a court. Prisoners of conscience, including followers of evangelical churches, do not get charged formally before any court of law.

Human rights activist say hundreds of followers of these illegal churches are in detention.

The government banned Pentecostal churches in 2002 and several religious leaders have been detained incommunicado for more than a decade.

More than 30,000 people have signed a petition, external to get an Egyptian woman who complained online about sexual harassment released from pre-trial detention.

Amal Fathy is due to appear before the Maadi Misdemeanours Court in Cairo on Saturday - but campaign group Amnesty International says it is unclear what charges Ms Fathy faces and is calling for her release.

“It is a shocking case of injustice. She is a human rights defender who told her truth to the world and wanted to highlight the vital issue of women’s safety in Egypt. She is not a criminal," says Amnesty's North Africa Campaigns Director Najia Bounaim.

In the video Ms Fathy uploaded earlier this year she criticised the Egyptian government for not doing enough to protect women and for providing what she says are poor public services.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

The Islamic State (IS) group has been mounting noticeably more attacks in Somalia in recent months, following the group's loss of its "caliphate" heartlands in Syria and Iraq late last year.

In a major claim on 25 July, IS said it had killed or wounded 14 Somali soldiers in a bomb attack in Lower Shabelle in southern Somalia.

BBC Monitoring has collected data on IS attacks in Somalia from January to July 2018 that reveals interesting trends about the group's activity in the country.

Most of the attacks that IS has claimed in Somalia were labelled as targeted "assassinations" against Somali intelligence and security personnel, with some of them filmed taking place in broad daylight in public.

And while the group had initially claimed many of the attacks in the south-western city of Afgoye, most of its latest claims were reported in the capital Mogadishu.

Despite IS's growing activity in Somalia this year, it remains eclipsed by its arch-rival al-Shabab, which is backed by al-Qaeda.

• Read more on the BBC Monitoring website

Image source, AFP

People most at risk of contracting the deadly Ebola virus in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are now being given vaccines, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

A total of 3,220 doses have been made available to people living in North Kivu province where the outbreak is concentrated. The vaccine alliance Gavi has struck a deal with the drug's developers to provide additional doses of the vaccine that are still in the testing stage.

Forty-four people are believed to have been infected with the virus - of whom 36 have died.

The latest flare-up comes weeks after the WHO declared an end to a separate outbreak which killed 33 people in north-western DR Congo.

Read more:

• Why Ebola keeps coming back
• In pictures: Life after West Africa's Ebola outbreak

Paul Brown
BBC Monitoring

Members of a Russian online football community have staged a social media campaign to encourage a Premier League team to sign a player from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Jo Kanda, who is studying economics in the Russian town of Novomoskovsk, rose to prominence after a strong performance for his local team Vityaz during a recent tournament, in which he scored seven goals.

Afterwards he expressed interest in playing for Russian side Arsenal Tula FC, prompting a wave of support on Russian social media platform VKontakte.

And the plan might have worked. Kanda has since said that he is in contact with the club.

Image source, Jo Kanda/YouTube

Tendai Biti is at Harare Magistrates Court, the BBC's Shingai Nyoka reports.

His lawyer says he will face a charge of inciting public violence following last week's elections in which at least six people died.

The Zimbabwean opposition figure had fled to Zambia on Wednesday but was deported on Thursday morning.

Lawyers for Mr Biti have told the BBC that this happened at the Chirundu border post - and say that earlier suggestions that their client would be crossing the border at Kariba were intended to mislead people so as to avoid commotion at Chirundu.

An Al Jazeera journalist has tweeted this footage of Mr Biti arriving at court a short while ago:

Drummers from Rwanda have treated Arsenal players to a surprise performance at their training ground, the club tweets:

The English Premier League side have been sponsored by Rwanda's national tourist board, Visit Rwanda, since May in a deal which cost $39m (£30m).

The relationship has raised eyebrows.

Rwanda received almost $1.2bn (£932m) in a year from international donors at the last count in 2016, the latest data from the OECD shows, external.

Critics of Rwanda's President Paul Kagama - most of whom are outside the country - say he rules through fear. He won last year's election, a process he had previously called "just a formality", with 98.63% of the votes.

However, many have defended the deal by pointing out that tourism is a key source of income for Rwanda, which is said to boast some of the best gorilla and wildlife-spotting opportunities in the world:

Image source, Moment/Getty Images

About a dozen writers from African and Middle East countries hoping to attend a book festival in Scotland this weekend have had their visa applications refused, the event organisers say.

"We’ve realised it is systematic," Edinburgh International Book Festival Director Nick Barley has told the UK Guardian news site, external, "this is so serious".

The festival organisers haven't named the authors in question.

It follows similar complications at last month's Womad festival, where at least three African acts on the bill were unable to perform due to visa complications with British immigration.

"Do we really want a white-breaded Brexited flatland? A country that is losing the will to welcome the world?”, said Womad's founder Peter Gabriel after the ordeal.

Image source, Reuters

Zimbabwean opposition politician Tendai Biti has been detained at Harare Central Police Stations, according to his lawyers.

Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) say they managed to "track down" the veteran figure in the opposition MDC Alliance after he was deported from Zambia.

He fled to Zambia on Wednesday after Zimbabwe police issued an arrest warrant for him.

Police accuse the human rights lawyer of inciting post-election violence and announcing his party's leader, Nelson Chamisa, defeated president-elect Emmerson Mnangagwa in last week's election.

At least six people were killed in an army crackdown on protests against the results.

Image source, KHENSANI MASEKO

Many in South Africa are questioning if there is much to celebrate on Women's Day today, as a funeral is held for a prominent anti-rape activist who took her life after an alleged sexual assault.

Last week before her death, 23-year-old law student Khensani Maseko, had written a post on Instagram saying: "No-one deserves to be raped!"

Days earlier the third year student had reported to the authorities at Rhodes University in Grahamstown that she was allegedly raped by a fellow student in May. But it wasn't until three days after her death that the university confirmed its decision to suspend the alleged perpetrator.

During her funeral in Johannesburg, police minister Bheki Cele said there was an urgent need to teach boys the importance of respecting women, the Times reports.

"Stop making them super kings. Boys grow up owning everything‚ including women around them. We have made it normal that boys have extra access to girls’ bodies."

South Africa has one of the highest rape statistics in world - last year there were nearly 4,000 cases reported to the South African police.

On social media, people said they struggled to celebrate Women's Day in light of Ms Maseko's death:

Kennedy Gondwe
BBC News, Lusaka

Image source, AFP

The Zambian government has probably taken its revenge on Tendai Biti by deporting him to Zimbabwe.

Mr Biti came to Zambia last year to show solidarity with opposition leader Hakaide Hichilema after he was arrested on treason charges.

He was scathing in his criticism of Zambia's President Edgar Lungu, accusing him of behaving like then-President Mugabe by targeting Mr Hichilema. So, it is not surprising that Zambia has deported him.

Zambia's ruling Patriotic Front (PF) party has always been a staunch ally of Zanu-PF, which has been in power since Zimbabwe's independence in 1980. Its founding leader, the late Michael Sata, was inspired by Mr Mugabe, and like him regarded the MDC as a "puppet of the West".

When Mr Sata formed the party in 2001, he named it PF to signal that it would forge close ties with Zanu-PF. The relationship remains strong some 17 years later, albeit it with new leaders at the helm of the two parties.

BBC Africa's Deputy Editor Josephine Hazeley is retiring after 31 years leading teams in bureaux across the continent and in London.

In that time, she has helped navigate endless changes in the media. Watch her reflect on this, and more:

Don't let its cute looks deceive you - this is the world's deadliest cat with a 60% hunting success rate.

The black-footed cat, which is native to southern Africa, is the smallest wild cat species in the world.

Here's one in action:

The death of South African rapper ProKid has shocked many in the country, with fans taking to social media to pay tribute to his life and music:

Family of the Soweto-born musician say he died of a seizure in Johannesburg on Wednesday after 20:00 [18:00GMT].

"A friend called the paramedics, they got there and they tried to help him, to revive him", his former manager and friend Mpho Motsoaledi is quoted by Eyewitness News as saying, external.

ProKid, whose real name was Linda Mkhize, is survived by his wife, Ayanda, and their three-year-old daughter as well as his parents and two brothers, says the Sowetan Live news site, external.

One of his best-loved songs, 2012's Makasana, spoke of coming from a township background and striving to make one's path in life:

Will Manchester United's Paul Pogba stay or will he go?

Former football agent Jon Smith, who represented Argentina legend Diego Maradona, tells BBC Newsday how this year's transfer day is different to usual, and offers insight into the fight against corruption.