Africa highlights: Zambia poll violence 'unprecedented', Kenya athletics official in court

So we are going to leave you with a whole night of sport ahead of us in Rio. 

Here are a few highlights:

• Egypt's Ahmed el-Nema and Libya's Ali Elghrari are competing in the fencing at 18:13 GMT and 19:31 GMT respectively.
• Zimbabwe women's football team are playing Australia at 19:00 GMT while South Africa's women's football team compete against Brazil at 01:00 GMT. Both teams need to win to have a chance of progressing as a best third-placed team.
• Nigeria's Aruna Quadri is competing against China's Ma Long in men's singles table tennis quarter-finals at 01:30 GMT

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Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

So we're half way through Olympics day four and here are some of the results of the competitions we have been following:

Winners

• In rugby sevens South Africa beat Spain in the preliminaries
• Four Africans got into the rowing semi-finals

Losers

• Ghana's Judoku Szandra Szogedi lost to Brazil's Mariana Silva
• Kenya's rugby sevens team were beaten by Great Britain in the preliminaries
• Egypt women's beach volleyball team lost 2-0 to Italy

Botswana's 800m runner Nijel Amos won the country's first-ever Olympic medal at London 2012 when he came in second.

He's due to run in the 800m heat in Rio on Friday and he posted this picture of himself on the last day of his training camp in Blumenau, southern Brazil.

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has responded to the news that one its researchers, Ida Sawyer, has not been allowed to renew her visa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (see earlier post).

HRW's executive director Kenneth Roth said in a statement:

Quote Message: This is about more than forcing Ida Sawyer out of the Democratic Republic of Congo, but is a brazen attempt to muzzle reporting on the government’s brutal repression of those supporting presidential term limits.

This is about more than forcing Ida Sawyer out of the Democratic Republic of Congo, but is a brazen attempt to muzzle reporting on the government’s brutal repression of those supporting presidential term limits.

Quote Message: Locking up Congolese activists and forcing international rights monitors out of the country are the tactics of abusive governments."

Locking up Congolese activists and forcing international rights monitors out of the country are the tactics of abusive governments."

AFPCopyright: AFP

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Egypt's women's beach volleyball team have lost 2-0 to Italy in the Olympics preliminary round.

Egypt had already lost to Germany in Sunday, also 2-0.

We wrote earlier that the pictures from that match of the contrasting bikini and full length outfits got a lot of attention.

Egypt are scheduled to play Canada on Thursday.  

The South Sudan government has appealed for $1.9bn (£1.5bn) loan from China to boost development in the country reports privately-owned Eye Radio website. 

Minister of Foreign Affairs Deng Alor said that South Sudan had put forward a list of priorities to the Chinese government. 

He said the money will be used to boost education, health, transport infrastructure among other sectors. 

Mr Alor said they are waiting for response from the Chinese government. 

Eye RadioCopyright: Eye Radio

The head of Zambia's electoral commission has been responding to reports of violence in the run up to Thursday's presidential and parliamentary elections.

We posted earlier about an attack on an opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) campaign bus by what appeared to be supporters of the governing Patriotic Front (PF).

Electoral Commission of Zambia Chairperson Esau Chulu told journalists:

Quote Message: The acts of violence that have charectised the 2016 election campaigns is unprecedented and have marred Zambia's historic and peaceful elections."

The acts of violence that have charectised the 2016 election campaigns is unprecedented and have marred Zambia's historic and peaceful elections."

Mr Chulu called on the party leaders to keep their supporters under control.

The BBC's Meluse Kapatamoyo in the capital, Lusaka, says that election violence does not appear to have gone away despite last month's 10-day ban on campaigning in Lusaka, which was supposed to have brought the violence to an end.

AFPCopyright: AFP

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We just reported that South Africa thrashed Spain at rugby sevens at the Olympics games in Rio.

Kenya weren't so lucky.

They have just lost 7-37 to Great Britain.

They have another game later tonight with New Zealand. 

So it's time for a team huddle...

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The immigration authorities from the Democratic Republic of Congo have refused to renew the visa of a prominent American human rights researcher. 

Ida Sawyer, who works for New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), was a vocal critic of the ongoing crackdown on dissident voices in DR Congo, where tension is mounting as the country approaches an electoral deadline. 

A government spokesman did not say why Mrs Sawyer would no longer be allowed in. 

HRW has published several reports on restrictions of freedom linked to the electoral process, and regularly called on the government to release political prisoners. 

It also accused security forces of committing summary executions during a police operation against street gangs. 

The Congolese communications minister told the BBC that the visa restriction only applied to Mrs Sawyer, but that HRW was not banned from the country. 

AFPCopyright: AFP

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South Africa have thrashed Spain 24-0 at rugby sevens at the Olympics. 

They are due to play again in just four hours, this time against France.

But if you're worried about them being exhausted, don't be - the matches are just 14 minutes long.   

This is the first time rugby sevens is being played at the Olympics.

If you have no idea what the game is, read the BBC Sport guide for all you need to know.

Sudanese rebel groups who operate in the south and west of the country have signed an AU-brokered roadmap aimed as ending the fighting in Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan regions, the AFP news agency is reporting.

It quotes the rebel groups as saying that they signed the document on Monday in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, five months after the Khartoum government agreed to the roadmap.

The three that agreed were the Justice and Equality Movement, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) and a faction of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA-Minnawi).

AFP says the agreement envisages a permanent ceasefire and looks towards the delivery of much needed humanitarian aid.

BBCCopyright: BBC

Egypt's women's beach volleyball team may well get more media attention than they bargained for at their Olympic match against Italy coming up at 15:00 GMT.

That's because pictures of their full covering outfits against the German team's bikinis swept across the internet as people discussed whether it showed a culture clash or the unifying nature of sport.

EPACopyright: EPA

"I have worn the hijab for 10 years," Egypt's Doaa Elghobashy said. "It doesn't keep me away from the things I love to do, and beach volleyball is one of them."

Her partner, Nada Meawad, chose to play bare-headed:

AFPCopyright: AFP

What may surprise some is that Brazil had already opted for the full length kit at London 2012 which the first year it was allowed.

In that case it was the British weather that drove them to do it.

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Read more on the BBC News magazine

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Here are the latest results for African rowers in Rio:

Men's single sculls

• Winner: Egyptian Olympic rower AbdelKlhalek Elbanna is into Thursday's main semi-finals of the men's single sculls 
• Loser: Algeria's Sid Ali Boudina is out of medal contention for those same races

Women's single sculls

• Winner: Zimbabwe's Micheen Thornycroft has rowed her way into the main semi-finals of the women's single sculls on Thursday
• Loser: Egypt's Nadia Ngem, Algeria's Amina Rouba and Nigeria's Chierika Ukogu all lost out and are only into secondary semi-finals where there is no medal chance

Men's pairs

• South Africa's Lawrence Britain and Shaun Keeling competed in first semi-final and have got into the final of the men's pairs on Thursday

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Kenyan athletics official Michael Rotich who was secretly filmed apparently offering to give athletes prior warning of drugs tests in return for $13,000 (£10,000) has made an initial appearance in court.

He had told the newspaper behind the investigation he was only going along with it because he wanted to find out who the undercover reporters were and "protect" athletes.

According to the Twitter account of Kenya's public prosecutions office Mr Rotich was arrested on doping allegations after returning from Rio.

The prosecutions office says that he will be held overnight and the court will decide whether he should be detained for another seven days while investigations are carried out:

Szandra Szogedi, Ghana's first female judoka at the Olympics, has been knocked out by Brazilian Mariana Silva.

Sadly, she lasted 59 seconds against a home favourite:

IOCCopyright: IOC

Read more: Judo's Szandra Szogedi: Ghana's unlikely Olympian

There's been a lot of reaction on our Facebook page to our earlier post about reflections on Donald Trump by former US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Jendayi Fraser.

She said:

Quote Message: When you have a presidential candidate who's saying things like 'ban the Muslims' and 'build a wall'... if a leader in Africa was saying such things we would be cautioning him to be careful of hate speech."

When you have a presidential candidate who's saying things like 'ban the Muslims' and 'build a wall'... if a leader in Africa was saying such things we would be cautioning him to be careful of hate speech."

But not everyone agrees with her:

Quote Message: Really? African presidents do far worse things on a daily basis and stay in power. And you compare them with Trump because he says things you don't like?" from Imade Iyamu

Really? African presidents do far worse things on a daily basis and stay in power. And you compare them with Trump because he says things you don't like?"

Quote Message: Many African leaders are worse than Donald Trump. He speaks his mind and is not hypocritical. I am a Muslim and an African. He says he doesn't like us but I like him. Look at those who claim to love Africans and Muslims but in reality they don't." from Hamid Kiberu

Many African leaders are worse than Donald Trump. He speaks his mind and is not hypocritical. I am a Muslim and an African. He says he doesn't like us but I like him. Look at those who claim to love Africans and Muslims but in reality they don't."

But not everyone is sympathetic:

Quote Message: He wouldn't stand a chance in Tanzania, I'm proud to say that bigotry, Islamophobia and xenophobia are concepts that we only hear about in the news." from Sylvester Kihwele

He wouldn't stand a chance in Tanzania, I'm proud to say that bigotry, Islamophobia and xenophobia are concepts that we only hear about in the news."

APCopyright: AP

Ghana will see its first ever female judo athlete compete at an Olympic Games on Tuesday. 

Yet more remarkable is that Szandra Szogedi is in fact a former gymnastics champion from Hungary.

Chris MatthewsCopyright: Chris Matthews

The 27-year-old, who first competed for the West African nation only five years ago, will take to the judo mat in the 63kg category in Rio at 13:00 GMT.

She hopes her qualification can help grow the popularity of the sport in a country where football and boxing dominate and funding remains scarce.

Szogedi became a competitor for Ghana after marrying a Ghanaian.

Read more about: Ghana's unlikely Olympian

An analyst has found a lot more people are on Gabon's voter register than were counted in the census. 

Financial analyst and blogger Mays Mouissi found in one locality, Ndzomoe, 43 people were counted in the 2013 census but the electoral register listed 946 names.

And this was a pattern.

Gabon's presidential election is on 27 August.

The electoral commission has declined to respond to the BBC's request for a comment.

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Algerian Olympic rower Sid Ali Boudina is just about to get into the Brazilian water to compete in men's single sculls quarter final.

It's one of many Olympic competitions where Africans are competing in the next few hours.

Rowing

• Algeria's Sid Ali Boudina will compete in the Men's single sculls quarter-final at 11:50 GMT

• Egypt's Nadia Ngem will compete in the women's single sculls quarter-final at 12:20 GMT
• Algeria's Amina Rouba, Nigeria's Chierika Ukogu and Zimbabwe's Micheen Thornycroft will compete in the women's single sculls quarter-final at 12:30 GMT
• Tunisia's Khadija Krimi and Nour Ettaieb will compete in the lightweight women's double sculls 14:30 GMT
• Angola's Andre Matias and Jean-Luc Rasamoelina in the lightweight men's double sculls 14:40 GMT
• South Africa will compete in men's four 15:00 GMT.

 Equestrian

• Zimbabwe's Camilla Kruger is currently 33rd (out of 48) going into today's show jumping - from 13:00 GMT

Judo preliminary bouts

Women

• Morocco's Rizlen Zouak will compete in the 63kg
• Guinea's Mamadama Bangoura 63kg
• Ghana's Szandra Szogedi 63kg

 Men:

• Gabon's Paul Kibikai 81kg 
• Mozambique's Marlon Acacio 81kg
• Egypt's Mohamed Abdelaal 81kg

• The bouts start at 13:00 GMT

Fencing early rounds:

• Men's Epee - Egypt's Ayman Fayez will compete at 13:45 GMT
• Senegal's Alexandre Bouzaid will compete at 14:15 GMT

Beach volleyball

• Egypt's women Nada Meawad and Doaa Elghobashy play Italy at 15:00 GMT- Group D (lost first match)

Boxing preliminary rounds

• Algeria's Ilyas Abbad will compete against Mpi Ngamissengue of Congo-Brazzaville in the middleweight 15:00 GMT

• Cameroon's Wilfred Seyi Ntsengue will compete in the middle weight at 15:45 GMT

• South Africa’s Lawrence Britain and Shaun Keeling will compete in first semi-final A/B2 of men's pairs 13:00 GMT

Men’s rugby sevens

• South Africa will compete against Spain at 14:30 GMT

• Kenya will compete against Great Britain at 15:00 GMT