He completed the race in 28 min 11.07sec to finish 0.29 ahead of home athlete Mustapha El Aziz and Kenyan Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Josphat Bett, who came third in 28:11.61 in Marrakech.

The recent Commonwealth Games gold medallist in the distance, Moses Kipsiro, was absent from the race, while world junior champion Joshua Cheptegei did not finish.

In the men's shot put, there was a gold and a silver medal for South Africa, as Orazio Cremona topped the podium with 19.84m, followed by team mate Jaco Engelbrecht with 18.87m.

The bronze medal went to Congo's Franck Owaka, who threw 18.74m.

Meanwhile in the women's hammer throw, African record holder and two-time continental champion Amy Sène of Senegal suffered an upset as she could only manage 64.66m - more than five metres shy of her 69.70m record set in May this year - behind Burkina Faso's gold medallist Laetitia Bambara, who achieved 65.44m.

Amy Sène suffered an upset in the women's hammer throw in Marrakech ©Getty Images



Tunisian Sarah Ben Saad came third with 60.97m.

Elsewhere, Algerian Larbi Bouraada, back from a two-year doping suspension, is leading the decathlon after day one with 4,217 points and looks set to claim his third African title, while Botswana's Isaac Makwala leads the 400m preliminaries with 45.87.

Olympian Rosvitha Okou of the Ivory Coast clocked the fastest time - 13.18 - in the heats of the 100m hurdles, as her compatriot Murielle Ahouré won the 100m semi-final in 11.19, ahead of Nigerian Blessing Okagbare in 11.20.

Her team mate Mark Jelks was fastest in the men's semi-finals, winning his race in 10.16, while South Africa's Zarck Visser leads the long jump qualifications with 7.92m.

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