Giants Egypt, minnows Comoros and Gambia among teams to qualify

Egypt drew 1-1 with 10-man Kenya in Nairobi where an early Mohamed 'Afsha' Magdy goal for the visitors was cancelled out by Hassan Abdallah in the second half.

The other qualifiers from Group G are the Comoros, who will make a first appearance at the tournament despite being held 0-0 by Togo in Moroni. Gambia will also go to the Cup of Nations for the first time next January after an Assan Ceesay goal earned a 1-0 win over Angola in Bakau. They will be joined from Group D by Gabon, with Arsenal captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang among the scorers as they trounced the Democratic Republic of Congo 3-0 in Franceville.

Ghana will be one of the Group C qualifiers after a weakened side drew 1-1 with South Africa in Soweto, where a Mohammed Kudus goal for the west Africans was responded to by Percy Tau. Later Thursday, Zimbabwe will secure a place if they win in Botswana and Zambia do not collect maximum points from a home match against already-qualified Algeria.

Equatorial Guinea are another nation on the verge of qualifying -- a home win over Tanzania in Malabo will assure them of a third appearance.

Ahead of the Thursday matches, defending champions Algeria, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Senegal, Tunisia and hosts Cameroon had booked places.