Former Democratic Republic of Congo president Joseph Kabila has spoken out a day after senators stripped him of immunity. He called the justice system "an instrument of oppression for a dictatorship". Kabila now risks prosecution for his alleged backing of M23 rebels in the east of the country.

South Africa's leaders stay focused on building business and bridges on their trip to the US, despite bubbling outrage back home over Donald Trump's ambush of President Ramaphosa. Also, Togo's first showing at the Venice Biennale explores the country's architectural heritage. And, two cousins from a rural town in Eswatini have become unlikely country music stars – not only in their home country, but also in Nashville, the heart of the genre. 

Is it an anguishing ambush or masterful management of predictable volatility? As South Africa's leader visits the White House, US President Donald Trump waves fistfuls of newspaper cuttings that he claims prove a white genocide in Africa's powerhouse. He then pulls out screens to play a montage of video clips of a notoriously provocative opposition leader singing incendiary anti-Afrikaner songs.

The Sudanese army claimed that the greater Khartoum area is now completely free of rebel forces following a major offensive. Also, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is in Washington to meet Donald Trump on Wednesday. And in cinema, we explore a tangled web of corruption and misconduct in modern-day Egypt, the focus of director Tarik Saleh's latest film, “Eagles of the Republic”, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu attempted to reassure his cheering supporters who had gathered to show their support as he appeared in court on treason charges on Monday. His Chadema party accuses the ruling CCM of repression. It has governed the country since 1977 and faces little serious opposition in October's elections after Chadema has been disqualified from the race. Several Kenyan politicians were deported while trying to attend Lissu's trial.

Former Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba and his family have left Gabon and flown to Angola after being released from custody. Accused of embezzling public funds, Bongo was detained, along with his wife and son, following the 2023 military coup that ended his family's 56-year rule.

A Paris court has held a key hearing in campaigners' push for accountability from the energy multinational TotalEnergies over its controversial oil project in Uganda. The EACOP is set to be the longest project of its kind in the world, stretching almost 1,500 kilometres through East Africa.
 

As the UN Security Council prepares to vote on whether to renew the arms embargo on South Sudan at the end of this month, Amnesty International is warning of serious violations on the ground. Its new report points to illegal weapons transfers, fresh attacks on civilians and Ugandan troops operating in the country without UN approval. 

Four months after Goma was taken over by AFC/M23 rebels, some residents are showing signs of post-traumatic stress disorder. NGOs such as the Red Cross have set up counselling centres offering free and anonymous advice to support those in distress. Also, Tunisia has fallen 11 places on RSF's latest World Press Freedom Index, as repression of journalists reaches new heights. Amid this pressure on press freedom, some journalists are trying to resist. Plus a three-legged stool has been returned to Benin. It is the missing piece in a collection of 27 items from the country's cultural treasure, looted during colonial times and kept in a Finnish museum.

The White Afrikaners who have accepted resettlement in the United States did not face "any form of persecution" in South Africa, the foreign ministry said on Monday. The reaction came hours after a first group of 49 White South Africans flew out of Johannesburg following US President Donald Trump's offer to grant refugee status to them.