It took weeks of negotiations and tensions in South Africa before the national budget was finally passed, with 194 votes in favour and 182 against. The Democratic Alliance, a key coalition partner, voted against the measure, raising questions about the stability of the unity government formed after the African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority last year. 

A Nigerian human rights and environmental NGO has filed a lawsuit in the Lagos High Court to stop Shell from selling its Nigerian assets to a local oil and gas company. HEDA says Shell is responsible for 35 percent of Nigeria's oil spills and accuses the oil multinational of structuring the $2.4 billion deal to avoid responsibility for its long history of pollution.

Concerns have ratcheted up about security in South Sudan since fighting broke out between forces loyal to the two men behind the devastating civil war that only ended in 2018. That fragile peace between President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar has been pushed to breaking point by Machar's house arrest last week. On Monday, Juba denied that Machar and his interior minister wife were being detained at home.

Qatar has hosted a second round of talks between DR Congo and Rwanda. Qatari mediators also met separately with representatives of the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group. Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and his Rwandan counterpart Paul Kagame met last week in Doha for their first talks since the M23 stepped up an offensive in eastern DR Congo.

The UN warns that South Sudan has been pushed closer to conflict by the arrest of Vice President Riek Machar. He and the interior minister, his wife, have been detained at their home by forces loyal to President Salva Kiir. This comes amid rising tension between the longstanding rivals. The two are signatories to a rapidly unravelling 2018 peace deal that was meant to end a five-year civil war.

The Sudanese army has released triumphant pictures of its chief, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, arriving at Khartoum airport on Wednesday. The military claimed the strategically valuable victory after wresting control of the site from the RSF paramilitary, with whom the army has been at war for nearly two years. The RSF seized the airport at the start of the conflict. Recently, the army has made major gains in Khartoum, but that doesn't mean the fighting is over.

South Sudan's opposition says several of its key political figures were arrested on Tuesday. Just a day earlier, an army base linked to First Vice President Riek Machar was bombed as tensions rise in the country, seven years after the official end of its civil war. A fragile peace is hanging by a thread in the world's youngest nation. 

Last week, M23 rebels took the strategic town of Walikale in eastern DR Congo. The rebels had later said that they would pull out of the town, but now say they won't do so unless Congolese forces go first. We take a closer look.

The Sudanese army and its supporters are celebrating nationwide after reclaiming the presidential palace in Khartoum. Friday's victory marks the army's most symbolic achievement since launching a major counteroffensive against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces last September. Meanwhile, the two-year-old war continues to push civilians into exile. Neighbouring Chad has a long tradition being a refuge for Sudanese people fleeing violence. Some who fled the 2003 war in Sudan are now crossing paths with those who have only just arrived, this as resources are stretched thin. 

In tonight's edition: Rwanda-backed rebels battling DR Congo's army have pushed into a strategic mineral-rich town in the east, ignoring calls for a ceasefire this week. Also, Sudanese troops are reportedly within half a kilometre of the presidential palace in the capital Khartoum. And one of Africa's most successful Olympians becomes the International Olympic Committee's first woman chief.