19 August 2025

1.    DR Congo – Doha and Goma 

DR Congo and M23 rebels miss deadline to reach peace agreement

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the M23 movement have failed to reach a peace deal in Doha on Monday, missing the deadline they had set in earlier meetings. 

This raises fears that the two parties might reverse the progress made to end hostilities. 

Fighting in the eastern DRC escalated in January, when the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels seized large parts of the area, including the regional capital of Goma. 

2.     Tanzania – Dar es Salaam

A Dar es Salaam court yesterday banned media from live broadcasting the trial of Tanzania's main opposition leader, Tundu Lissu, who is charged with treason.

Principal Resident Magistrate Franco Kiswaga said the ban was put in place to protect the identities of civilian witnesses.

"Live streaming, live broadcast, and any other kind of live distribution of content online to the public including on social media or video broadcast ... are hereby prohibited," Kiswaga ruled during preliminary proceedings on Monday at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate's Court.

3.    South Afrika – Zambia 

Zambia’s former President Edgar Lungu’s burial case has been postponed indefinitely in the Tshwane High Court.

This comes after the Lungu family filed their leave to appeal bid in the Constitutional Court.

The family and the Zambian government have not been able to resolve the matter over the weekend after the case stood down on Friday.

4.     In our historical archives, it was on this day 19 August 1939 when Ntate Caiphus Semenya was born in the Alexandra township of South Africa. By the age of fifteen, Caiphus was a member of a singing group with three other boys his age, they called themselves the Katzenjammer Kids.