Pope Francis, together with other Christian leaders, makes a visit to South Sudan in a trip described as a pilgrimage of peace. But can his presence and meeting with leaders really trigger real prospects for stability in a country fractured by civil war and political strife since independence in 2011? A court in Kenya hands down the death penalty for the murder of a prominent lawyer, whose killing sparked national and international outrage. And what has led to divisions within the Ethiopian Orthodox Church? We hear from one of the clergy challenging the Church’s authority.

In the latest in the series of attacks on the electoral commission's offices, gunmen in Nigeria's south-eastern Anambra State, destroy nearly 800 ballot boxes and voting booths, three weeks before the country goes to the polls. A senior officer at the Independent Nigerian Electoral Commission (Inec) says they are working with security forces to stop the attacks. Plus, thousands of residents from Nigeria’s Ogale community in the Delta region file a damages claim for pollution against oil giant Shell, in a London court. And South Sudan prepares for the arrival of Pope Francis.

A mortar attack has hit Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, close to where regional leaders were about to begin talks on taking part in the government’s ongoing offensive against the militant group al-Shabab. Plus, Pope Francis calls for peace in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, as he addresses an open mass in Kinshasa attended by hundreds of thousands of people. And as video app TikTok continues to take the world by storm, we speak to the company's head of content programming for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Pope Francis has arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the country’s first papal visit in nearly four decades. He will also travel to South Sudan during the trip. Plus, with less than a month to go before Nigeria's presidential election, we speak to the candidate of the opposition People’s Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar. And a BBC investigation reveals that gangs in Egypt are using dating apps to lure and exploit members of the LGBTQ community.

Communities in northern Ghana give refuge to up to 4,000 people fleeing rebel violence in Burkina Faso, but they now fear that some former armed vigilantes may be amongst the refugees. Somalia's government says it has killed 130 al-Shabab militants, including top commanders, with regional and international assistance. Are the strongholds of the jihadists being whittled away by successful offensives? And the United States’ ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas Greenfield, has just concluded a trip to Africa and tells us how the US plans to forge stronger diplomatic ties across the continent.