Sudan has reached an agreement with one of the main rebel groups in the Darfur conflict - a major development in the effort to restore peace to the region.

72-year-old aid worker Margaret Schenkel has been freed by security forces after being held in Sudan for more than a month.

A renegade Congolese colonel who had threatened to depose President Joseph Kabila has been extradited from Tanzania and will be prosecuted for rebellion, Congo's defence minister told Reuters on Monday (February 5).

The former vice president Riek Machar has returned to South Sudan for a 'peace celebration' following an agreement last month.

At the height of the Darfur war — the world's worst conflict in 2004 — a US nurse treated a baby with a leg injury. Fifteen years later, she was reunited with him on board a migrant rescue ship in the Mediterranean.

The government and rebel groups agreed to discuss power-sharing and returning millions of people who were displaced. The agreement was hailed as an "important step" towards achieving lasting peace in Darfur.

Ali Kushayb, who led state-backed militias in Darfur, has been charged with 50 war crimes and crimes against humanity. His arrest was dubbed "a great success for the ICC and its efforts to get justice for the victims."

Former Sudanese commander Ali Kushayb, charged with over 50 crimes against humanity, has appeared before the ICC. The Darfur war crimes suspect says the charges against him are "untrue". Also, dozens are killed in new attacks in northeast Nigeria. The violence is the latest in a spike of violence by the group known as the Islamic State West Africa Province. And Burundi's new president will be sworn in this week in a fast-tracked inauguration following the death of incumbent Pierre Nkurunziza. We hear from Burundian refugees who fled unrest under Nkurunziza and are now hoping to return home.

Hundreds of refugees have trickled back to their remote village in South Darfur nearly a decade after fleeing war there. Now, they think they rushed the decision following attacks by local nomads.

The former Sudanese president is facing International Criminal Court charges of crimes against humanity and genocide. He has been on the wanted list since 2009.

Former child soldiers are providing new information about the leader of the notorious Lord's Resistance Army. Kony has been on the run since 2005 when the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant.

More troops are sent to the turbulent region of Darfur in Sudan, after days of clashes between Arab and Masalit communities that cost more than 175 lives. Also, as South Africa pledges more money to flood-stricken communities, President Cyril Ramaphosa says there will be real-time audits on the funds allocated, in order to avoid corruption. And a local NGO in Madagascar pushes for the use of pigeon peas as a drought-resistant crop.