AFCON 2017: Best photos from 20 January

Puddles of oil in the forests, polluted lagoons, crabs covered in oil: with photos and videos, activists have been denouncing recurrent pollution in western Gabon. In three years, they have recorded ten polluted sites in the Etimboué region, all of them located near the oil fields belonging to the Franco-British company, Perenco. Perenco's speciality is operating low-cost, end-of-life oil fields. But according to activists, its infrastructure is dilapidated and is causing serious damage to the environment. The France 24 Observers investigated in this special episode.

If sea levels continue to rise, scientists say cities around the world are at risk of disappearing underwater by 2050. One of them is Gabon's economic hub, Port-Gentil. A possible solution to the rising seas is to move the city away from the coast. But relocating Port-Gentil would mean moving over 100,000 people, an outcome that residents want to avoid at all costs.

The President of the DR Congo told FRANCE 24 that he wants to launch a "cry of truth" and put an end to hypocrisy by denouncing in the Tribune of the United Nations "the direct military aggression" of Rwanda against his country. Tshisekedi added that he relayed this same message to Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame during a meeting in New York, which was also attended by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Although Pope Francis has made the fight against paedophilia in the Catholic Church one of his priorities, this call is not always heard. Our correspondents in DR Congo met several men who claim to have been sexually abused by a Slovenian priest in the 1990s in the village of Mooto.

A Belgian court agrees to admit the findings of a 22-year-old parliamentary commission into its investigation. The court is looking into the 1961 assassination of DR Congo's Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, seen by many as one of the country's founding fathers.

The world's two largest cocoa producers boycott a major industry meeting in Europe over a price dispute. Also, South Africa says its government will take the lead in informing the public about any imminent threat to its territory after the US embassy issued a terror alert in Johannesburg for this weekend.

A few decades ago, humpback whales were endangered, with only 10,000 of them left. But a global push for better protection has meant that whale watching, not whale hunting, is now a thriving industry. Every summer, the mammals travel to the warm swallow waters of the Gulf of Guinea and Madagascar to mate and give birth, before restarting their odyssey back to the Antarctic with their offspring. Our France 2 colleagues report from Gabon, with FRANCE 24's Camile Nedelec.

Thousands more flee their homes in eastern DRC amid fighting between M23 rebels and government forces. Locals don't believe new talks in Kenya will bring peace.

The region has been in the grip of an offensive by the M23 armed group and 900 Kenyan soldiers were recently sent to the area. Also in this edition: South Africa's disgraced ex-president Jacob Zuma could go back to prison, and we talk to Nigerian climate expert Chukwumerije Okereke, who is the Director of the Centre for Climate Change and Development. And lastly, guest Karim Baldé breaks down the Senegal's loss against the Netherlands in the World Cup.

Kenya's President William Ruto says East African troops will enforce peace in eastern DR Congo. The region has been in the grip of an offensive by the M23 armed group and 900 Kenyan soldiers were recently sent to the area.

DR Congo and Rwanda have struck a deal to end months of fighting between Congolese troops and rebels in eastern DRC. The agreement was reached with the mediation of the East African community, but it hinges on the withdrawal of M23 rebels from occupied areas.

The M23 rebel group said Thursday that a ceasefire announced a day earlier "doesn't really concern us," while calling for "direct dialogue" with Democratic Republic of Congo's government.