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Sudan has rejected Kenya's leadership of a delegation set up by a regional bloc, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (Igad), to mediate in the fighting.

"We informed Igad that we rejected the chairmanship of Kenya in the Sudan crisis committee because Kenya was not neutral," the foreign ministry said.

The pan-Arab Al Arabiya TV channel quoted Sudan's foreign ministry as saying "the statements of senior Kenyan officials and the behaviour of its government confirmed that it adopts the positions of Rapid Support Forces (RSF), shelters its members and provides them with various types of support".

Kenya said it was yet to receive a formal communication of the rejection.

Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing'oei said, external the appointment of Kenyan President William Ruto to lead the team "was arrived at by the Igad summit and can only be vacated by the summit".

Igad appointed Mr Ruto as the chairman of its delegation, that also has representation from Ethiopia, South Sudan and Djibouti, during the bloc's summit on 12 June.

Mr Ruto has been critical of the war in Sudan, once saying that the rival generals should "stop the nonsense".

He has met envoys of both the Sudanese army and RSF in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

Clashes between Sudanese army and RSF have entered a second month with no end in sight.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

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The International Criminal Court (ICC) says it will look into allegations of war crimes by armed groups in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

This comes several weeks after the Congolese government made a new formal referral to the ICC over violence involving M23 rebels that has displaced around a million people in North Kivu province.

President Félix Tshisekedi, as well as UN investigators, have accused Rwanda of backing the group which relaunched a rebellion there in late 2021.

The Kigali government denies this.

The ICC has already convicted three former militia leaders over conflicts in DR Congo.

Our proverb of the day:

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A selection of the best photos from across Africa and beyond this week.

South African firefighters have made their way to Alberta to help with the country's extreme wildfires.

Some of Beyoncé's Africa fans are willing to do anything to see her on the continent.

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team for now. There will be an automated news feed here until Friday morning.

You can also follow the latest at BBCAfrica.com and listen to the new BBC Focus on Africa podcast for more on big topics in the news.

A reminder of Thursday's wise words:

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And we leave you with this picture of female wrestlers in Senegal competing at a tournament in St Louis:

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Another Nigerian chef, Damilola Adeparusi, better known as Chef Dammy, has made an attempt to break the non-stop-cooking world record.

She recently completed 120 hours of cooking, but it is not clear that Guinness World Records (GWR) has received an application for her efforts to be recognised.

Chef Dammy's feat came just after GWR recognised Hilda Baci as the world-record holder saying that she cooked non-stop for 93 hours 11 minutes.

That effort caused a nationwide sensation.

Chef Dammy told BBC News Yoruba that she was "not competing with anyone". "The sky is wide enough for the birds to avoid colliding," she added.

She received some criticism online for making the record attempt just after Chef Baci but she told the BBC that she had "no idea of people bullying her".

Meanwhile, GWR says that its tweet about Chef Baci breaking the record is its "best performing tweet of all time":

Central African Republic are targeting history this weekend by qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time.

More than 100 people drowned when the wooden boat they were using to cross the River Niger capsized.

Dorcas Wangira & Will Ross
BBC News

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A court in Kenya has ruled that 64 survivors of a doomsday cult be returned to a rescue centre where they should undergo a psychological assessment and receive counselling.

They are due to be charged with attempted suicide, which is classified as a crime in Kenya.

One cult member, however, was sent to a women's prison as she refused to cooperate with the police and said she would carry on refusing food.

The survivors were allegedly told by their cult leader to starve themselves to death in order to get to heaven more quickly.

More than 300 bodies have been exhumed from shallow graves in a remote forest about two hours' drive from the coast. More than 600 others are missing.

The main government-funded human rights body has called for the state to drop the attempted suicide charges against the survivors.

Read more on this story:

• The mother who fled Shakahola forest to save her children
• 'My wife and six children followed Pastor Mackenzie'

The Democratic Republic of Congo has asked the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate alleged crimes in the country's North Kivu province committed since the beginning of last year.

A statement from the prosecutor, Karim Khan, says that his office has been asked to "investigate particular armed forces and groups" behind alleged crimes.

No specific names were mentioned, but the DR Congo government has in the past said that Rwanda was backing the M23 rebel group, which has been accused of carrying out atrocities. Rwanda has consistently denied the accusation.

In a recent report, external, New York-based Human Rights Watch said that the M23 had "committed summary executions and forced recruitment of civilians", but added that the Congolese army was "collaborating with ethnic militias with abusive records".

The conflict in North Kivu has led to hundreds of thousands being forced from their homes.

Patience Atuhaire
BBC News, Kampala

Image source, Reuters

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has addressed the country’s parliament virtually, and continued to challenge social media reports that he was seriously ill and in intensive care.

The president, who was diagnosed with Covid-19 last week, tweeted on Wednesday, external that he was free of symptoms, although he has continued to test positive over several days.

He thanked Ugandans who have been praying for him and sending messages for his quick recovery.

He joked that he was now a “veteran of corona”.

His virtual address was a first, because if he was Covid-free, the president would have physically addressed parliament during the reading of the national budget.

Finance Minister Matia Kasaija, who delivered the budget speech, told parliament that the country’s economy is expected to continue recovering from the effects of the pandemic.

The size of the economy is now estimated at about $50bn (£39bn) and is projected to grow at a rate of 5.5% in this financial year.

The government aims to create 2.5 million jobs in the next five years, according to the budget speech.

Mr Museveni said that the strategy would continue to focus on infrastructure, industrialisation and value addition to agricultural products for economic growth.

Khamis Abakar blamed paramilitary forces for West Darfur's ethnic violence hours before his abduction.

Russia's president tells a gathering in St Petersburg his country is expanding trade with "reliable" partners.

Newsday
BBC World Service

Image source, Reuters

Sudanese activist Dr Ihsan Fageeri has told the BBC that though she had to flee her home in the capital, Khartoum, she has decided to remain in the country, in Port Sudan, to help her compatriots.

"I need to be with my people who are suffering. Why do I have to go out to save only my life? This would be very selfish of me. I need to save the lives of all the people here," she told the BBC's Newsday programme.

Dr Fageeri said that in Port Sudan she was co-ordinating different groups that were offering medical help to those affected by the conflict, which has now lasted for two months.

On 15 April, fighting broke out between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese army. Hundreds of people have been killed in the clashes and millions have been forced from their homes.

"All of us are traumatised," Dr Fageeri said. "We left our houses and the RSF destroyed everything."

Read more on the conflict:

• Children rescued from orphanage in Khartoum
• What to do with the dead bodies in Khartoum

Dorcas Wangira
BBC News, Nairobi

Image source, Reuters

Sixty-five members of a Kenyan doomsday cult, who were rescued from the Shakahola Forest, are appearing in court to face charges of attempted suicide.

In Kenya, attempted suicide is illegal. Likewise, aiding suicide, failing to take action to stop or not reporting the offence is also punishable by life imprisonment.

In April, the police began to exhume bodies from shallow graves in the remote forest.

So far, 318 people linked to the cult are known to have died and 613 are still missing.

Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie from the Good News International Church is accused of encouraging people to fast to death, which he denies.

A different group of 16 cult members, who are in police custody, have been on a hunger strike since 4 June.

State prosecutors are now seeking to have the accused cult members separated, held in prisons and subjected to forced feeding.

Even though the state is seeking to have the accused members forcibly fed, the police stations where they are being held do not have the capacity in terms of space, food and medical facilities.

Read more on this story:

• The mother who fled Shakahola forest to save her children
• 'My wife and six children followed Pastor Mackenzie'

Janet Ball
BBC Africa Daily podcast

Mida Creek, on Kenya's coastline about two hours' drive north of Mombasa, rightly has a reputation for being a birdwatchers' paradise.

Surrounded by mangrove forests, its beaches teem with crabs and other crustaceans, which in turn bring in migratory birds from around the world.

Juvenile sea turtles hide in the safety of the roots.

But there's trouble in paradise.

Fish stocks have plummeted in the last 30 years, and many people who would once have fed their families through fishing and farming face a difficult choice: starve, or leave to find work in Malindi, Mombasa or even the US or Dubai.

Hassan, a local guide who was born in the creek and whose father is a fisherman, told BBC Africa Daily that pollution and the proliferation of hotels and boat yards – with their accompanying bright lights and smell of oil - seem to deter fish from coming to the creek as they once would.

The area attracts tourists but the money has not often benefitted the local community in the past.

But over the last few years some local people, like Hassan, have been trying to change that with projects like the building of a boardwalk to allow tourists to walk across the mangroves and get closer to the birds and wildlife.

Other projects that followed were eco camps – allowing tourists to stay in huts built by the local community and eat meals prepared by them using local produce.

Tours are offered by local people like Hassan. The proceeds from the boardwalk are put towards the school fees of local children.

Listen to the Africa Daily episode for more.

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has condemned the killing of the governor of West Darfur state, Khamis Abbakar, on Wednesday.

As we had reported earlier, Sudanese officials had accused the RSF of killing the governor - who had hours before said the RSF and allied militias were committing genocide against people from the Masalit ethnic group.

But in a statement,, external the RSF says the governor was killed at “the hands of two outlaws” despite attempts by its forces to protect him.

“The outlaws raided [his residence] in large numbers... which led to the situation getting out of control, and the governor was kidnapped and assassinated in cold blood, in a scene that has nothing to do with humanity,” it said.

The paramilitary force is calling for an inquiry into the circumstances that led to the death, and said it will not hesitate to bring to justice any member of its force found to have been involved in the incident.

The death of the governor comes amid escalating ethnic and sexual dimension of the violence against civilians in the Darfur region, according to the UN.

The vessel was carrying around 300 passengers travelling from a wedding ceremony in Kwara state.