A military court in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has sentenced the country’s former president, Joseph Kabila, to de@th in absentia after convicting him of war crimes, treason, and crimes against humanity.

The case stems from his alleged role in backing the advance of M23 rebels supported by Rwanda in DRC’s volatile eastern provinces. Kabila, who led the country from 2001 to 2019, has denied wrongdoing and said the judiciary had been politicised.

Lt Gen Joseph Mutombo Katalayi, presiding over the tribunal in Kinshasa, said Kabila had been found guilty of charges that included murder, sexual assault, torture, and insurrection.

Kabila did not attend the trial and was not represented by legal counsel. Neither he nor his representatives were immediately available for comment. His whereabouts were not immediately known.

“In applying article 7 of the military penal code,[the court] imposes a single sentence, namely the most severe one, which is the death penalty,” Katalayi said while delivering the verdict.

Kabila was also ordered to pay about $50bn (£36bn) in damages to the state and victims.

Kabila spent almost 20 years in power and stepped down only after de@dly protests against him. He has been living mostly in South Africa since 2023, but appeared in the rebel-held city of Goma in eastern DRC in May.

He entered into an awkward power-sharing deal with his successor, Felix Tshisekedi, but their relationship soon soured.

As M23 rebels marched on eastern DRC’s second-largest city of Bukavu in February, Tshisekedi told the Munich security conference that Kabila had sponsored the insurgency.

M23 now controls much of North Kivu and South Kivu provinces. The fighting has killed thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands more this year. The two sides signed a US-brokered peace agreement in June, but they are both reinforcing their positions and blaming one another for flouting the accord, sources have said

Malawi’s President Lazarus Chakwera conceded defeat Wednesday in last week’s election, saying in an address to the nation that it was clear his rival Peter Mutharika had an “insurmountable lead”.

The former pastor took power in 2020 elections when he defeated the then-president Mutharika, a constitutional law expert from the Democratic Progressive Party.“A few minutes ago, I called Professor Mutharika to wish him well,” Chakwera said just hours before the election authority was due to announce the final results of the September 16 election.

Ahead of the announcement, “it was clear that my rival Peter Mutharika has an insurmountable lead over me,” said Chakwera, 70, from the Malawi Congress Party (MCP).

The dire state of the economy dominated the election in the small southern African country, with critics accusing Chakwera of mismanagement and indecisiveness and also failing to tackle corruption and deliver on promises to create jobs.

During his term, costs soared in the agriculture-dependent and rural nation, with inflation reaching 33 percent and the price of staple food maize and of fertiliser jumping, a key talking point at the poll.

“In the days that remain, I want you to know that I am committed to a peaceful transfer of power,” Chakwera said. “I know that many of you who supported my campaign for reelection will be disappointed.” Vanguard

Conservative Party Leader, Kemi Badenoch, has criticised Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s decision to formally recognise the State of Palestine, describing it as “absolutely disastrous” and a move that rewards terrorism without addressing the plight of hostages in Gaza or the suffering of civilians caught in the conflict.

In a post on her X platform on Sunday, September 21, Badenoch, MP for North West Essex, accused Starmer of lacking a coherent plan for the country and instead pandering to “the hobby horses of the Labour left” to maintain power.

She wrote: “Rewarding terrorism with no conditions whatsoever put in place for Hamas leaves hostages languishing in Gaza and does nothing to stop the suffering of innocent people caught in this war.”

She further argued that Labour’s recognition of Palestine was part of a broader pattern of misplaced priorities, adding: “They cannot fix the NHS, so they push assisted suicide. They cannot create jobs for young people, so they give them votes at 16. They cannot sort out immigration, but they will recognise Palestine instead.”

Badenoch also criticised Starmer’s record on foreign affairs, recalling the payment of £35bn in reparations to Mauritius and the surrender of the Chagos Islands, which she framed as evidence of poor judgement.

“Everything we are seeing is a consequence of a Prime Minister who has no plan for the country and no judgement,” she said. “He will spend the next four years delivering the hobby horses of the Labour left to stay in power and leave a huge mess for us to clean up.”

Starmer, MP for Holborn and St Pancras, had earlier announced that the UK’s recognition of Palestine was aimed at reviving “the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two-state solution.”