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The head of the UN refugee agency has described the situation in Ethiopia’s Tigray region as extremely grave and has urged the government to stop restricting access for humanitarian agencies.

Filippo Grandi was speaking after visiting a camp where he said Eritrean refugees were complaining about incidents of rape.

There's mounting evidence that all sides in the conflict have been committing human rights abuses against civilians. ​​​​​​

The head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, said the international community was failing in its duty to reach millions of desperate people.

He said he'd rarely seen an aid response impeded so much.

Two Kenyan MPs have exchanged blows at a funeral after one of them insinuated that the other was corrupt.

"We have several leaders here in the company of our deputy president who have a tainted life. These are fraudsters who should not be allowed to take up any leadership position," said Dagoretti North MP Simba Arati, Standard news site reports.

MP Sylvanus Osoro, who had just addressed mourners, jumped from his seat and confronted Mr Arati and a scuffle broke out.

It's unclear if Mr Osoro was punched, shoved or kicked but a picture shared online showed him sitting on the ground but with enough clues to suggest he didn't get there willingly.

Mr Osoro is an ally of Deputy President Willian Ruto while Mr Arati is a strong supporter of opposition leader Raila Odinga, both of whom were present at the funeral.

They are seen as the leading contenders in next year's presidential election and have been engaging in an intensified war of words at political rallies and funerals.

A campaign to change the constitution is the latest issue that has them and their political lieutenants engaged in popularity contests which sometimes, as on Monday, have turned physical.

AFPCopyright: AFP

For years - when the UK was still a member of the European Union (EU) - the number of Zimbabwean officials on the sanctions list had been declining, suggesting a thawing of the relationship.

Only the late long-time leader Robert Mugabe, his family, and the Zimbabwe Defence Industries remained on the EU list.

But now the UK has imposed its own sanctions, reasserting itself and also distinguishing itself from the EU by adopting a more US-like, hardline stance against Zimbabwe.

The US maintains sanctions against almost all government officials including President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Zimbabwe for years has said the sanctions have contributed to its economic collapse, but others say corruption and mismanagement are to blame.

The southern African nation has successfully lobbied the African Union to support the call to end sanctions and also reportedly spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on hiring public relations groups to patch up its image in the West.

The UK’s latest move is the most significant marker yet of hardening diplomatic relations with Zimbabwe’s three-year-old government.

The four security officers sanctioned are not necessarily Zimbabwe’s most powerful officials, but they are sufficiently senior to send a message to Mr Mnangagwa's government.

Whether the sanctions will have any effect is hugely debatable.

Human rights groups say the abuses seen under Mr Mugabe continue.

South Africa has received its first batch of Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines.

The one million doses will be given to healthcare workers who have been battling the virus in the continent's worst-hit country but no date has been set for the start of the roll-out.

President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Monday evening give a national address in which he is expected to give an update on the fight against the pandemic.

Many also expect him to respond to calls to ease some of the lockdown restrictions which have been criticised by businesses.

The president's Twitter account live-streamed the arrival of the vaccines at the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Germany and Austria are planning to give medical help to Portugal, which is being hit severely by the third coronavirus wave.

Austria will treat intensive care patients, to be flown from Portugal, to help ease the pressure on Portuguese hospitals.

Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said providing such help “is a rule of European solidarity”.

Germany plans to fly an army medical team of 27 doctors and other specialists to Portugal, along with field hospital beds and ventilators.

Portugal requested that help because it is struggling with shortages of intensive care beds and medical staff.

In January alone Portugal’s Covid deaths totalled 5,576, according to official data – that’s nearly half the country’s total so far in the pandemic.

Portugal is under a tight lockdown, including a general ban on travel abroad.

The dramatic surge in cases has been blamed on an easing of rules at Christmas and on the highly contagious British variant.

The British government has announced sanctions against four Zimbabwean security officials, accusing them of human rights abuses, including killing protesters.

State Security Minister Owen Ncube, as well as the heads of the police, the intelligence agency and the former chief of the presidential guard, will have any assets in the UK frozen. They'll also be banned from visiting.

The UK referred to the killing of protesters during post-election violence in 2018, and unrest in January the following year.

In a tweet, Zimbabwe's government spokesman Nick Mangwana said none of the officials targeted had any assets in the UK or had any intention of travelling there.

Wambali familyCopyright: Wambali family

Malawians set aside Covid-19 health protocols over the weekend to mourn music icon Wambali Mkandawire, who became the latest high-profile personality to succumb to the virus in the country.

Crowds, including senior government officials, breached the 50-person limit to mourn Wambali in the capital, Lilongwe.

The funeral event was broadcast live on local TV stations, with many peopl sending their condolences on social media.

The 68-year-old singer lived a colourful life, starting out as a problem child who was often expelled from school but who later transformed into a statesman, a highly respected preacher and political activist.

Born in the Democratic Republic of Congo to Malawian parents, Wambali arrived in Malawi at the age of eight and lived with his grandparents in the northern Rumphi district.

As a teenager, he moved to the city of Mzuzu to improve his prospects of getting an education in an era when opportunities for education beyond primary school were limited.

But it was in secondary school in the 1970s when he developed a reputation for delinquency and drinking alcohol which earned him several suspensions.

Later in the decade his music career started in Malawi’s commercial hub, Blantyre, where he teamed up with friends to start a band called Sounds Pentagon.

The band gained some popularity, but failed to raise funds to sustain itself.

In a surprise turn of events, Wambali abandoned the band in 1978 and became a born-again Christian, changing his name from Greenwood to Wambali. He started singing gospel music, staging performances in schools around the country.

On one visit to his former secondary school, he returned textbooks which he said he had stolen from schoolmates when he was a student.

In the early 1990s, Wambali became involved in politics, calling for an end to dictatorship and was often at rallies where he demanded the unconditional release of political prisoners.

It was at the turn of the century that his gospel music career really took off.

In 2002 his song Zanimuone was nominated for the Kora Awards, given annually for musical achievement in sub-Saharan Africa.

The following year, the album was recognised by the Geneva-based World Intellectual Property Organization.

His most recent international accolade was the Black Entertainment Film Fashion Television and Arts Awards where he received the Best African Legend Award.

Wambali stopped performing to live audiences in 2011. He is survived by a wife and daughter.

A leading humanitarian aid official has criticised the Ethiopian authorities for restricting access to victims of the conflict in the northern Tigray region.

Jan Egeland, now head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said aid agencies hadn't been able to reach central and western parts of the region, as well as two refugee camps.

He said he'd rarely seen an aid response impeded so much.

Mr Egeland added that the international community was failing in its duty to reach millions of desperate people.

There's mounting evidence that all sides in the conflict have been committing human rights abuses against civilians.

Read more:

• What a blind man's death reveals about Ethiopia's Tigray crisis