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Tigray TVCopyright: Tigray TV

Ethiopia's defence ministry has announced a reward of 10 million-birr ($256,000) for tips leading to the arrest of Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) figures that the government says are wanted.

The announcement of was made on Friday by Lt Gen Asrat Denero who said the reward was meant to help arrest the wanted individuals quickly.

Last month arrest warrants were issued for more than 60 senior leaders of the TPLF.

More arrest warrants were later issued for dozens of other current and former army officials.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed last month announced the end of the military offensive after Tigray's capital, Mekelle, fell to the federal army.

Nothing has been heard from the TPLF leaders in recent days, but they had earlier vowed to continue fighting until federal troops - whom they call invaders - leave Tigray.

The whereabouts of many of the TPLF leaders including its chairman Debrestion Gebremichael are unknown.

The government had earlier said that it had apprehended just two top TPLF figures.

One of them, former speaker of the upper house of parliament Keria Ibrahim, was said to have surrendered to authorities more than two weeks ago but she has not been seen since.

It is also not clear if she has been taken to any court.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has said his government is "closely following" a cross-border attack on Sudanese troops by Ethiopian forces and militia.

Sudan's army on Wednesday issued a statement saying one of its units was hit by "an ambush by Ethiopian forces and militias inside Sudanese territories", AFP reported.

There were "casualties and damage".

Mr Abiy has said such incidents will not break the bond between the two countries as "we always use dialogue to resolve issues".

"Those fanning discord clearly do not understand the strength of our historical ties," he tweeted.

Tens of thousands of Ethiopian refugees have fled to Sudan since November when Ethiopian federal troops started fighting with Tigray regional forces.

The governor of Kenya's Nyamira county, located in the west of the country, has died while undergoing treatment at a hospital in the capital, Nairobi.

John Nyagarama was 74 years old.

A Nyamira county official is quoted by local media as saying that the governor's family will give more details on the cause of death.

The governor was hospitalised for weeks and on Sunday he was placed under life support, the Star newspaper reports.

Mr Nyangarama's party leader Raila Odinga has tweeted his condolences:

The governor was serving his second and final term after he was re-elected in 2017.

His deputy, Amos Nyaribo, will take over as governor for the remaining period of the term until the 2022 elections in accordance with Kenya's constitution.

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A Moroccan man who tried to carry out a gun attack on a high-speed train between Brussels and Paris in August 2015 has been sentenced to life in prison by a French court.

Three other men were found guilty of helping the 31-year-old plan the attack. They were given sentences of between seven and 27 years as accomplices.

Ayoub el-Khazzani was overpowered by fellow passengers on the Thalys train, including two off-duty American soldiers.

He had boarded the train with a kalashnkov and a pistol hidden in his back-pack, but when he emerged from the lavatory ready to shoot he was immediately confronted by fellow-passengers.

In the fight that followed his gun initially failed to fire, and he was overpowered and delivered to the police.

In his summing up, the judge said there was no doubt el-Khazzani had intended to carry out a mass-killing.

He’d only failed because of an unlikely combination of circumstances, and the bravery of those who intervened.

El-Khazzani had come to Europe from Syria earlier in 2015 in the company of an Islamic State agent called Abdelhamid Abaooud.

He was the man who three months later organised the Bataclan and street café massacres in Paris.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

The United Nations has announced a $35m (£26m) emergency aid package for civilians caught up in the fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray region.

Government forces have been battling Tigray fighters since 4 November.

The UN said $25m will be used to purchase medicines for the sick and injured civilians in Ethiopia, and to buy food and drinking water.

A further $10.6m will be used to provide shelter, health care and drinking water for the tens of thousands of refugees who have fled to neighbouring Sudan.

“Conflicts like this are hard to stop once they get out of control, the lives they extinguish cannot be brought back, and the grievances they create are long lasting. Right now, children are cut off from help. We need unfettered access now,” UN emergency relief coordinator, Mark Lowcock, said.

Read:

• Medics on the run: 'I hid in the woods to flee shooting'

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The governor of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, Mike Sonko Mbuvi, has been removed from office after the senate upheld his impeachment by the regional assembly.

Senators found Mr Sonko guilty of four charges including gross violation of the constitution, abuse of office, gross misconduct and other crimes under the national law.

Among allegations filed against him by Nairobi county legislators were accusations of using public monies to fund his daughter's trip to New York in 2018 and misuse of bursary funds for underprivileged children in Nairobi.

Mr Sonko, known for his flashy lifestyle and clothes that include gold jewellery, denied the charges claiming he was a victim of corrupt cartels in Nairobi, which are fighting his attempts to stop public looting.

The ousted governor is no stranger to controversy. Prison authorities in Kenya recently accused him of escaping from a maximum facility 20 years ago. Mr Sonko has publicly admitted to the prison break during a live television interview.

Last December, he was arrested on suspicion of corruption.

He once included bottles of Hennessy as part of Covid-19 sanitation kits distributed to Nairobians claiming “ the alcohol content in the drink could stop coronavirus".

Mr Sonko was elected Nairobi governor in 2017 on a ticket of President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee Party.

But the two have since fallen out with President Kenyatta forcing through a deal that saw major functions of the county moved to the national government.

Mr Kenyatta also appointed a serving military general to run the county, and in effect making Mr Sonko a ceremonial governor

Sonko, who took part in the ceremony to hand over the county functions, later claimed that he had been drunk while signing the documents.

A populist, who started his political career in Eastlands Nairobi, the former governor enjoys massive support among the youth in poor and slum areas of the capital.

He runs his own Sonko Rescue Team - which provide ambulances, fire engines, hearses and wedding limousines to residents of the capital. But critics accuse his outfit of being a parallel public service provider with no clear source of funding.

Residents of Nairobi will now have to go for a by-election in 60 days as Mr Sonko has no serving deputy.

He becomes the second sitting governor to be impeached after Kiambu county’s Ferdinand Waititu was removed from office in January facing similar charges. Mr Waititu denied any wrongdoing.