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Ethiopia has warned it could deploy its "entire defensive capability" against rebels from the the northern Tigray region after their recent advances.

Rebels took control of the town of Lalibela, a Unesco World Heritage Site in neighbouring Amhara region, on Thursday.

The government said if its humanitarian overtures went unreciprocated it would be "pushed to mobilise and deploy the entire defensive capability of the state".

Fighting has escalated since June when the rebels, made up of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and its allies, recaptured much of Tigray in an offensive.

The national army withdraw and declared a unilateral ceasefire.

However, aid routes into Tigray have been blocked and the authorities have been mobilising fighters, with rallies nationwide encouraging people to enlist.

The rebels want a negotiated cessation of hostilities, but the foreign ministry said their actions were irresponsible.

The TPLF was "testing the federal government's patience and pushing it to change its defensive mood which has been taken for the sake of the unilateral humanitarian ceasefire", its statement said.

EssowartCopyright: Essowart

All musicians need to find inspiration from somewhere. Algerian rapper Skorp is very open about where his comes from, and it is not a positive place. He calls it a “warzone”.

“Being Skorp is creating sad music, bad vibes, because we’re not living in a pink world in Algeria.

“I can’t sing about love, or girls, or summer because I don’t have that.”

Growing up, the 25-year-old led something of an itinerant life, moving from city to city following his father’s job as an engineer.

After a stint in Ukraine, studying to become an engineer himself, he returned home and decided instead to follow his dream as an artist, painting hyper-realistic portraits and rapping about the situation in his homeland.

“I live inside a warzone. I’m living life in my own bunker,” he says, describing music as his “safe zone”.

“I mean I’m hiding: running away from the streets, the issues, the problems we’re dealing with, the drugs, politics.”

But Skorp’s rap acts are more than an emotional protective shield. It is also a form of expressive catharsis.

“Rap for me is something bigger than just music. We’re engraving words on stone and that’s creating history.

“Rap music is the most honest genre because you can talk about anything you want. You can be you.”

Even so, Skorp admits that, in Algeria, there are certain boundaries you might not want to push against explicitly.

“I don’t talk about politics in a direct way. If you talk in a direct way you will bring a problem upon yourself. That makes you feel like a prisoner.”

For Skorp, the battle in his “warzone” is ongoing, but he has not given up hope.

“Everyone is still fighting, we’re praying day and night, we’re working day and night.

“This is life; you have to fight.”

You can hear more from Skorp on This is Africa this Saturday on BBC World Service radio and partner stations across Africa.

Gamme Mosisa/FacebookCopyright: Gamme Mosisa/Facebook

Six people have been arrested in Ethiopia in connection with the death of a bridegroom - including his widow.

Gemechis Mosisa was found dead days after his wedding in the town of Nekemte in western Ethiopoia.

The 28-year-old nurse posted a "just-wedded" message on Facebook on Saturday and the following morning posted pictures of the ceremony.

‘‘Gemechis married in church, and the wedding ceremony was beautiful,” his cousin Chala Inkosa told the BBC.

“The families are in pain after joy turned to tragedy."

His family say he was last seen on Sunday when he left home – he had been expected later that day at a reception at his in-laws, but never showed up.

When he was reported missing by family and friends, police began searching for him - finding his body two days later in a small lake on the outskirts of the town.

His jacket was found hanging on a tree nearby.

A golden ring and his watch were also retrieved, said Misganu Wakgari, Nekemte’s head of security - adding that investigations were ongoing.

The groom was buried on Thursday, with many people on social media expressing sadness over the tragedy:

Generals in the military wing of South Sudan’s opposition party are split over who should lead them.

Earlier this week, three generals in the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) announced that they had ousted Riek Machar as the party’s leader.

However, another group of SPLM-IO generals have met on Friday to renew their loyalty to Mr Machar, who is also the first vice-president in the country’s unity government set up to end a bitter civil war.

They back Mr Machar who has dismissed the attempt to remove him, saying those behind it were “peace spoilers”.

He maintains their true motive is to derail the unification of former rebel and government forces into a new national army, a key part of the 2018 peace agreement.

Gen Gabriel Duop Lam, the SPLA-IO’s acting chief of general staff, said Mr Machar was still in full command and control of all their forces nationwide.

He added that the military wing remained committed to the implementation of peace deal's security arrangements, but warned that it reserved the right to self-defence if attacked.

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The president's plans for a cathedral in Ghana costing $200m (£144m) have come under fire in a week when thousands have been protesting against economic hardship and saying the money could be better spent elsewhere.

A board member of the national cathedral project defended President Nana Akufo-Addo, saying the plan was intended to unify Ghanaians.

"We don't expect that that because of his vision he should dip his hands into his pocket to pay for it," Pastor Victor Kusi-Boateng told BBC Focus on Africa.

"Ghana is over 70% Christian. The cathedral is where the Pentecostals, and the Charismatics and every [denomination] can find a level playing ground to unify us.

"We have a need as a third world country, but we still send people to the Olympics - we still have money to build sport stadiums and arenas."

The pastor also said that the Christian church founded many of Ghana's best schools, that faith played a key role in Ghanaian society, and that the ambitious project went further than expected.

"Beside the cathedral we are incorporating the second-largest Bible museum, [and] a biblical garden with every fruit and vegetable in the Bible, and building a replica of the Wailing Wall."

A UN expert has urged all armed groups in Ethiopia’s Tigray region to take steps to protect Eritrean refugees.

Mohamed Abdelsalam Babiker, the special rapporteur for human rights in Eritrea, said there were credible reports that government forces and their allies as well as the Tigray rebels had committed grave human rights abuses.

“Eritrean refugees have been singled out, targeted and victimised by both sides for their perceived collaboration with the other side in the conflict,” he said.

The UN refugee agency says tens of thousands of Eritrean refugees are currently trapped in the camps in Tigray, which neighbours Eritrea, unable to leave because of increasing insecurity.

They fled political persecution and compulsory military service, long before the current conflict in Tigray began.

Humanitarian teams are not able to reach them because of the war which erupted in November and involves Eritrean troops fighting on the side of the Ethiopian government.

As the fighting spreads to other parts of the country, the UN says an estimated 80,000 refugees are now at risk.

“I am extremely alarmed at reports of reprisal attacks and killings, sexual violence, beatings of Eritrean refugees and looting of camps and property,” said Dr Babiker.

“This violence directed at refugees must stop.”

Tickets for Wizkid’s one-off concert in London this coming November have sold in just 12 minutes.

The Nigerian Afrobeats superstar tweeted: “LONDON! I LOVE YOU”:

Unsurprisingly Wizkid’s name is trending on Twitter in the UK - for the second day.

The first batch of “pre-sale tickets” for the O2 Arena - those open to O2 customers - were released on Thursday, selling out quickly.

The general sale tickets went on sale on Friday morning, but you’d have had to be quick to get one.

Some fans have been unhappy, asking for more dates and larger venues to be organised.

One person quipped in a response to a tweet asking people to name something that isn't an Olympic sport but feels like one: “Getting #Wizkid tickets.”

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A new boss is taking over the running of Mozambique's Ndlavela Women's Penitentiary, where it was found that inmates there had been forced into prostitution.

Herminia Nhamuze was sworn in as the new director, replacing Albertina Dimande.

She had been removed in June during investigations into the allegations first exposed by an anti-corruption organisation.

After a commission of inquiry confirmed the findings last month, Justice Minister Helena Kida suspended the prison’s entire management.

During the swearing-in at the prison in the capital, Maputo, Ms Kida warned that she did not not want a repetition of what had happened.

The Centre for Public Integrity (CIP) revealed that for years the female prisoners had been taken to nearby guest houses to work as prostitutes for wealthy clients.

The victims said that if they refused to comply they were beaten or punished with hard labour.

AFPCopyright: AFP

One hundred trucks of food and medicines a day are needed in Ethiopia's northern region of Tigray to save lives, the UN's emergency relief co-ordinator says.

Speaking in Geneva on his return from Ethiopia, Martin Griffiths said a humanitarian ceasefire was a glaring necessity in order to allow aid deliveries into the warring region.

The UN estimates that 5.2 million people, or 90% of Tigray's population, are in need.

Mr Griffiths said he had seen hospitals looted and destroyed in Tigray, and families traumatised by violence.

There are catastrophic food shortages, famine is a real threat.

The Ethiopian government says it is in favour of the UN plan, but Tigray’s rebels are expanding into neighbouring Amhara.

On Thursday, Tigrayan forces took control of the town of Lalibela, a UN World Heritage site in Amhara.

Mr Griffiths, while stressing the UN’s neutrality in humanitarian crises, backed the US's call for the rebels to leave Amhara, saying that the best way to ensure the survival of the people of Tigray was to stop the conflict.

You may also be interested in:

• Growing concerns for unity as Tigray conflict spreads

The trial of Tanzania’s opposition leader Freeman Mbowe has been postponed until next Friday.

His party Chadema told the BBC that the case has been pushed after the Director of Public Prosecutions sought to have the case handled by a higher court.

Mr Mbowe and three of his co-accused were taken back into remand custody after their brief appearance at a court in Dar es Salaam.

They are not able to apply for bail because they have been charged with terrorism-related crimes.

The party tweeted a video of them returning to prison: