Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has warned that "all options are open" in confronting an Ethiopian project to build a dam on the Blue Nile, which may diminish Egypt's water supply.

"I confirm that all options are open to deal with this subject," the Islamist president told hundreds of his supporters late Monday at a conference on the issue.

The Sudanese armed forces burned and shot civilians to death in a "scorched earth" campaign against a rebel chief's home district in Blue Nile state, Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

Satellite imagery confirms that the attacks in Blue Nile's Ingessana Hills, the birthplace of rebel chairman Malik Agar, occurred in the first half of last year, the London-based watchdog said in a 74-page report.

Egypt's foreign minister is to hold talks in Addis Ababa on Ethiopia's plan to build a Nile dam that has stirred "life or death" concerns over water resources, the premier announced Monday.

Hisham Qandil told the Senate, taking the place of parliament until a new National Assembly is elected, that Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr would travel to Ethiopia "in the coming days to give the Egyptian point of view" on the project.

An aide to Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has apologized after she failed to inform politicians holding talks with the president that they were live on air, allowing viewers to watch them cook up plans to sabotage a dam in Ethiopia.

"Due to the importance of the topic it was decided at the last minute to air the meeting live. I forgot to inform the participants about the changes," presidential aide for political affairs Pakinam El-Sharkawi said.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday revealed he will attend an African Union summit in Ethiopia next month, and said Washington had be more engaged with Africa.

The May 19-27 summit in Addis Ababa will mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Organization of African Unity, the predecessor to the AU.

Under a canopy of trees in a park not far from Addis Ababa's National Museum, home of many of Ethiopia's historic national treasures, a contemporary art revolution is quietly afoot.

It is here at Netsa Art Village that the experimental work made from shoelaces by Merhet Debebe can be found, or the vibrantly-coloured work of Tamrat Gazahegn, who uses tree trunks as canvases.

Ethiopia's chances of reaching the 2014 World Cup in Brazil became a little more realistic on Sunday after beating Botswana to open a two-point gap at the top of its group in African qualifying.

Ghana beat Sudan 4-0 to apply the pressure on leader Zambia in their group after the 10-man Zambians were held 1-1 in Lesotho.

African leaders and international officials pledged $455.5 million at a donor conference Tuesday for military operations against Islamist militants in Mali and humanitarian aid.

Malian President Dioncounda Traore thanked the "entire international community" as nations offered cash or support at the top-level meeting at the African Union headquarters in Ethiopia's capital.

Outgoing African Union chairman Thomas Boni Yayi told African leaders Sunday their response to the conflict in Mali had been too slow, and thanked France for taking the lead in its military intervention in the country.

Boni Yayi, Benin's president, told leaders at the opening of the 54-member AU summit that the body's response had taken too long, and that France's action was something "we should have done a long time ago to defend a member country.”

An Ethiopian court handed down heavy jail terms to 10 people convicted of having links to al-Qaida, a judge said Tuesday.

The sentences ranged from three years to 20 years, and several of the convicted also face stiff fines.