Ethiopia admitted for the first time April 10 that it detained 41 suspected terrorists from 17 countries. The statement comes a week after the Associated Press reported that terror suspects had been transferred from Kenya to Somalia and then to secret facilities in Ethiopia. Ethiopian officials at the time denied any suspects were in custody. Human rights groups call the detentions a violation of international law. The International Committee of the Red Cross says it has not been granted access to the detainees despite having sought meetings for the last month. A Canadian, Bashir Makhtal, is believed to be among those held. The Canadian government has officially asked Ethiopia for consular access to the former Toronto resident.

Amnesty International condemns Egypt's record on torture and illegal detention in a new report, and calls on other countries to abandon diplomatic "no torture" deals with Cairo. Egypt's record on torture recently made headlines after police officers raped a 21-year-old taxi driver with a stick and filmed the torture on a mobile phone. Amnesty's report, "Systematic abuses in the name of security," focuses on the question of "rendition" of terror suspects to Egypt. In 2005, Cairo acknowledged that since 2001 the US had transferred some 60-70 detainees to Egypt.

Chad's government reports a rebel convoy of "more than 200 vehicles with armed elements" attacked from Sudanese territory April 9, resulting in heavy fighting that has left "many" dead. (AlJazeera, April 9) Recent violence in eastern Chad has killed hundreds of civilians and thousands displaced. According to an April 10 news release from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees: "More than 9,000 Chadians from 31 villages have now arrived at the new Habile site for internally displaced people (IDPs), joining another 9,000 who had fled earlier attacks in the region." (UNHCR, April 10)

Forces from the separatist Somali state of Somaliland and neighboring autonomous Puntland clashed April 9 over a disputed strip of land along their shared border in the Sanag region. "Puntland forces attacked the town of Dahar around 8:00 this morning," Somaliland Information Minister Ahmed Hagi Dahir said in a statement. "The attacking forces were supported by 17 technicals and 3 big trucks." Technicals are pick-up trucks mounted with weapons, the Somali version of a tank. At least one fighter was reported killed.

Nine Algerian soldiers and at least four Islamist insurgents were killed in clashes after militants ambushed an army patrol in the southwestern province of Ain Defla, 150 kilometers from Algiers April 7. Government troops, backed by helicopters, are searching for the attackers, estimated at 50 militants. They are presumed to belong to the al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb. Fighting was also reported between security forces and Islamist rebels in the Biskra region, southeast of Algiers, which has been tense following an April 2 rebel attack which killed three soldiers. The new fighting has brought the largest single casualty toll among government forces since Islamist guerrillas killed at least seven troops in November 2006 in the Bouira region east of Algiers. (Reuters, April 9)

Fighting between the government and Sh'i'te insurgents in Yemen's northern mountains has killed 25 soldiers and 20 guerillas over the last five days. The government has set up camps to shelter about 10,000 people displaced by the violence. Sporadic clashes are still taking place in the town of Dhahian. Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's president, ordered the army to crack down on (Abdul-Malik) al-Houthi and his fighters, based in northern Saada province, in January. About 315 Shi'ite fighters and 157 Yemeni soldiers have been killed in clashes since then, although al-Houthi's followers say the government's estimates of the number of insurgents killed are too high. (AlJazeera, April 9)

From Newsday, April 8:

Two hit-and-runs in two different boroughs
A pedestrian in Manhattan and a motorcyclist in Brooklyn were each critically hurt after hit-and-run drivers struck them Saturday, police said.

An Ethiopian judge dismissed charges of attempted genocide and treason against 111 people arrested after 2005 election protests. Among those cleared were journalists and publishers. Amnesty International called the charges "absurd," and adopted the accused as "prisoners of conscience." The accused maintained the trial was political and all but two refused to co-operate. They had been in custody for 15 months, and one is a female journalist who gave birth in prison. Several opposition leaders remain in custody, accused of trying to violently overthrow the government.