Aunty Maiduguri, a Nigerian lesbian who married four other women last weekend in Kano State, has gone into hiding from the Islamic police, along with her partners. Under Sharia law, adopted in the state seven years ago, homosexuality and same-sex marriages are outlawed. The theater where the wedding celebration was held April 22 has been demolished by Kano city's authorities. Lesbianism is also illegal under Nigeria's national penal code, and parliament is considering tightening its laws on homosexuality.

Interim Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi insists that government and Ethiopian forces have successfully "won" their fight against the Union of Islamic Courts in Mogadishu. Fierce combat has been raging in the city for nine days, in an effort led by Somali-Ethiopian troops to clear "pockets of resistance." [AlJazeera, April 26]

Two prominent Somali clan leaders, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed and Hussein Aideed, have issued an ultimatum to the Ethiopian forces to leave Somalia now or prepare to fight to the death. The two leaders of the Hawiye clan that dominates the Somali capital, Mogadishu, spoke after holding talks in Eritrea. Aideed said that Somalis will unite against "the brutal occupation" by Ethiopia.

Some 25 Islamist militants calling themselves the "Taliban" have been killed in an army offensive near the northern city of Kano, Nigeria. Militants took an area of the city after attacking a police station on April 17. Nine Islamists have been captured, as well as a quantity of arms, the army says. Authorities say the action was launched to avenge the assassination of a radical Islamic cleric shot dead April 13. The militants, numbering some 300, killed at least ten when they took the police station. The unrest adds to rising tension, with opposition parties threatening to boycott the upcoming presidential polls. Islamists have maintained a low-level insurgency in the Kano region for last few years.

The conflict in Darfur is an early sign global security threats prompted by climate change, a senior representative of the British government warned April 16 on the eve of a special United Nations debate. "Like most conflicts, it's complex. It results from an interplay of a lot of social and political and possibly ethnic factors," said John Ashton, Prime Minister Tony Blair's special ambassador on climate change. "But there is absolutely no doubt that it's a more difficult conflict to deal with, because on top of all that, you've had a 40% fall in the rainfall in northern Darfur over the last 25 to 30 years, again in a way that's entirely consistent with what the climate models would have told you to expect."

US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte leaves April 11 for Sudan, where the State Department says the Khartoum government can expect new sanctions if there is no movement on a long-delayed expansion of international peacekeeping in Darfur. But State officials also made clear they are not saying Negroponte is delivering an ultimatum to Sudan over the issue. Negroponte's North Africa mission will later take him to Chad, Libya and Mauritania. (VOA, April 11)

Here's a glimmer of hope from Eritrea—and how does it square the widespread reports that the Eritrean regime is backing the Islamist insurgents in Somalia? An April 8 report on SomaliNet states: "The Eritrean government has with immediate effect banned female circumcision; a brief statement posted on the Eritrean government website on Thursday said anyone who requests, takes part in or promotes the practice faces a fine or jail sentence."

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.