Somalia’s National Peace and Reconciliation Conference took place in Kenya from 2002 to 2004. It was held under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Authority for Development and largely funded by the European Commission. It was not so much a reconciliation conference or a negotiation between warring factions as a bold attempt at political engineering intended to deal with prolonged state collapse in Somalia. More on Somalia: The Demise of The Mbgathi Peace Process

 At least 26 people have been killed in clashes between Ethiopian forces and anti-government fighters in central Somalia, residents have said.

The Somali opposition fighters ambushed an Ethiopian army convoy travelling from Guguriel near the Ethiopian border to Mataban, about 450km north of the capital Mogadishu, they said. More on Dozens dead in Somalia clashes

African leaders have urged Zimbabwe’s leadership and opposition to form a national unity government, following last week’s disputed election.

Ethiopia’s economy is 53.2 percent free, according to our 2008 assessment, which makes it the world’s 124th freest economy. Its overall score is 1.2 percentage points lower than last year, partly reflecting declines in five areas. Ethiopia is ranked 26th out of 40 countries in the sub-Saharan Africa region, and its overall score is slightly worse than the regional average. More on THE 2008 INDEX OF ECONOMIC FREEDOM,ETHIOPIA RANK 124

By Daniel Wallis

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, June 30 (Reuters) Washington is ready to help Nigeria send peacekeepers to Somalia, but its priority is supporting a Burundian battalion that is ready to deploy, the top U.S. diplomat for Africa said on Monday. More on US helping deploy Nigeria, Burundi troops in Somalia

New York  (HRW) – Ethiopia’s government should immediately abandon plans to impose strict government controls and draconian criminal penalties on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said today. The two groups called on donor governments, whose behind-the-scenes efforts to see the bill reformed appear to have failed, to speak out publicly against the de facto criminalization of most of the human rights, rule of law and peace-building work currently being carried out in Ethiopia. More on Ethiopia: Government Prepares Assault on Civil Society

By Eliane Engeler, Associated Press Writer

GENEVA — Attacks on Somalia's government officials, journalists and aid workers have risen to an "incredible" level in the Horn of Africa nation, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Monday. More on ICRC: Attacks on aid workers in Somalia are ‘incredible’