OTTAWA – The case of a Canadian citizen who has been held in an Ethiopian jail for almost two years – without trial or access to a lawyer – while other foreign prisoners were released is “hauntingly reminiscent” of Omar Khadr, says Alex Neve, secretary general of Amnesty International Canada.

Bashir Makhtal, a former Toronto resident in his 40s, was fleeing from fighting in Somalia when he and dozens of other foreign nationals were arrested crossing into Kenya in late 2006. Makhtal was deported to Ethiopia, where he was born, though he has been a Canadian citizen since 1994.

NAIROBI, Kenya – With U.S. warships surrounding a hijacked vessel laden with tanks, and a half dozen other gunboats patrolling the dangerous waters off Somalia, pirates seized a Philippine cargo ship this week — flouting the international effort to protect a major shipping lane.

The Economost Intelligence Unit released its latest report. The following are highlights of its Ethiopia Outlook for 2009 – 2010:

The Economist’s Economic Intelligence Unit
Ethiopia 2009-10

Read the full report here.

• The Economist Intelligence Unit expects the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) to remain firmly in power over the forecast period. More on The Economist Intelligence Unit’s outlook on Ethiopia 2009-10

UNITED NATIONS — Information about the Horn of Africa flowed Wednesday in the half-light outside the UN Security Council, after an uneventful session about Sudan and Guinea-Bissau. Unprompted, the representative of Saudi Arabia denied that his country has shipped arms into Somalia, while Sudan accepted a benign spin of Ethiopian shipments into South Sudan.

 Meles Zenawi has rejected opposition calls for a timetable for withdrawing his country’s troops from Somalia. As VOA’s Peter Heinlein reports from Addis Ababa, Mr. Meles indicated there would be no change in Ethiopia’s determination to keep troops in Somalia until a credible international force is ready to replace them.

Heavy fighting has broken out in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, leaving at least 18 people dead, many of them civilians.

The fighting began when insurgents attacked African Union and Ethiopian troops Thursday, drawing retaliatory fire. During the battle, heavy artillery hit the populous Bakara Market.