The United Nations refugee agency on Tuesday announced it is investigating reports of suspected polio cases among Somali refugees living in camps in Ethiopia and three cases in the surrounding community. “The immediate priority is to confirm the outbreak, and samples have been collected and sent to Addis Ababa for laboratory confirmation,” said Melissa Fleming, spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees. UNHCR is working with the Ethiopian ministry of health, the World Health Organization, the UN Children’s Fund and other health partners to coordinate the response in the five refugee camps where the cases were reported.

ADDIS ABABA, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- China and Africa are enjoying very robust relation on win-win basis and the high level Chinese delegation's visit is expected to further strengthen and consolidate the high-level cooperation between China and Ethiopia now, said Meles Zenawi, Ethiopian Prime Minister. In an exclusive interview with journalists of Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television on Monday at his office here, Meles said China has been contributing to Africa's ongoing development and growth by creating market for Africa's products, financing infrastructure on the continent, and by being source of technology and investment among others.

Details of the high-stakes negotiations before Kenya signed a 400MW electricity deal with Ethiopia two weeks ago are emerging, revealing that Nairobi managed to talk down the initial charges proposed by Addis Ababa as too high. The deal, which analysts say presages a new era of power trading in the region, was arrived at after a great deal of haggling, with the Ethiopians pressing for a higher price on the grounds that Kenya is currently buying even more expensive power from thermal plants.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — A high-ranking Ethiopian government official says a rebel group’s claim that Ethiopian troops killed five European tourists during a gun battle is “pure fiction”.

Ethiopia’s foreign affairs spokesman Dina Mufti said Monday that the statement was completely untrue. Ethiopia has blamed its archenemy Eritrea for the incident.

An unverified Jan. 21 statement claiming to be from an obscure rebel group in Ethiopia’s arid northern Afar region claimed gunmen clashed with Ethiopian soldiers.

Islamist militants have launched a suicide truck bomb attack on an Ethiopian military base in central Somalia, witnesses say.
Al-Shabab says it killed 10 Ethiopian soldiers in the attack in the town of Beledweyne but this has not been confirmed.

Ethiopian forces seized Beledweyne from al-Shabab last month.

Kenyan troops have also entered Somalia to battle the al-Qaeda linked group which still controls many areas.

Beledweyne is a strategic town, 30km (20 miles) from the Ethiopian border on the main road to the capital, Mogadishu, and also on the major artery linking the north and south of the country.