Somali security forces shot dead four suspected Shebab insurgents on Thursday, foiling an attack on a political conference in the central town of Adado, officials said.

More than 400 local politicians, leaders and clan elders were meeting in the town to discuss the formation of a regional government when the gunmen tried to storm the building, with one blowing himself up in a bid to breach the gates.

Eritrea's government is responsible for systematic and widespread human rights abuses on an almost unprecedented scale, driving some 5,000 Eritreans to flee every month, a U.N. investigation said Monday.

Wrapping up a year-long investigation, a U.N. commission of inquiry on the human rights situation in Eritrea described a nightmare-like society in the authoritarian Horn of Africa state.

Ethiopia was Sunday holding its first general elections since the death of strongman Meles Zenawi in 2012, with his successor Hailemariam Desalegn all but certain to stay in power.

Over 36.8 million Ethiopians registered for Sunday's polls, but analysts say the election in Africa's second-most populous nation falls far short of open competition. Western observers were not invited and the opposition alleges the government has used authoritarian tactics to ensure victory.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Egypt had "rescued" 27 Ethiopians from war-torn Libya, as state television showed him greeting the group at Cairo airport on Thursday.

It was not immediately clear how the Ethiopians were rescued, but Sisi's office said the group flown in on an Egyptian plane was "liberated by Egyptian and Libyan security services".

Tens of thousands of Ethiopians marched through the capital Wednesday in a government-organized rally condemning the murder of a group of Ethiopian Christians by Islamic State militants in Libya.

The official rally appeared to be aimed at channeling public anger sparked by the killings, with a huge crowd beginning to gather shortly after dawn in Addis Ababa's huge Meskel Square. However, some demonstrators directed their anger at the government.

Ethiopia will hold three days of national mourning for Ethiopian Christians killed by Islamic State militants in Libya, the government said Monday.

The mourning period will begin Tuesday after its official launch by parliament, Communications Minster Redwan Hussein told AFP. 

The United States on Sunday condemned the "brutal mass murder" of 30 Ethiopian Christians in Libya following a video released by Islamic State militants purportedly showing their execution.

The 29-minute IS video appears to show militants holding two groups of captives, described in text captions as "followers of the cross from the enemy Ethiopian Church".

Egypt's president called Wednesday for a "new chapter" in relations with Ethiopia, but nevertheless underscored his country's insistence on standing by its rights to tap Nile water.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's speech to the Ethiopian parliament marked the end of the first such official visit by an Egyptian leader in 30 years, and comes amid a major easing of tensions over Addis Ababa's controversial Nile dam project.

Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan Monday agreed a preliminary deal on a controversial dam project that Cairo feared would reduce its share of vital waters from the Nile.

The leaders of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan all gathered in Khartoum to sign the agreement of principles on Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam project.

South Sudan's rebels confirmed Tuesday they were engaged in renewed heavy clashes with government forces in the country's oil-rich north, but accused their rivals of initiating the fighting.

The statement came the day after the government claimed it had killed scores of rebels after they attacked around the town of Renk in Upper Nile State, in what appeared to be some of the worst violence since peace talks broke down earlier this month.