At least 27 people were killed on Wednesday as armed police clashed with demonstrators in the Ethiopian capital, prompting calls for restraint from the African Union and the United States. Almost 150 were injured in fighting after the main opposition party called for protests against May elections it insists were rigged.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo on Thursday urged divided African leaders to forge a consensus on United Nations reform to keep the continent from losing out if the UN Security Council is expanded. The African Union opened a one-day summit aimed at overcoming rifts on how many seats should be added to the council, among other issues.

Ethiopia’s two main opposition groups said on Tuesday that probes into alleged mass fraud in disputed May elections had been a ”total failure” and accused the government of harrassing witnesses. The Coalition for Unity and Democracy and the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces said that one witness was killed and 11 others arrested after testifying before a panel set up by the national election board.

The uproar over Ethiopia’s hotly contested general elections last week and confusion and delays in releasing the results have sparked a massive boom for the country’s nascent independent press. The publishers of about 40 general-interest newspapers have reported a huge surge in circulation as Ethiopians clamour for information about the recent polls.

Bursting with national pride, Ethiopians this week celebrate the long-awaited return home of the famed Axum obelisk, a huge third-century BC funeral stela plundered by fascist Italy nearly 70 years ago. After decades of wrangling, the first of three pieces of the 160-tonne granite monument will arrive in Addis Ababa from Rome on Wednesday.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder began an African tour on Monday with a pledge of more aid for Ethiopia and an announcement of funds for the African Union (AU) to set up an African peacekeeping training centre in Ghana. Schroeder’s trip is also scheduled to take in South Africa, Kenya and Ghana.