RIP reporter Anthony Mitchell

Mitchell, 39, had just spent a week in the Central African Republic, where he visited markets that sold elephant meat and chimps and gorillas to international smugglers. His stories were to be published before an international conference on the topic next month.

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Mitchell made global headlines last month with his in-depth investigation into the illegal detention and transfer of terror suspects from Kenya to Somalia and eventually into Ethiopian prisons. His work forced U.S. and Ethiopian officials to acknowledge a program that until then had led to the secret detention of dozens of people, including women and children.

Human rights groups praised the story, which won an internal AP award for breaking news, but it was stridently criticized by the Ethiopian government as coming from an "ivory tower" where the war on terror was not understood. It was not the first time Mitchell's stories angered Ethiopian authorities.

During the May 2005 election, Mitchell repeatedly uncovered government efforts to influence the vote's outcome and obtained secret
European Union reports that detailed allegations of rigging.

In January 2006, the Ethiopian government expelled him for what it called hostile reporting. The expulsion was roundly condemned by press freedom groups around the world. He became a staff reporter for AP in the Nairobi bureau the following August.