Receiving virtually no international coverage, this past weekend saw an outburst of ethnic violence in Madagascar, with homes and shops of the Indo-Pakistani immigrant community looted in the southwest coastal town of Toliara. A serious escalation is reported April 30… Read moreMadagascar: new terror war front?
It has received no international coverage, but a BBC Monitoring translation of an April 28 report from the Madagascar Tribune indicates as explosion of ethnic violence in the African island nation over the weekend. What began as a street protest… Read moreEthnic violence in Madagascar
We agree that there is something utterly perverse about the fact that the Darfur genocide is now entering its fifth year, as the world stands by and watches. And of course the vast majority of those participating in the Global… Read moreGlobal Day for Darfur —but not Palestine
Aunty Maiduguri, a Nigerian lesbian who married four other women last weekend in Kano State, has gone into hiding from the Islamic police, along with her partners. Under Sharia law, adopted in the state seven years ago, homosexuality and same-sex… Read moreNigeria: polygamous lesbians flee Islamic police
Interim Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi insists that government and Ethiopian forces have successfully “won” their fight against the Union of Islamic Courts in Mogadishu. Fierce combat has been raging in the city for nine days, in an effort… Read moreSomali PM claims victory in Mogadishu
Two prominent Somali clan leaders, Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed and Hussein Aideed, have issued an ultimatum to the Ethiopian forces to leave Somalia now or prepare to fight to the death. The two leaders of the Hawiye clan that dominates… Read moreSomali sub-clans unite against Ethiopian occupation
Some 25 Islamist militants calling themselves the “Taliban” have been killed in an army offensive near the northern city of Kano, Nigeria. Militants took an area of the city after attacking a police station on April 17. Nine Islamists have… Read moreNigeria: army clashes with “Taliban”
The conflict in Darfur is an early sign global security threats prompted by climate change, a senior representative of the British government warned April 16 on the eve of a special United Nations debate. “Like most conflicts, it’s complex. It… Read moreDarfur crisis linked to climate change: UK
US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte leaves April 11 for Sudan, where the State Department says the Khartoum government can expect new sanctions if there is no movement on a long-delayed expansion of international peacekeeping in Darfur. But State… Read moreNegroponte to Sudan: no ultimatum on Darfur
Here’s a glimmer of hope from Eritrea—and how does it square the widespread reports that the Eritrean regime is backing the Islamist insurgents in Somalia? An April 8 report on SomaliNet states: “The Eritrean government has with immediate effect banned… Read moreEritrea bans female genital mutilation
Forces from the separatist Somali state of Somaliland and neighboring autonomous Puntland clashed April 9 over a disputed strip of land along their shared border in the Sanag region. “Puntland forces attacked the town of Dahar around 8:00 this morning,”… Read morePuntland clashes with Somaliland
Three months after the White House successfully pressed the United Nations to impose strict sanctions on North Korea over that country’s nuclear test, the Bush administration “allowed” Ethiopia to complete a secret arms purchase from Pyongyang in what appears to… Read moreNYT: US “allowed” North Korea arms sale to Ethiopia
