From Reuters, March 8: More than a million Muslim pilgrims packed Senegal’s remote northeastern city of Touba on Thursday as members of the powerful Mouride brotherhood flocked to “Africa’s Mecca” from across the world. Huge crowds moved shoulder to shoulder… Read moreSenegal: million pilgrims honor Sufi saint
In an obvious move to undercut the International Criminal Court, Sudan has announced that it will put three men on trial for atrocities in Darfur—including Ali Mohammed Abd-al-Rahman AKA Ali Kushayb, officially named as a suspect by the ICC. Sudanese… Read moreSudan: Darfur trial opens, guerillas attack AU troops, Qadaffi to mediate?
Increasing violence between guerillas and government forces in Central African Republic (CAR) has displaced an estimated 220,000 people, including 150,000 “internally displaced persons” (IDPs) and 66,000 refugees who have fled to Chad and Cameroon. In December, France sent special forces… Read moreDisplacement crisis, French intervention in Central African Republic
Authorities in Somalia’s autonomous Puntland region arrested four men Feb. 27 in connection with the Feb. 25 hijacking of a ship delivering relief food. But four other hijackers are still holding the ship and 12-member crew. World Food Program (WFP)… Read morePuntland pinches protein pirates
Our February issue featured the story “Presidents in the Dock: An End to Africa’s Reign of Impunity?” by Michael Fleshman, a reprint from the UN publication Africa Journal. Our February Exit Poll was: “Why are Africa’s ex-dictators Charles Taylor (Liberia)… Read moreThe vagaries of international justice: our readers write
As the Darfur genocide enters its fifth year, and nearly two years after UN Security Council Resolution 1593 of March 2005 referred violations of international law in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC), on Feb. 27 ICC prosecutors formally… Read moreUN issues pseudo-indictments in Darfur genocide
Nancy Flores writes for Mexico’s El Universal, Feb. 24 (links added): NAIROBI – Native Maya seeds from Zapatista cornfields reached the hands of small farmers in Africa last month as a symbol of solidarity and hope. Mexican labor advocates delivered… Read moreAfrican peasants receive Zapatista maize at Nairobi WSF
The latest entry in the wave of dangerously specious terror cases is giving us deja vu. Like Jose Padilla, Daniel Maldonado is a Latino convert to Islam. Like John Walker Lindh in Afghanistan, he is accused of bearing arms for… Read moreLatest “al-Qaeda” bust reveals GWOT futility
The New York Times‘ increasingly questionable Michael R. Gordon has yet another report Feb. 23 (with Mark Mazzetti) based largely on anonymous sources. But this one, “U.S. Used Bases in Ethiopia to Hunt Al Qaeda in Africa,” is just telling… Read moreNYT: Ethiopia waged US-backed “blitzkrieg” in Somalia
We noted that the current (Feb. 22) issue of The Economist has an uncharacteristically favorable article on Eritrea, saying it can “help or hinder progress in the Horn.” The same issue has an equally uncharacteristic slap at the rival Ethiopian… Read moreThe Economist: Should the West back Ethiopia?
From Human Rights Watch via Reuters, Feb. 16: Dakar — The Guinean government has failed to control security forces responsible for rapes, robberies and more than 110 killings since mid-January, Human Rights Watch said today. After the imposition of martial… Read moreGuinea: rights abuses under martial law
President Bush has approved plans to create a Pentagon command for Africa, a move that reflects increasing US strategic interests in the continent. Bush said in a Feb. 13 statement that he had asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates to get… Read moreAfrica Command: “Follow the oil”
