In The News

Matthew Brunwasser and Elaine Sciolino July 24, 2007
In 1999, Libya accused five nurses and a physician, based in Benghazi, of deliberately infecting hundreds of children with the HIV virus that causes AIDS. Over the next eight years, the health-care providers, five from Bulgaria and one from Palestine, endured imprisonment, three trials and death sentences. Analysts suggest that the unsanitary conditions in the hospitals infected the children...
John W. Miller July 23, 2007
Fish is a favorite food for the global palate. Since 1982, a United Nations treaty allowed countries to restrict fishing within 231 miles of their coasts. Poor African nations, such as Mauritania or Senegal, found a lucrative source for cash when they started selling fishing rights to wealthy European and Asian countries that had already depleted stocks in their own waters. Most of the African...
Craig Whitlock June 29, 2007
A US delegation recently traveled to Africa in the hopes of finding a country willing to host AFRICOM, but even strong American allies in the region are unwilling make a commitment. African responsibilities and operations are now divided between US military commands based in Europe and Florida – and the Bush administration decided that Africa warrants its own command base. The US delegation...
June 26, 2007
Large swaths of land throughout Africa go ungoverned by conventional powers and could offer havens for terrorist groups. A new US command force, known as AFRICOM, plans to unify military deployments in Africa, partner with NGOs and other development agencies, and train local forces, with the goal of creating stability throughout the Saharan belt. Some US analysts worry about terrorists...
June 20, 2007
The South African government’s strategy for economic stability, pushing annual growth to 6 percent and controlling inflation, is threatened by spending outpacing productivity. A substantial shortage of skilled workers could lead to a rise in prices. The public sector bears most of the burden, with infrastructure crumbling, power outages becoming a common occurrence, and the need to import basics...
Andreas Lorenz June 15, 2007
China is purchasing and investing in Africa’s natural resources and, in return, providing the continent with cheap consumer goods and a powerful trading partner. Not all Africans are pleased. Some, such as Michael Chilufya Sata, head of Zambia’s Patriotic Front, an opposition group, points out that the Chinese don’t have to pay taxes and warns voters that China could export dictatorship to Africa...
Lydia Polgreen June 4, 2007
Africa’s institutions used to attract the continent’s future engineers and doctors, with many students going on to become leaders of their country. However, since the 1970s, corruption, mismanagement and government policies that favored primary and secondary education over higher education put the universities on a path to decline. African college students contend with crowded dormitories and the...