In The News

Elizabeth Economy November 7, 2006
As China wines and dines African leaders in Beijing this week, it ought to be aware not only of its own success in courting Africa but in the limits of that success. China has established major economic links throughout Africa in no small part because of its laissez-faire approach to African countries’ internal politics, doing business with nations like Sudan and Zimbabwe despite of their poor...
Alisha Ryu November 3, 2006
A round of Somali peace talks failed to produce a power-sharing agreement between the fragile secular government based in Baidoa and the Islamists who control Mogadishu. The breakdown highlights a long and bitter rivalry between Somalia, largely Muslim, and Ethiopia, with equal numbers of Christians and Muslims. Talks failed, according to this Voice of America report, after the Islamists...
Sharon LaFraniere November 2, 2006
Every year, trafficking of children produces $10 billion worth of trade. Forced child labor is endemic in desperately poor areas of the world, and the trade in child workers is the modern-day vision of slavery. Journalist Sharon LaFraniere spent time with a group of children, some as young as six, and details their fatigue, pain and hopelessness. In countries where parents cannot afford to feed...
Shai Oster October 25, 2006
China has made no secret of its interest in Africa. Now the nation will host a lavish summit for the leaders of 48 African nations. One assistant foreign minister fends off criticism about China’s motives, pointing out that the nation pursues mutual interests with Africa in a transparent and open manner. “China has nothing to hide,” said Zhai Jun. Western oil companies have expressed some...
Paul Kennedy October 16, 2006
In the early 15th century, the Chinese Admiral Zheng He made a series of naval expeditions, traveling as far as East Africa, bringing back ivory, gold, and even a few giraffes. Shortly after the expeditions, the Ming Dynasty banned the masted, seagoing craft, initiating a period of voluntary isolation that lasted for almost 600 years. Yet recently, China’s economic policies have turned back...
Craig Whitlock October 5, 2006
Salafists are Islamic fundamentalists who advocate living by the original intent of the Koran, and since the 1990s, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) has pressed for a strict Islamic government in secular Algeria. GSPC splintered from a more radical group, the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), which killed thousands of Algerian civilians throughout the 1990s and insisted that any...
Dominic Bailey September 28, 2006
Sunbathing tourists have discovered unexpected company on the beaches of the Canary Islands lately, as boatloads of West African migrants wash up on the shores of this Spanish possession just off the Moroccan coast. These migrants make the life-threatening crossing to flee political upheaval in regions like Senegal’s separatist Casamance province and to seek better lives in the schools and labor...