The suicide attack against Harvest Field Pentecostal Church in the northern Nigerian on Sunday serves as another reminder of Boko Haram’s enduring violence. As many as a dozen people were killed and 30 wounded as the driver rammed his car into the church’s security gate, setting off explosives. In the …
Just as we thought the situation in Mali couldn’t get worse, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), a Tuareg group that historically sought to liberate northern Mali, and Ansar al-Din, an Islamic group seeking impose Sharia law, have formed a union and declared northern Mali their own. …
Last year, the fall of the Qadhafi regime spurred a domino-like effect across Africa’s Sahel region. When approximately 2,000 well-armed Tuareg rebels loyal to the former dictator left Libya and returned to Mali, they escalated the destabilization of the country’s north. At the same time the Malian military, reportedly frustrated …
The past week has been a bloody one for Nigeria. Attacks in the capital city of Abuja and across the north have strongly implicated the Islamist insurgent group Boko Haram. Yesterday, a suicide bomber targeted the police commissioner of Jalingo’s motorcade. Although the attacker missed the motorcade, 11 people were …
Not even a year after South Sudan’s independence from Sudan, the world’s newest country is already on the brink of war with its longtime foe. Last week, South Sudanese troops (otherwise known as the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army, or SPLA) occupied the oil-rich town of Heglig in Sudan—host to the …
Invisible Children brought worldwide attention to Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army with a wildly popular documentary called “Kony 2012.” The 30-minute film depicted Kony’s violent militia in Central Africa. It currently has more than 87 million views on YouTube. The film’s success raised awareness about Kony and also …
America is addicted to chocolate. Foreign chocolate. A majority of us consume chocolate each day. Although the U.S. produces only 6% of the world’s cocoa, we consume more than 20%. The threat is obvious. It’s time for government to step in and promote alternatives. Any day, President Obama will be …
When Boko Haram, a Nigerian terrorist insurgency, reemerged from its year-long hiatus in 2010, few in Washington took notice. The bombing of the United Nations headquarters last August in Abuja changed this. Last November, the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence of the House Homeland Security Committee released a report and …
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Libyan Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib yesterday and expressed optimism about Libya’s future. But Libya faces major problems in making the difficult transition to a stable democracy. Libya’s “Arab Spring,” which appeared to have a bright future after the fall of Muammar Qadhafi’s dictatorship …
