AFRICA :

BBC News, 08 Jul 08
Africans reject Mugabe sanctions
'Africa leaders have told the G8 group of nations meeting in Japan that they oppose sanctions being imposed on Zimbabwe following controversial polls.'

Christian Science Monitor, 02 Jul 08, by Jonathan Adams
How much of a threat is Al Qaeda in North Africa?
'Despite Algerian insurgents' stated intentions to strike in Europe, some officials remain skeptical that an attack outside Africa is possible.'

New York Times, 01 Jul 08, by Souad Mekhennet, Michael Moss, Eric Schmitt, Elaine Sciolino and Margot Williams
A Threat Renewed : A Ragtag Insurgency Gains a Qaeda Lifeline
'Today, as Islamist violence wanes in some parts of the world, the Algerian militants – renamed Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb – have grown into one of the most potent Osama bin Laden affiliates, reinvigorated with fresh recruits and a zeal for Western targets.'
• Timeline: Islamists in Algeria

New York Times, 02 Jul 08, by Kennedy Abwao and Alan Cowell
African Leaders Seek Solution to Zimbabwe Impasse
'Facing pressure from the United States for expanded sanctions against President Robert Mugabe, African leaders gathered here for a second day on Tuesday to seek a less confrontational way out of Zimbabwe’s political impasse following elections widely condemned as a sham.'

International Herald Tribune, 24 Jun 08, by Alan Cowell and Celia W. Dugger
ANC rejects outside pressure on Zimbabwe
'Despite an increasingly thunderous chorus of complaints that Zimbabwe's presidential runoff will be neither free nor fair, the African National Congress, South Africa's governing party, rejected any outside diplomatic intervention in the matter on Tuesday, arguing that "any attempts by outside players to impose regime change will merely deepen the crisis."'

Christian Science Monitor, 24 Jun 08, by Scott Baldauf
Mugabe more isolated
'Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's decision Sunday to pull out of Friday's runoff election is increasing international pressure on President Robert Mugabe to stop the violence and allow a peaceful transfer of power in Zimbabwe.'

AllAfrica.com, 23 Jun 08, by Ochereome Nnanna
Nigeria: The Case Against Gambari
'Those who do not understand the deeper meaning of the Niger Delta crisis will be surprised that an international diplomat and scholar of Professor Ibrahim Gambari's standing would be considered a misfit by his own countrymen to preside over a [Niger Delta] summit in which white collar diplomatic skills will be called to play.'

Washington Post, 18 Jun 08, by Colum Lynch
Conflicts Displacing More People
'The war in Iraq and the conflicts in Colombia, Somalia and the Darfur region of Sudan have driven an increase in the global population of refugees and the displaced, according to a report by the U.N.'s chief refugee agency.'

AllAfrica.com, 13 Jun 08, by Shabelle Media Network
Somalia: Scholars Skeptical About Recent Djibouti Agreement
'Idris Hasan Farah said it is not clear whether Ethiopian troops will withdraw when UN peacekeepers are deployed in the country because the number of troops required to maintain peace in the country have not been specified and was only vaguely stated that peace keepers will be deployed.'

BBC News, 12 Jun 08, by Ian Pannell
Military 'runs Mugabe campaign'
'The BBC has obtained documents suggesting that Zimbabwe's military is actively involved in running Robert Mugabe's re-election campaign.'

Time Magazine, 11 Jun 08, by Megan Lindow
Zimbabwe Under Military Rule?
'... say many analysts and diplomats, a powerful cadre of generals determined to preserve their own grip on power through a sweeping campaign of terror stepped up – and supposedly convinced their faltering leader [Mugabe] to stay on. On Tuesday, the charge that a military junta has effectively supplanted Mugabe was repeated by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai ...'

New York Times, 12 Jun 08, by Will Connors
Pirates Terrorize Nigeria's Fishing Fleet
'The waters off the 530-mile Nigerian coastline have been called the most dangerous in the world by a maritime watchdog group after a precipitous rise in the number of attacks over the past year. And while kidnappings of foreigners and attacks on oil installations in Nigeria have gained international attention, it is often those with a far lower profile who bear the greatest burden of the lawlessness at sea.'

International Herald Tribune, 04 Jun 08, by Cara Buckley
Refugees of a tangled, forgotten conflict in Western Sahara
'Sahrawi refugees from Western Sahara, products of a 35-year conflict between Morocco and a Sahrawi rebel group, the Polisario Front, depict a horrifying picture of refugee camps.'

• Crimes of War Project : War in Africa
• Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers

See Africa archive for past stories.