Africa
Snapshot,
December 6, 2012
Bans on conflict minerals mined in DRC were supposed to help pacify the region, which has been torn by fights over control of lucrative mines. Instead, they have made militias such as M23, which captured and then lost the eastern Congolese city of Goma this month, more desperate and violent.
Snapshot,
November 14, 2012
It has been over a year since U.S. military advisers arrived in Central Africa to look for the Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, and he is still nowhere to be found. But it's too soon to give up. If U.S. and African forces refine their efforts to get locals to share intelligence, they could well bring Kony and his henchmen to justice.
Snapshot,
October 1, 2012
Africa's thriving democracies and economies, and its alarming transnational security threats, make it more important than ever to the United States. Obama, however, has largely ignored the continent. Regardless of who wins in November, Washington cannot afford to continue on the president's current path.
According to Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson’s Why Nations Fail, economic development hinges on a country’s political institutions. But their monocausal analysis ignores other important factors (such as geography) that can also affect growth.
Snapshot,
July 24, 2012
The Libyan leader's ouster dispersed masses of guns and refugees across the region. Already, Algeria has seen attacks by AQIM militants armed with Libyan weapons, Mali has been rocked by a coup led by armed nomads returning from Libya, Niger is struggling to cope with waves of refugees from Libya and Mali, and Tunisia's economy has been shattered by the loss of its most important trading partner.
Snapshot,
April 11, 2012
Touré's ouster was a long time coming. The country's flailing economy -- hurt even more in recent months by a loss of tourism revenue after several Islamist attacks -- and the decades-long Tuareg insurgency in the North set the stage for his fall. The interim president must now start addressing average Malians' economic woes and quelling the insurgency, or else risk intervention from abroad.
Video,
March 28, 2012
Nicholas Kristof on the instability and violence against Nubans in the Southern Kordofan region of Sudan.
Snapshot,
March 13, 2012
With more than 70 million views, KONY 2012 has achieved its aim of reaching a mass audience. But the film is a quintessentially American fable printed on an African canvas, one that will turn out to be a brief diversion, just a bit of Internet chatter.
Snapshot,
March 12, 2012
The success of the "KONY 2012" video shows the vast reserves of idealism and concern out there. Here is how to turn that concern into useful action.
Snapshot,
February 7, 2012
Somalia's government has recently made gains against the militant group al Shabaab. But those will prove fleeting if it does not find a way to address the organization's grievances and bring moderates into the fold.
