L.A. Times - Africa

Nelson Mandela hospitalized in serious condition with lung infection

By Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times — Sat, 8 Jun 2013 15:50:00 PDT

The venerated former South African president fell ill several days ago, but his condition deteriorated overnight.

JOHANNESBURG — Former South African President Nelson Mandela has been hospitalized in serious condition with a lung infection, according to government officials here, the latest in a worrisome series of medical ailments plaguing the nation's venerated first post-apartheid black leader.

High seas drama emerges in piracy-murder trial

By Shashank Bengali, Los Angeles Times — Sat, 8 Jun 2013 00:00:00 PDT

Lawyers for three Somalis say they didn't fire shots that killed four Americans held on a yacht, but a Navy commander says nobody on his ship opened fire.

NORFOLK, Va. — As heavily armed pirates held an American sailboat off the coast of Somalia in February 2011, Navy SEALs on the bridge of the guided missile destroyer Sterett heard one of the hijackers on the radio threatening the lives of his four American hostages.

British government apologizes for colonial abuses in Kenya

By Robyn Dixon and Nicholas Soi, Los Angeles Times — Thu, 6 Jun 2013 16:27:00 PDT

Britain expresses 'sincere regret' for torture and abuse of Kenyans during the Mau Mau uprising in the 1950s and agrees to pay $30 million to surviving victims.

NAIROBI, Kenya — It was not quite a direct apology and it came at least 50 years late.

Egypt-Ethiopia water dispute escalates after threatening remarks

By Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times — Thu, 6 Jun 2013 14:54:00 PDT

Egyptian politicians are caught on camera suggesting sabotage or a bombing to stop Ethiopia's Nile dam project.

CAIRO — A battle over water has turned into a war of colorful rhetoric between Ethiopia and Egypt over the flow of the Nile, which begins in the African highlands but keeps Egypt from being swallowed entirely by desert.

19 Americans convicted for pro-democracy work in Egypt

By Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times — Tue, 4 Jun 2013 18:40:00 PDT

Many of the defendants had fled and are sentenced in absentia after being convicted. One who stayed, Robert Becker, gets two years in jail.

CAIRO — The convictions Tuesday of 19 Americans who worked for pro-democracy groups highlight Egypt's long-standing resistance to broadening freedoms in a country that has veered from secular autocratic rule to an increasingly restrictive Islamist-led government.

Suspected pirates face unprecedented trial in U.S. court

By Shashank Bengali, Los Angeles Times — Sat, 1 Jun 2013 19:51:00 PDT

In the first U.S. trial of its kind in modern times, three Somalis face murder charges in the deaths of four Americans after hijacking their sailboat in 2011. Somali piracy since then has all but vanished.

WASHINGTON — Long before a retired Southern California couple and two friends were shot and killed aboard their sailboat off the Horn of Africa in February 2011, the threat from Somali pirates was frighteningly clear.

Egypt's youths feel disenfranchised after revolution

By Ingy Hassieb, Los Angeles Times — Tue, 28 May 2013 17:33:00 PDT

Young activists who helped topple Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak say they have been politically sidelined by a society that favors the older generation.

CAIRO — Egypt's 2011 uprising was often referred to as a youth revolution, but two years after longtime President Hosni Mubarak was forced out of office, many in the younger generation say they feel more politically isolated than ever.

Egypt's border with Gaza stays closed as protest continues

By Ingy Hassieb, Los Angeles Times — Sun, 19 May 2013 18:10:00 PDT

Nearly 170 demonstrators participate in a sit-in after the kidnapping of seven Egyptian soldiers last week in the Sinai Peninsula.

CAIRO — Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip remained closed Sunday as the families and colleagues of seven Egyptian soldiers who were kidnapped in the northern Sinai Peninsula last week continued a sit-in.

Morale hits a new low on Egypt stock market

By Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times — Wed, 15 May 2013 16:27:00 PDT

Brokers and investors worry the Muslim Brotherhood's rise to power will put the ailing Egyptian economy even deeper in the tank.

CAIRO — His phone doesn't ring and his charts are gloomy.

Defense official says U.S. has authority to target terrorists anywhere

By Ken Dilanian, Los Angeles Times — Thu, 16 May 2013 18:17:00 PDT

Some in Congress sharply question how a law that sprang from the Sept. 11 attacks can be applied so broadly. Panel is also told war with Al Qaeda could last 20 more years.

WASHINGTON — A senior Pentagon official told a Senate committee Thursday that the U.S. would be at war with Al Qaeda for 15 to 20 more years and said the military could target terrorists anywhere under a law passed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.