L.A. Times - Africa

100 held in killings in north Congo

Mon, 9 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Officials say they have quelled the start of a new rebellion.

Security forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo have arrested about 100 armed men blamed for killing dozens of policemen in an attack in the country's isolated north last month, the government said Sunday.

Captive British woman says pirates 'hospitable'

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

A British woman who is being held by Somali pirates with her husband after their yacht was hijacked said in a phone call broadcast Friday that the couple were "bearing up" and she described her captors as "very hospitable."

Fort Hood shooting suspect endured 'big pressure,' uncle says

Sun, 8 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

The uncle says Nidal Malik Hasan was a sensitive man who faced ethnic taunts and was haunted by soldiers' wartime disabilities. Hasan was not political, his relatives in the West Bank say.

When Rafik Ismail Hamad last traveled from the West Bank to visit relatives in the United States, he was struck by the pressures one of his nephews was facing.

Southern Africa's elephants: treasured killers

Sat, 7 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Elephants are a harrowing threat to villagers and their crops. But they bring in tourists (and their money), and are rigorously protected -- more so than humans, critics say.

Here's how to pitch this (true) story to Hollywood: Ordinary guy named John, ordinary Sunday, cycling home into a setting sun. Monster roars out of the bushes!

36 dead in Somalia violence

Mon, 2 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Scores have been wounded in three days of fighting in central and southern Somalia, and police and soldiers clash in the north's autonomous Puntland region.

At least 36 people have been killed and scores wounded in three days of fighting in towns across chaotic Somalia, a local human rights group said Sunday.

Claims in arms case stir up the French

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Convicted former Interior Minister Charles Pasqua says others knew of illegal weapons sales to Angola.

Convicted of profiting from illicit arms sales to Angola, a former French interior minister is roiling the political establishment by accusing other officials of knowing about the deal and demanding that the government open secret files to prove him right.

Nigeria militants declare cease-fire

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

The indefinite truce by the Niger Delta's main rebel group boosts hopes for peace in the oil-rich region.

Nigeria's main militant group declared an indefinite cease-fire Sunday, raising the prospect of peace in the oil-rich Delta region after nearly three years of hostilities have crippled production.

Pope calls for peace and reconciliation in Africa

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Benedict XVI makes the plea during Mass as he ends a three-week Vatican meeting on Africa.

Pope Benedict XVI ended a three-week Vatican meeting on Africa on Sunday with a call for peace and reconciliation among all people on the continent, regardless of ethnic and religious differences.

Fleeing drought in the Horn of Africa

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

A new kind of refugee has arrived: Those forced from their home regions not by war or persecution, but by the climate. A Kenyan camp is bursting with the displaced, some of whom share their stories.

For centuries, Adam Abdi Ibrahim's ancestors herded cattle and goats across an unforgiving landscape in southern Somalia where few others were hardy enough to survive.

For foreign correspondents, one phobia that won't fly

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Far-flung locations hold irresistible tales of inspiration and struggle -- but to tell them, first you've got to get there.

Clackety-clack. Clackety-clack. I pause as I mount the steps of the 737, frowning at the spinning engine.