Africa

A U.S. UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter flies over Somalia in September 1993, a month before the battle of Mogadishu.

What A Downed Black Hawk In Somalia Taught America

9:44am October 08, 2013

by NPR Staff

It's been 20 years since the Battle of Mogadishu, a mission gone wrong that cost 18 American lives. The operation and its aftermath left an opening for extremists, says journalist Mark Bowden, and made the U.S. more cautious about sending troops into foreign conflicts. Would the operation go differently today?

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World News

Target Of U.S. Raid In Somalia Called A Top Attack Planner

12:53pm October 07, 2013

by Gregory Warner

A Kenyan intelligence official says that the "high-value terrorist leader" whose residence was targeted in a Navy SEAL raid was the senior al-Shabab leader Abdikadir Mohamed Abdikadir, alias Ikrima. Ikrima is a Kenyan of Somali descent who boasts connections to both al-Shabab in Somalia and to a Kenyan jihadist group called al-Hijra.

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World News

Did Kenyan Soldiers Loot Mall During Fight With Terrorists?

11:00am October 02, 2013

by Gregory Warner

The allegations have shaken people in Nairobi, who just a week ago were hailing the soldiers as heroes after Islamic militants stormed an upscale mall and killed dozens. President Uhuru Kenyatta has vowed to set up a commission to look into lapses in intelligence and security, and to investigate the accusations.

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World News

After School Attack, Nigeria's President Calls For Unity

6:52am October 02, 2013

Nigeria's president is urging his countrymen to overcome their religious and ethnic divisions to avoid the fate of Syria. His comments followed a massacre at a school over the weekend that the government blames on a militant Islamic group. Renee Montagne talks to Tomi Oladipo, of the BBC, about the threat the group poses to Nigerian society.

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World News

Kenya Security Forces In Control Of Mall Terrorist Seized

9:13am September 24, 2013

The bloody siege at an upscale mall in Nairobi, Kenya, has entered its fourth day. Authorities there are trying to wrap up their standoff with al-Shabab, a group allied with al-Qaida. At least 62 people have been killed. The death toll is expected to rise.

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World News

Survivor Of Kenya Mall Attack Describes Horrible Situation

10:35am September 23, 2013

Efforts are underway in Nairobi to remove the militants and others trapped in the high-end shopping mall after it was attack on Saturday. For more on what the situation is like, David Greene talks to an American who works for a non-governmental organization. She asks only to be identified by her first name Lauren.

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Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, who faces genocide charges, has applied for a visa to come to the U.S. for the annual United Nations General Assembly next week. The U.S. has not yet said whether he'll be allowed in the country.

Will The U.S. Grant A Visa To Sudan's Indicted Leader?

8:09pm September 20, 2013

by Michele Kelemen

The U.S. is supposed to allow everyone to come to the annual United Nations General Assembly, which opens next week. But Washington has yet to rule on the visa application by Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president who's been indicted on genocide charges by the International Criminal Court.

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Sudan Leader's Visa Request Puts U.S. In Diplomatic Bind

6:10am September 20, 2013

The president of Sudan wants to travel to New York next week to attend the United Nations General Assembly. But the U.S. doesn't want to grant that visa because he is accused of genocide. Renee Montagne talks to Colum Lynch, a reporter for The Washington Post and Foreign Policy magazine, about why this diplomatic issue.

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South Sudanese pan for gold in Nanakanak, in the eastern part of the impoverished country. Tens of thousands of informal miners are looking for gold, and the government is trying to attract international mining companies to carry out the search on an indu

World News

Panning For Gold In South Sudan, A Gram At A Time

7:08pm September 15, 2013

by Hannah McNeish

In the desperately poor country, some 60,000 informal miners are working by hand to unearth an estimated $660 million worth of gold each year. The government is hoping to lure international mining companies to carry out the search on an industrial scale.

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The protesters who opposed Hosni Mubarak two years ago, like these demonstrators in Cario's Tahrir Square on Feb. 8, 2011, have been pushed to the sidelines in the current confrontation.

World News

In Egypt's Political Turmoil, Middle Ground Is The Loneliest

7:01pm August 30, 2013

by Leila Fadel

The young, secular revolutionaries who led the 2011 uprising against the Hosni Mubarak regime have been pushed to the margins of the current confrontation in Egypt. They also feel they are battling two sets of authoritarian forces — the military and the Muslim Brotherhood.

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