The African Divide: Land Disputes
Zuluyee, Liberia; and Kailahun, Sierra Leone — The specialists know the warning signs. Analysts and scientists and field officers and academics spend years writing…
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New Study Argues War Deaths Are Overestimated
A new study, the Human Security Report, argues that politics and fund-raising priorities often lead to overestimates of war deaths, touching off a controversy…
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Reimagining Anne Frank
Francine Prose’s Anne Frank is not, strictly speaking, a book about Anne Frank. That’s a good thing: We’ve had quite a few of those,…
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Charles Taylor Trial Gets Mixed Reviews in Liberia
During four months of testimony, Charles Taylor, the former leader of Liberia, denied committing war crimes. He said he was the victim of a…
Read MoreIt's never the women, is it? Always the pigs.
The New Yorker is in some hot water over Jared Diamond’s article last year,about Papua New Guinea. Diamond, you may recall, is a Pulitzer-…
Read MoreVox Populi. Maybe, sort of.
For all the information swirling around about Congo these days, this map is interesting. It’s from Ushahidi, which means “testimony” in Swahili, a site…
Read MoreThe new thing in resource-fueled conflict: cows
Here’s a story I reported during my trip to Goma, about which I know I owe you all lusciously interesting tidbits. I’ll try to…
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Congo’s Conflict-Fueling Cattle
GOMA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO — For years, African militias have used proceeds from precious natural resources to fund conflicts – a practice dramatized…
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