Understanding the Dynamics of Islamic Radicalism in Nigeria is key to Bringing Boko Haram to Book
31 August 2012
Uyo Salifu
This week Nigeria officially started talks with the Islamic sect popularly known as Boko Haram in an attempt to remedy the security crisis that has crippled the country for the past two years.
On August 20, Morgan Lorraine Roach of The Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington-based think tank, wrote an article titled Somalia’s Government Transition Maintains the Status Quo.
Libya Officials Seem Helpless as Sufi Shrines Are Vandalized
New York Times
28 August 2012
CAIRO — Libya’s interior minister retracted his two-day-old resignation announcement on Tuesday amid a growing uproar over the destruction of Sufi shrines and sacred sites, punctuated by a United Nations plea for an end to such “brutal attacks.”
Kenyan rioters and police clash for second fatal day
Deutsche Welle
29 August 2012
Riots have rocked Kenya's second-largest city for a second day, again turning deadly. The violence was triggered by the killing of a Muslim cleric accused by the United States of aiding Islamist militants in Somalia.
On Thursday, August 16th, South African security forces shot dead 34 protesters at Marikana, a platinum mine, owned and operated by multinational firm Lonmin, in South Africa's Northwest Province. The dead were rock drill operators on strike for better wages -- most of them reportedly earned around the equivalent of $500 per month -- and a higher standard of living.
Because of the excessive violence (videos of the shootings have gone viral), some are making comparisons to the tragic events of March 1960, when South African security forces, then defending the apartheid regime, murdered 69 protesters in Sharpeville, a black township south of Johannesburg.
The massacre last week at the Lonmin-owned platinum mine in South Africa's North West province, which left 34 miners dead and 75 injured when police opened fire on striking workers, shows a colossal lack of leadership at almost all levels - the government, trade unions, business and the police.