Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa; formerly Zaire)

Equatorial Guinea (Republic of Equatorial Guinea)

Gabon (Gabonese Republic)

São Tomé and Príncipe (Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe)

East Africa Map

East Africa: A Mixed Inheritance

Burundi (Republic of Burundi)

Comoros (Union of Comoros)

Djibouti (Republic of Djibouti)

Eritrea (State of Eritrea)

Ethiopia (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia)

Kenya (Republic of Kenya)

Madagascar (Republic of Madagascar)

Mauritius (Republic of Mauritius)

Rwanda (Rwandese Republic)

Seychelles (Republic of Seychelles)

Somalia

Sudan (Republic of the Sudan)

Tanzania (United Republic of Tanzania)

Uganda (Republic of Uganda)

North Africa Map

North Africa: The Crossroads of the Continent

Algeria (Peoples’ Democratic Republic of Algeria)

Egypt (Arab Republic of Egypt)

Libya (Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriyya)

Morocco (Kingdom of Morocco)

Tunisia (Republic of Tunisia)

The Western Sahara: Whose Desert?

Southern Africa Map

Southern Africa: The Continuing Struggle for Self-Determination

Angola (Republic of Angola)

Botswana (Republic of Botswana)

Lesotho (Kingdom of Lesotho)

Malawi (Republic of Malawi)

Mozambique (Republic of Mozambique)

Namibia (Republic of Namibia)

South Africa (Republic of South Africa)

Swaziland (Kingdom of Swaziland)

Zambia (Republic of Zambia)

Zimbabwe (Republic of Zimbabwe)

West Africa Map

West Africa: Seeking Unity in Diversity

Benin (Republic of Benin)

Burkina Faso

Cape Verde (Republic of Cape Verde)

Côte d’Ivoire (Republic of Côte d’Ivoire)

The Gambia (Republic of The Gambia)

Ghana (Republic of Ghana)

Guinea (Republic of Guinea)

Guinea-Bissau (Republic of Guinea-Bissau)

Liberia (Republic of Liberia)

Mali (Republic of Mali)

Mauritania (Islamic Republic of Mauritania)

Niger (Republic of Niger)

Nigeria (Federal Republic of Nigeria)

Senegal (Republic of Senegal)

Sierra Leone (Republic of Sierra Leone)

Togo (Togolese Republic)

Articles from the World Press

1. The Fight to Save Congo’s Forests Christian Parenti The Nation, October 22, 2007. The rainforests of the Congo Basin are home to an estimated 40 million people who depend upon it for their traditional livelihoods. Ecologically, the rainforests also play a major role in trapping carbon dioxide, a key culprit in global warming. In recent years, the future of the rainforest has been threatened by timber companies, often with the support of development bodies such as the World Bank, that seek to harvest the valuable hardwoods the forests contain. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been unable to regulate the pressure on the forests due to the lack of an effective plan for forest management and widespread corruption. The leaders in the fight to preserve the forests are frequently small, non-profit, non-governmental organizations.

2. How Can Somalia Really Be Fixed? Sean M. Maloney Maclean’s, January 29, 2007. The strategic location of Somalia on the Horn of Africa has long made the country important to world affairs. It has become even more so in the post-9/11 world as many western experts believe that Somalia’s political instability makes it an important training ground and transit point for Islamic terrorists. Determining the correct response to the perceived threat is complicated, and is likely to concern not only Somalia, but also her non-Islamic neighbor Ethiopia as well as the African Union.

3. Glaciers Are Dying Charles Hanley The Toronto Star, December 26, 2006. The snow and ice that surrounds the highest mountain peaks in East Africa, including the famous "snows of Kilimanjaro" is disappearing at an alarming rate. Snow cover in the Rwenzori Mountains is estimated to be less than a quarter of what it was a century ago, and some predictions indicate it may completely disappear within the next two decades. The causes are complex, but global warming is thought to be an important contributing factor. The consequences are likely to be severe for both natural ecosystems and the rural communities that depend on run-off from the snows for their water supply.

4. Upwardly Mobile in Africa Jack Ewing BusinessWeek, September 13, 2007. Mobile phones are changing the developing world faster than anyone would have imagined a decade ago and nowhere has the impact been more dramatic than in Africa, where such technology often represents the first modern infrastructure of any kind. As this article reports, mobile phones can dramatically improve living standards, even for people living on just a few dollars a day.

5. Kick Start Eve Fairbanks The New Republic, December 4, 2009. South Africa was ecstatic when it was selected by FIFA (the world soccer federation) as the venue for the 2010 World Cup. As this article suggests, however, the country faces major challenges in terms of infrastructure, security, and public attitudes if it is to be ready for its highest profile public event since the end of white-minority rule in 1994.

6. Inside Cape Town Joshua Hammer Smithsonian Magazine, April 2008. Cape Town is a city of surpassing natural beauty and economic growth and in recent years has assumed the appearance of a thriving, prosperous metropolis. However, as the author notes, while all this may be true, the city still struggles to overcome the racial divides separating blacks, whites, and coloreds that is one of the legacies of the Apartheid era.

7. The Ultimate Crop Rotation Stephanie McCrummen The Washington Post, November 23, 2009. Increasingly, foreign investors for the developed world are purchasing or leasing prime agricultural land in sub-Saharan Africa in order to secure their own food supplies. Ethiopia, in an effort to attract much needed foreign currency, has been particularly aggressive in promoting this trend. Concern exists over what this will mean for Ethiopia, however, which is currently facing problems with its own food security.

8. Forget Depp: Somali Pirates Risk All for Riches, Women Shashank Bengali The Christian Science Monitor, December 19, 2008. With soaring food prices, deep poverty, and the collapse of local governmental authority, piracy offers young Somali men one of the few opportunities by which they can get rich quick. Piracy is risky but the payoffs can be huge, bringing millions of dollars to coastal "pirate towns" and status to those who are successful.

9. Breaking with Past, South Africa Issues Broad AIDS Policy Celia W. Dugger The New York Times, December 1, 2009. Following more than a decade in which South Africa has lagged behind the rest of the continent in efforts to combat AIDS, primarily due the policies of former president Thabo Mbeki, the country’s current president, Jacob Zuma has announced implementation of an aggressive anti-AIDs policy, aimed primarily at women and infants. Zuma’s policy has been praised by ant-AIDS advocates who were deeply frustrated under the Mbeki administration.

10. In Obama’s Rise, Kenyans See Lessons for Africa Scott Baldauf The Christian Science Monitor, January 20, 2009. The election of President Barak Obama was closely watched throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa. Partly, this was the result of "home-town pride" (Obama’s father was Kenyan), but for many it also has a broader meaning, serving as an inspiration and example for struggling democracies across the continent. This article highlights African reactions to, and reflections on, President Obama’s inauguration.

11. In Algeria, a Tug of War for Young Minds Michael Slackman The New York Times, June 23, 2008. At a time of religious revival across the Muslim world, Algeria’s youth are in play. The focus of this contest is the schools, where for decades Islamists controlled what children learned, and how they learned. Now the government is urgently trying to re-engineer Algerian identity, changing the curriculum to wrest momentum from the Islamists.

Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations

Bibliography

Index