The searchers drove as far as they could into the swamp and then set out on foot, crawling over soggy earth until they found signs of so many lost lives. A white tennis shoe. A black purse of braided leather. A length of orange and blue cloth that a woman might have worn as a skirt.
The rebel leader who has controlled the northern half of war-divided Côte d’Ivoire for four years took office as the country’s prime minister on Wednesday — the first step in a peace accord Ivorians hope will be their last. Charles Konan Banny, the outgoing prime minister, handed Soro documents symbolising the tasks left to be completed.
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/ 17 January 2007
One year after Liberia swore in Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf as Africa’s first elected female head of state, three young women braid each other’s hair under a street light that didn’t exist six months ago. ”Before we would have been using candles,” said Latifa Fofana.
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/ 9 December 2006
Hollywood’s take on conflict diamonds has brought attention back in a big way to how gems associated with wealth and glamour have too often meant war and suffering in Africa. The film Blood Diamond is set in late 1990s Sierra Leone, when the country was in the throes of a civil war in which untraceable diamonds allegedly funded fighters.
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/ 7 November 2006
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s president maintained a sizable lead on Monday over the former rebel leader challenging his seat in a historic runoff election. The tally of about 1,8-million ballots out of 25-million registered voters had President Joseph Kabila well ahead with 70% of the vote, compared with 30% for Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba.
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/ 31 October 2006
Rioting mobs destroyed polling stations in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s east and electoral officials organised a revote over burned ballots in the north on Monday, yet much of this war-scarred Central African country called the landmark presidential vote a success as the colossal task of counting ballots began.