Africa

Many people seem not to understand that more than half of Somalia consists of the seas around the country. This makes the oceans vital to the survival of the Somali people.

Nyandwi Philemon, a resident of the Burundian Peace Village, said “Here all ethnic groups live in harmony."

"With the referendum on South Sudan yet to be conducted, it is essential that the government provide an environment conducive to the exercise of political rights," warned Mohammed Chande Othman, a UN expert on Sudan.

Exhausted by the 110-degree temperature, Loochi Kidewa walks beside his cattle and goats with the rest of his tribe toward an underground spring.

A coalition of 50 non-governmental organizations claims a consortium of international oil companies may have been complicit in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sudan during the country’s two-decade long civil war.

Simon was 11 years old when soldiers from the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) forced him into the military. “When the SPLA came to us, the older people ran away,” Simon, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, explained. “I didn’t run because I was a child. So they captured me. When I refused, they kept beating me. I didn’t want to go but they forced me to join the SPLA.” The SPLA, the predominantly Christian Black African south’s military, fought against the mostly Muslim Arab north in a two decade-long civil war that left two million dead.