Diplomacy Stalls as Libya Rebels Face Pro-Qaddafi Forces

By ANTHONY SHADID and KAREEM FAHIM 4:02 AM ET

Lynsey Addario for The New York Times

Opposition forces had repositioned themselves at the gate of Ajdabiya, Libya, on Monday, after retreating from Brega in the face of a loyalist offensive.

Early on Tuesday, as outside powers struggled to formulate a response to the crisis, diplomacy seemed in danger of being outstripped by events on the ground.

Tribal Ties, Long Qaddafi’s Strength, May Be His Undoing

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

The system of tribal alliances that has long been to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s advantage is now emerging as a potential vulnerability.

Clinton Meets in Paris With Libyan Rebel Leader

Clinton Meets in Paris With Libyan Rebel Leader

By STEVEN LEE MYERS

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s session with Mahmoud Jibril was held behind closed doors, and no public statement was issued.

Unrest? Nonsense, Say Libyans at the Border

By SCOTT SAYARE

In conversations with Libyans at the Tunisian border, a surreal refrain: Everything is fine! It is testament to the climate of fear that prevails, observers say.

No Supermax for Ex-Detainee in ’98 Attacks

By BENJAMIN WEISER

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, convicted in New York for his role in the 1998 bombings of two American embassies in East Africa, has been assigned t0 a high-security prison in Colorado.

Pro-Qaddafi Forces Press Rebels East and West of Tripoli

By ANTHONY SHADID and KAREEM FAHIM

Military forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi on Monday attacked two towns and offered amnesty to those who surrendered.

Recent Features on Africa

As the tense political stalemate continues in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, residents fled the Abobo neighborhood, an opposition stronghold.

Political Crisis in Ivory Coast Cripples a City

By ADAM NOSSITER

Abidjan, once West Africa’s most important city, is collapsing under the weight of Laurent Gbagbo’s armed fight to stay in power.

The work of the artist Owen Moseko was blocked from view. The artwork depicts atrocities committed a quarter century ago.

Art Exhibit Stirs Up the Ghosts of Zimbabwe’s Past

By CELIA W. DUGGER

The government’s efforts to bury history have instead provoked memories of the Gukurahundi, Zimbabwe’s name for the slaying and torture of thousands of civilians.

An oil drum littered a road in Bodo. Some $22 billion in federal funds remain largely unaccounted for, analysts and good-government groups say.

Riches Flow Into Nigeria, but Are Lost After Arrival

By ADAM NOSSITER

Oil money has brought more questions than calm to the Niger Delta.

Kenny Kunene, center, a convicted swindler whose business dealings have gained him access to South Africa’s elite, has raised eyebrows with his lifestyle.

Partying Amid Poverty Stirs South Africa Debate

By CELIA W. DUGGER

The exploits of a convicted swindler turned businessman have set off an animated conversation about the privileges of the black elite.

Cocoa bags are loaded in San-Pédro. President Laurent Gbagbo is pressing the cocoa industry to pay advances on export taxes.

Cut Off, Ivory Coast Chief Is Pressing for Cash

By ADAM NOSSITER

Diplomats and businessman say Laurent Gbagbo is squeezing cocoa exporters and banks to pay soldiers and civil servants.

Slide Show: How a Strongman Keeps His Grip on Power in Ivory Coast

Transforming Africa Through Higher Education

By NAZANIN LANKARANI

Ashesi University College, a private college in Ghana, was founded with big dreams of transforming the continent.

Female inmates at a jail in an Abyei police station. Rancor runs deep between the Misseriya, who are Arab nomads, and the Ngok Dinka, who are sub-Saharan cattle herders.

Roots of Bitterness in a Region Threaten Sudan’s Future

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

Abyei is worrisome because so many of the ingredients of the wider north-south war — the oil, the proxy forces, the historic rivalries — are distilled there.

Five people were killed Tuesday when pro-government forces raided an Ivory Coast neighborhood known to support the opposition, residents said.

Ivory Coast Forces Crack Down on Opposition

By ADAM NOSSITER

A bloody raid by Ivory Coast security forces were ordered by Laurent Gbagbo, the strongman who refuses to step down despite losing last year’s presidential election.

Times Topics: Laurent Gbagbo | Ivory Coast

The Saturday Profile

The Hawa Abdi school near Mogadishu, Somalia, has 800 students and only eight classrooms.

Under Siege in War-Torn Somalia, a Doctor Holds Her Ground

By MOHAMMED IBRAHIM and JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

Dr. Hawa Abdi helps nearly 100,000 people at her medical facility, persevering despite an attack by militants in May.

Sudanese arrived by boat at a port in Juba.

Southern Sudan Feels Freedom Close at Hand

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

After decades of war, southern Sudan is at the moment it has been yearning for with a vote on independence.

As a World Heritage site, Djenné, Mali, must preserve its mud-brick buildings, from the Great Mosque, in the background, to individual homes.

Mali City Rankled by Rules for Life in Spotlight

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR

Residents of Djenné, Mali, a Unesco World Heritage site, complain that the guidelines to maintain that designation are too restrictive.

President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan in Khartoum on Friday. He is accused of skimming a fortune from his country's oil income.

Prosecutor Confirms Accusation Against Sudan Leader

By MARLISE SIMONS

President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan is accused of skimming a huge personal fortune from his country’s oil income and keeping it in foreign accounts.

Times Topics: WikiLeaks

Mali Tackles Al Qaeda and Drug Traffic

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR

Mali aims to establish a more visible government presence in the north, foster economic activity and form a bulwark against Islamic radicalism.

Times Topic: Mali

The effort to reintegrate Sudanese soldiers, like these in the south, into civilian life as part of a peace agreement between the north and south has lagged.

Peace Hovers in Sudan, but Most Soldiers Stay Armed

By JOSH KRON

With little more than a week to go before a vote on independence for southern Sudan, virtually none of the soldiers have put down their weapons and fully rejoined civilian life.

News Analysis

President Laurent Gbagbo of Ivory Coast, center, who lost an election last month but refuses to step down, met Tuesday with a group of West African leaders trying to persuade him to yield.

African Unity Faces a Test in Ivory Coast

By ADAM NOSSITER

Ivory Coast has become a test case of whether the global community can impose its will on leaders who refuse to recognize elections they lose.

Lobbyist Quits Ivory Coast Job

A power-sharing government has kept a tenuous stability in Zimbabwe, including poor neighborhoods of Harare, the capital.

Fears Growing of Mugabe’s Iron Grip Over Zimbabwe

By CELIA W. DUGGER

Warning signs are proliferating that President Robert Mugabe is planning to seize untrammeled control during the elections he wants next year.

News Analysis

Peacekeepers in Abidjan drove by a billboard for President Laurent Gbagbo. Recent violence has killed at least 173 people.

Ensconced in the Presidency, With No Budging in Ivory Coast

By ADAM NOSSITER

Despite new sanctions and financial pressures that rain down almost daily, Laurent Gbagbo, appears determined to stay Ivory Coast’s president.

West African Presidents to Tell Gbagbo to Quit

Beyond Fossil Fuels

Thanks to this solar panel, Sara Ruto no longer takes a three-hour taxi ride to a town with electricity to recharge her cellphone.

African Huts Far From the Grid Glow With Renewable Power

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL

As small-scale renewable energy becomes cheaper and more reliable, it is providing the first drops of modern power to people far from electricity grids and fuel pipelines.

In Beldenadji, Mali, a canal has been extended to irrigate land, part of an American aid initiative.

African Farmers Displaced as Investors Move In

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR

Across Africa and the developing world, a new global land rush is gobbling up large expanses of arable land.

People seeking health care in Chidamoyo, Zimbabwe, arrive with goods to barter for treatment.

Zimbabwe Health Care, Paid With Peanuts

By CELIA W. DUGGER

For many rural people, cash is so scarce that the 85-bed Chidamoyo Christian Hospital allows bartering.

Video: Providing Medical Services for Peanuts

Guguletu Journal

Counting the Victims in a Honeymoon Killing

By BARRY BEARAK

A murder in South Africa began as a tale of a calamitous honeymoon in a crime-ridden land and turned into a story of a planned killing.

International peacekeepers stood guard Friday outside the hotel in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where the opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara remained holed up.

Raids on Opposition Stir Fears in Ivory Coast

By ADAM NOSSITER

After years of political violence, an election was meant to put it all to right, but it seems to have done the opposite.

The Faina was escorted into the port of Mombasa, Kenya, in February 2009 after Somali pirates were paid $3.2 million. Its cargo included 32 Soviet-era tanks.

Pirates’ Catch Exposed Route of Arms in Sudan

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN and MICHAEL R. GORDON

Arms transfers to southern Sudan, which will soon vote on secession, were revealed by Somali pirates.

Joseph Gatyoung Khan, center, returned this month to Nyal village in southern Sudan after 22 years. He is one of the Lost Boys.

For ‘Lost Boy,’ Vote in Sudan Is Homecoming

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

Southern Sudanese will soon hold a referendum to decide if they will split from the north. On the occasion of the vote, Joseph Gatyoung Khan came home.

Video: Lost Boy Goes Home

Students relaxed on the steps of Jameson Hall at the University of Cape Town. It is engaged in a debate over affirmative action.

Campus That Apartheid Ruled Faces a Policy Rift

By CELIA W. DUGGER

The University of Cape Town is engaged in a searching debate about just how far affirmative action should go to heal the wounds of apartheid.

Video: Affirmative Action in South Africa

Two Chinese supervisors, Xiao Lishan, center, and Wu Jiuhua, head down, were accused of wounding 13 workers at a mine in Nkandabbwe, Zambia, this month during a labor dispute.

Zambia Uneasily Balances Chinese Investment and Workers’ Resentment

By BARRY BEARAK

The Chinese are a big economic presence in Zambia, but their treatment of workers has become a political issue.

A resident of New Xade, an area outside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve where many Bushmen have been resettled.

For Some Bushmen, a Homeland Worth the Fight

By BARRY BEARAK

Botswana has coaxed and hounded the Bushmen to leave a game reserve in an effort to restrict the area to wildlife.

Slide Show

More News

Photos: Scenes From Libya

The latest images from Libya, along with pictures going back to the beginning of the unrest. View photos »

From Opinion

Op-Ed Contributor

The Many Qaddafis

By DIRK VANDEWALLE

Over the 42 years of iron-fisted rule, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi has taken on many roles.

On the Ground

Answering Your Sudan Questions, Round 3

By NICHOLAS KRISTOF

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Nicholas D. Kristof address a third and final batch of readers’ questions.

On the Ground

Answering Your Sudan Questions, Take 2

By NICHOLAS KRISTOF

Former President Jimmy Carter and Nicholas Kristof answer a second round of readers' questions about Sudan.

Nicholas D. Kristof Blog

Answering Your Sudan Questions, Take 1

By NICHOLAS KRISTOF

President Carter and I answer a first batch of reader questions about Sudan.

Send Your Question

Sara Ruto’s children have improved their grades now that there is light to study by, powered by a solar panel on their hut in Kenya.

Slide Show

On a Small Scale, Sustainable Energy Transforms Lives

Tiny renewable energy systems that light just one home at a time are playing an epic, transformative role in the lives of poor people in developing countries who live far the electricity grid.