U.S. Groups Helped Nurture Arab Uprisings

By RON NIXON

Andrea Bruce for The New York Times

Michael Simon, who worked on targeting for the Barack Obama presidential campaign of 2008, spoke last week to members of the Egyptian Democratic Academy in Cairo.

A small core of American groups played a bigger role in promoting democracy in Arab states than was previously known.

Libyan Port City Is Filled With Migrants Desperate to Exit

By C. J. CHIVERS

Since February, Misurata has been besieged, stranding thousands between heavy fighting and a harbor that could serve as a departure point.

NATO Showing Strain Over Approach to Libya

By STEVEN LEE MYERS and JUDY DEMPSEY

Amid divisions over the intensity of the air campaign in Libya, some of the allies are calling for participation by more nations.

Former Tunisian Leader Faces Legal Charges

By MONA EL-NAGGAR

Former President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, who fled the country after a popular uprising forced him out in January, is now facing 18 legal cases.

Phonetic Clues Hint Language Is Africa-Born

By NICHOLAS WADE

An analysis implies that modern language originated only once, in southern Africa, a surprising finding.

Somalia, Wobbly on Ground, Seeks Control of Its Airspace

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

The country hopes to collect millions of dollars in flyover fees if it regains authority over traffic in its airspace, which the United Nations has controlled since 1996.

Ugandan Opposition Leader Wounded During Protest

By JOSH KRON

Kizza Besigye, a leading opposition figure, was taken to the hospital, where he was treated for a wound to the hand after being hit by what he said was a rubber bullet.

Recent Features on Africa

Some supporters of President Robert Mugabe, above, fear that his health may be ebbing, so they want Zimbabwe to hold an election soon.

Allies of Zimbabwe’s President Push for Quick Vote

By CELIA W. DUGGER

With no credible successor to unite the quarrelsome factions that threaten to splinter the country’s ruling party, Zimbabwe hurtles into another violent political season.

Forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara, recognized internationally as the winner of Ivory Coast's presidential elections, in a truck in Abidjan on Thursday.

As Standoff Continues, a Bleaker Outlook for Ivory Coast

By ADAM NOSSITER

Every day that Laurent Gbagbo remains in the presidential residence makes the country increasingly ungovernable for his rival, Alassane Ouattara.

Slide Show: Battles and Evacuations in Abidjan

Dr. Grace Phiri, at the pediatric ward of the Queen Elizabeth hospital, Maseru, has been the sole pediatrician in Lesotho’s government service for most of the past 17 years.

Doctors Go Far Afield to Battle Epidemics

By CELIA W. DUGGER

A rise in programs sending doctors to some of the world’s poorest countries has met with an outpouring of enthusiasm from many recent graduates.

Video: Battling H.I.V. in Lesotho

Fliers urging support for Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya make the rounds in Bamako, Mali.

Libyan Oil Buys Allies for Qaddafi

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi has sprinkled billions of dollars around Africa, helping him recruit mercenaries and blunt criticism.

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.

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.

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.

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

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Battle for Libya

The latest images after Western intervention in Libya.

A New Arab Generation Finds Its Voice

Video interviews with more than two dozen people under 30, from Libya to the West Bank, talking about their generation’s moment in history and prospects for the future.

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.