Opinion articles

OP-ED: My Caseworker Experience in West Africa

In July of 2001, I was renting an apartment in Dakar, Senegal, and rapidly running through my hard earned savings from DJ work and driving a taxicab in Chicago, my hometown. I was having a blast, taking long train rides to Bamako, Mali, learning French with the English majors at Cheikh Anta Diop University, exploring Dakar nightlife, collecting Senegalese Hip-Hop and Mbalax music on cassettes and CDs, visiting the beaches in Casamance, southern Senegal, but I was also going broke.

OP-ED: Why the Surge of Concern for Liberia’s Ability to Fight Islamic Terrorism is Misplaced

In March, the Ivorian coastal resort town of Grand Bassam was targeted by Islamic militants linked to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. This event seems to be the primary calculus behind the new alarm. Thomas-Greenfield’s view was shared by the UN Panel of Experts on Liberia, whose final report stated that “terrorist attacks in Côte d’Ivoire heighten security concerns in Liberia.”

OP-ED: The Politics of Tribalism in the Absence of Intellectual Discourse

He stood about five and a half feet tall with an oversized backpack, a menacing look, deep red eyes, and a rocket-propelled grenade launcher. He was directing fleeing civilians at a makeshift NPFL checkpoint decorated with human skulls in the suburb of Voinjama, Lofa County where opposing rebel forces, ULIMO-K, were pushing against Charles Taylor’s NPFL rebels.

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