Africa Archive

U.N. PROSECUTOR TAKES AIM AT FORMER KOSOVO LEADER — Prosecutors summed up their case against former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj Jan. 21, arguing he was responsible for torture, murder, rape and deportation during the Serbian’s province’s battle against Serbian rule in 1998-1999. Haradinaj, a regional commander for the Kosovo Liberation Army, was legendary in the province for his fierce control over the area under his command. “There was a saying: ‘God in heaven, Haradinaj on earth.’ His degree of control was such . . . that the murders, tortures and rapes could not have occurred without his approval,” prosecutor […]

More than a year ago, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) officially welcomed its newest and 12th member, Angola. Such a move by the cartel is rare. The last time OPEC admitted a country into its ranks was 1975, the year Angola secured its independence from Portugal. What undoubtedly prompted the invitation was the southern African country’s oil reserves, standing at more than nine billion barrels: it is the fourth-largest total in Africa, trailing only Libya, Nigeria and Algeria. In fact, Angola is now the continent’s second-largest producer after Nigeria. It is also a major supplier to China, providing […]

TAYLOR TRIAL RESUMES — At the Hague Jan. 7, prosecutors began presenting their case against former Liberian President Charles Taylor. A Canadian “blood diamond” expert was called as the first of 144 expected witnesses for the prosecution. Taylor faces 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his alleged role trading weapons for diamonds in the brutal 1991-2002 Sierra Leone war. Additionally, the prosecution alleges that the diamond trade through Liberia that earned the Revolutionary United Front — which was responsible for much of the war’s violence — $125 million a year could not have happened without the […]