WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

The international spotlight has been on North Africa this year, where Arab autocrats have been overthrown by government opponents seeking democracy in three separate countries – Libya, Egypt and Tunisia.But farther south on the continent, a less dramatic democratic trend has been playing out for yea

In 1996, Dr. Nancy Peddle was working on her dissertation in war-torn Sierra Leone when she found herself in the middle of a bloody coup. As the violence mounted, Dr.

When President Obama addressed the U.N. General Assembly in New York, he held up the example of South Sudan as the right way to join the world body — through a peace process and an independence vote."

In Libya, there's growing concern over the vast arsenals of weapons that have flooded on to the streets since Moammar Gadhafi's ouster.

Libyan rebels are massed Sunday outside two cities that remain in the hands of forces loyal to ousted leader Moammar Gadhafi.Rebels tried to advance Saturday on the town of Bani Waleed, about 90 miles southeast of Tripoli, but the advance was aborted, apparently to clear the way for NATO airstrikes

Rebel soldiers in the streets of Tripoli are still savoring the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi and his forces.

Every year, thousands of young people from sub-Saharan Africa embark on a perilous journey to Europe, in hopes of making a better life. Many wind up jobless or in refugee camps.