ADF

CLUES Rome conquered this ancient Punic trading post and converted it into a base for the conquest of the kingdoms of Mauritania. The site comprises Byzantine, paleo-Christian, Phoenician and Roman ruins alongside other indigenous monuments. This coastal city has one of the oldest and most extensive burial grounds of the Punic world — sixth to second century B.C. Vandals invaded in the 430s, and the Byzantines reconquered the city in 534. It fell into decline in the sixth century and never recovered. ANSWER: Tipasa archaeological site, 70 kilometers west of Algiers, Algeria

Léopold Sédar Senghor was an intellectual, a writer, a scholar, a statesman and the first president of Senegal. He wrote Senegal’s national anthem and said he considered himself first and foremost a poet. But his writings indicate that he was, above all other things, an African. Senghor was born in 1906 in the town of Joal in coastal Senegal. He moved to a boarding school when he was 8 and quickly established himself as a dedicated student and scholar. After secondary school, he won a partial scholarship to study in France. His trip to France began, as he put it,…

U.S. Africa Command Staff Security begins with cooperation. Whether it is efforts in West Africa to stem the influx of illegal drugs from South America or bringing security to the continent’s ever-growing presence in cyperspace, countries will have to combine their efforts to win and preserve peace. An example of this occurred recently in Niger, where nations from the Sahel region gathered in Niamey, Agadez, Tahoua and Diffa in February and March 2014 for Exercise Flintlock 14. Participants were taught methods for addressing the growing threat of terrorist and violent extremist organizations, such as those that have taken root in…

The AU’s African Peace and Security Architecture Must Overcome Challenges to Fulfill Its Mission By Tim Murithi/Institute For Justice And Reconciliation Tim Murithi, Ph.D., is the head of the Justice and Reconciliation in Africa Programme for the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in Cape Town, South Africa, and a research fellow with the African Gender Institute, University of Cape Town. He is the author of several articles and books on the African Union. The use of collective African resources to solve security concerns on the continent has long been a dream of African leaders. Among its strongest proponents was Ghana’s…

CLUES Founded at the beginning of the 1st millennium B.C., this city started out as a Phoenician port. The city had existed for more than 600 years when one of its sons, Septimius Severus, became Roman emperor in 193 A.D. The Romans quartered a garrison here during the war against Jugurtha, king of Numidia, a kingdom which included modern Algeria and Tunisia. Rome integrated this port city into the province of Africa in 46 B.C. The ancient port, with its artificial basin, still exists with jetties, fortifications, storage areas and temples. ANSWER: The ruins of Leptis Magna, 130 kilometers east…

The sectarian violence in the Central African Republic has uprooted nearly 1 million people, and it is estimated that 2.2 million, about half the population, need humanitarian aid. Drug supplies to clinics and hospitals have been disrupted, and public infrastructure such as schools and government buildings has been destroyed. Now, a major food crisis is looming. While fulfilling immediate humanitarian needs is essential, the international community needs to help address the development gaps that led to the crisis in the first place. If it fails to do so, another crisis could soon happen again. As such, humanitarian action needs to…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Makoko, Nigeria, known as the “slum on stilts” and the “Venice of Africa,” hopes a new floating school will create a better future for children there. The school, built entirely by locals and launched in 2013, has a triangular frame that rises from the water like a half-built house submerged in a flood. The project, backed by the United Nations Development Programme, the Nigerian government and the Heinrich Boell Foundation, is the brainchild of local architect Kunlé Adeyemi. His design was inspired by life in Makoko, and he said that improving the neglected area required a new approach…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Can robots ease traffic chaos in the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo? A small cooperative, which developed the solution and is testing two robots, thinks so. And it wants to promote the concept across the country, Africa and the world. Kinshasa, a city of 10 million people, has a reputation for chaotic driving and huge traffic jams. Tricolor traffic lights are rare, many cars are old and battered, and not all drivers are mindful of road rules. “When the robot stops the traffic, you can see that everybody stops and the pedestrians can cross without…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Mandla Maseko, 25, of the Mabopane district near Pretoria, South Africa, will fly 103 kilometers into space in 2015 after winning a competition organized by a United States-based space academy. He beat 1 million other entrants from 75 countries to be selected as one of 23 people who will travel on an hourlong suborbital trip on the Lynx Mark II spaceship. The former civil engineering student will experience zero gravity and a journey that normally costs $100,000. Maseko, who still lives at home with his parents and four siblings, was named one of the winners on December 5,…

Taking Time to Engage Civilian Leaders Can Build Partnerships that Enhance Security The village of Gofat spreads out beyond the rocky crags that punctuate the southernmost sands of the Sahara in Niger. More than 1,000 people call it home, but the population shifts like the desert wind — at times topping 3,000 people, depending on the season. As the sun peeked above the horizon on February 27, 2014, a convoy of Soldiers, supplies and medical personnel made the lonesome drive into the village, 27 kilometers northeast of Agadez. They spent the day offering medical help to villagers and others from…