The army is patrolling the streets of Jos, in central Nigeria, after four days of violence between Muslims and Christians left hundreds dead. A Muslim charity says it has collected more than 300 bodies that had been brought to local mosques, and fatalities are also expected among Christians. Homes, churches and mosques were put to the torch before troops restored order and imposed a curfew. The Nigerian Red Cross says at least 10,000 people have fled their homes. The violence broke out following contested elections in Plateau state Nov. 26, in which the Christian-backed ruling People's Democratic Party was declared to have won. The result was challenged by the opposition All Nigeria People's Party, which has wide support from Muslims. (AlJazeera, Nov. 30; BBC News, Nov. 29)

Somali pirates who hijacked a Saudi supertanker moved the vessel from its location at the port city of Harardhere, in the autonomous Puntland region, after Islamist militias threatened to attack them and rescue the ship. Both the exiled Islamic Courts Union and the Shabaab insurgent group issued threats to attack the pirates if they don't free the ship. "Saudi is a Muslim country and it is very big crime to hold Muslim property," the Shabaab's Sheikh Abdulaahi Osman said. "I warned again and again those who hold the ship must free it unconditionally or armed conflict should be the solution. If they don't free the ship, we will rescue it by force." The ICU called seizing the ship a "major crime."

British naval forces killed two Somali pirates in a dhow who they said were attempting to hijack a Danish cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden, the Defense Ministry in London said on Nov. 12. British sailors found a third man, thought to be a Yemeni, dead on the vessel. The Royal Navy was joined by the frigate Neustrashimy (Fearless) from Russia's Baltic Sea Fleet. British and Russian helicopters were also involved in the brief battle. (Reuters, Nov. 13)

Miriam Makeba, the South African singer who became a world symbol of the anti-apartheid struggle, died Nov. 10 after performing at an anti-Mafia concert in southern Italy. The 76-year-old singer died after being brought to the hospital at Castelvolturno at the end of a concert in support of Roberto Saviano, an Italian journalist threatened with death by the Naples crime machine following of his exposure of the mob in his bestselling book.

Berlin's ambassador to Rwanda was given 24 hours to leave the country Nov. 11 in response to the Nov. 9 arrest of a Rwandan presidential aide in Germany in connection with the 1994 assassination of then-president Juvenal Habyarima that touched off the Rwanda genocide. Rose Kabuye, an aide to Rwandan President Paul Kagame and an official in the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), was arrested in Frankfurt under a 2006 European warrant issued by French Judge Jean-Louis Bruguière.

Anwar Tambe writes from Kenya for SkyNews, Nov. 5:

It is scarcely believable, but it is true. A Luo can become President—of the United States of America, if not Kenya.

For all the grim announcements of a "humanitarian disaster" sparked by the current re-eruption of the Congo war, there is an alarming paucity of clear reportage on who exactly is responsible for what violence. Most western media accounts are heavy on despair-inducing atrocity pornography and very light on actual facts. Within Central Africa, the Congolese media portray Rwandan aggression, while the Rwandan media accuse the Democratic Republic of Congo of sheltering Hutu militias bent on Rwanda's destabilization. And while western accounts emphasize endemic "festering hatreds" left by the 1994 Rwanda genocide (AP, Oct. 30), DRC diplomats accuse Western powers of backing Rwanda in a destabilization ploy against Kinshasa. Some examples...

A jury for the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Oct. 31 found Charles McArthur Emmanuel AKA Chuckie Taylor Jr., son of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, guilty on charges of involvement in torture and other crimes in Liberia and Sierra Leone between 1999 and 2002. Emmanuel, a US citizen raised in Boston, had pleaded not guilty to the charges and was the first person indicted under a 1994 federal anti-torture law known as the "extraterritorial statute," which allows people living within the US to be charged for acts of torture abroad.