Angry protests against rising food prices in Burkina Faso spread to the capital, Ouagadougou, Feb. 28, shutting the city down as young people burned tires and clashed with police. "The choice is to demonstrate or to die of hunger," a protester told the UN news agency IRIN. The unrest was sparked when the government announced that rather than lowering the price of basic goods as people were demanding, it would reduce taxes on imported goods. (IRIN via AllAfrica, Feb. 28)

Three were killed by security forces in Cameroon Feb. 28 as anti-government protests broke out in the western towns of Bamenda and Bafang. Up to 20 are believed dead in unrest earlier in the week in the western region and the capital, Yaoundé. The street clashes began with protests against rising fuel prices and President Paul Biya's plan to change the constitution to extend his term in office. Biya has been in office 26 years. (NYT, The Nation, Kenya, Feb. 29)

In his recent tour of African capitals, President Bush did his best to avoid any mention of the Pentagon's new Africa Command (AfriCom), focusing instead on development projects and his new initiative against AIDS. But on Feb. 20 in Ghana, he admitted he was finally forced to address "a controversial subject brewing around that's not very well understood." He said: "I want to dispel the notion that all of a sudden America is bringing all kinds of military to Africa. It's just simply not true." He said AfriCom's aim is "to enhance our efforts to bring peace and security to the people of Africa and to promote the...development of health, education, democracy and economic growth." (LAT, Feb. 22)

Dozens of Senegalese gays are reported to have fled to neighboring Gambia and Mali following a wave of arrests and violent anti-gay street protests. The anti-gay campaign began when newspapers reported on a gay wedding that took place on the outskirts of the capital Dakar in early February—sparking a wave of sensationalist press stories on homosexuality, and prompting authorities to arrest all who attended the wedding, including musicians.

The Sudanese military renewed its aerial bombing campaign in West Darfur region Feb. 25, with the joint UN-AU mission in Sudan, UNAMID, saying it had received reports of air-strikes in the Jebel Moun region. UNAMID said there is grave concern for the safety of thousands of civilians in the area. The report came as China's new special envoy for Darfur, Liu Guijin, began a five-day visit to Sudan to pledge humanitarian aid and push for peace. Liu said he will travel to Darfur this week, the fifth anniversary of the start of the conflict which has left 200,000 people dead and 2.5 million homeless. Critics dismissed the move as part of a public relations offensive ahead of the Beijing Olympics. (Ghana Broadcasting Corp., San Francisco Chronicle, Feb. 25; Xinhua, Feb. 26)

Henry Okah, a leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), is rumored to have been killed Feb. 18 upon being extradited from Angola to Nigeria. A MEND communique, signed by Jomo Gbomo, said: "Disturbing reports just reaching us suggests that Henry Okah succumbed to injuries from gun shot wounds at about 0400 hrs today, February 19, 2007 at a military hospital in Kaduna State of Nigeria after he was shot in what those interrogating him claimed was an 'accidental discharge' from the automatic weapon from one of the guards." The statement said MEND "is giving the Federal Government of Nigeria within the next 24 hours to confirm or deny this murder rumour. Failure to do this will bring bloodbath in that region and beyond. We will not take prisoners from the military or oil workers." (Lagos Vanguard via AllAfrica, Feb. 19)

First polygamous lesbians—now cross-dressers. From the BBC, Feb. 15:

The trial of 18 men accused of dressing up as women has started in a Sharia court in northern Nigeria.

The same depressing story that we've heard from Bosnia to Baghdad now reaches us from Kenya. From the New York Times, Feb. 15, "Signs in Kenya of a Land Redrawn by Ethnicity ":

Kenya used to be considered one of the most promising countries in Africa. Now it is in the throes of ethnically segregating itself. Ever since a deeply flawed election in December kicked off a wave of ethnic and political violence, hundreds of thousands of people have been violently driven from their homes and many are now resettling in ethnically homogenous zones.