Workers from the public and private sectors throughout Burkina Faso launched a two-day strike April 8 to protest high food costs and demand salary increases. Ouagadougou, the capital, was almost completely shut down. In Bobo-Dioulasso, the second largest city in the west of the country, the central market was closed. Police were out in force in front of banks and government offices.

Comorian rebel leader Mohamed Bacar was taken into custody on the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion April 4 at the request of Comoros, which is demanding his extradition. French officials are also considering Bacar's request for asylum. Bacar fled the Comoros island of Anjouan last week when Comorian and African Union troops toppled his breakaway government. Bacar and 22 followers first fled to the French island of Mayotte, but his presence there provoked riots and he was transferred to the larger island of Reunion. (Reuters, April 4)

Recent clashes between the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and fighters from the nomadic Arab Miserriya community have displaced hundreds of civilians from their homes and raised tension across Abyei, a region lying between the north and South Sudan. Abyei's Gov. Edward Lino, appointed by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, said that in new fighting March 20, "our men, the SPLA, exchanged fire with the Miserriya 20 kilometers east of the Heglig oil field."

Kenya has largely disappeared from the headlines, and what is reported generally has an optimistic slant—a new power-sharing accord is hoped to end the violence. Meanwhile, the situation seems to be escalating to open war. On March 10, the armed forces reportedly opened fire and launched aerial bombing raids with helicopter gunships on the Sabaot Land Defense Forces (SLDF) at Mount Elgon in the west of the country. The SLDF is a local militia representing the Sabaot clan of the Kalenjin community, which says it seeks to reclaim traditional lands and is accused of a massacre last week in which 13 people were burned alive or hacked to death. (BBC, March 11; AP, March 10)

A US submarine fired three Tomahawk cruise missiles into southern Somalia March 3, aiming at what the Defense Department called terrorist targets. The missiles hit the town of Dobley, five miles from Somalia's border with Kenya, partly destroying a house and injuring local residents. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said it was a "deliberate and precise strike" aimed at "a known al-Qaeda terrorist." Residents reached by telephone told the New York Times three civilians were wounded, and three cows and donkey killed.

The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) has issued a statement condemning "in the strongest possible terms" attacks on Mogadishu radio stations by the armed forces of the Transitional Federal Government. The statement said government troops raided the offices of the independent Radio Simba on March 2, taking away computers, audio recorders, digital cameras and other equipment. Reporter Abdiaziz Hussein Hassan was beaten in the raid. One day earlier, a rocket hit Radio Simba, destroying the station's archive. A few minutes after the raid on Simba, soldiers broke down the doors of Shabelle Radio, again confiscating equipment, and detaining station director Shabele Muktar Mohamed Hirabe. Security forces also visited the offices of Horn Afrik Radio and ordered them to stop broadcasting. (NUSOJ, March 3 via AaaAfrica)

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)