News stories by William Lloyd George

SOMALI REGION, Ethiopia, Jun 30 (IPS) - When he was a young boy, 20-year-old Abdi, who comes from a small pastoralist community in Ethiopia's Somali Region, "knew about school, reading and writing but did not expect this is something we would ever get close to."

ADDIS ABABA, Sep 28 (IPS) - Strong action now expected against the al-Shabaab group may well end up strengthening the group rather than weakening it, local people fear. The extremist group is suspected of involvement in the attack on the Westgate mall in Nairobi.

ADDIS ABABA, Sep 27 (IPS) - Strong action now expected against the al-Shabaab group may well end up strengthening the group rather than weakening it, local people fear. The extremist group is suspected of involvement in the attack on the Westgate mall in Nairobi.

ADDIS ABABA, Aug 16 (IPS) - Foreign aid workers are increasingly becoming targets of corrupt officials within the Somali government and the Islamist extremist group Al-Shabaab.

GONDAR, Ethiopia, Jul 19 (IPS) - Since the violence that ensued after the ruling party won Ethiopia's 2005 elections, this East African nation has seen little in the way of political dissent. That is, until the last few months.

GONDAR, Ethiopia, Jul 18 (IPS) - Since the violent quashing of political protests after the ruling party won Ethiopia's 2005 elections, this East African nation has seen little in the way of political dissent. That is, until the last few months.

ADDIS ABABA, May 10 (IPS) - Several Ethiopian publications are coming together to set up a 'press council' with the hope of easing restrictions on the media in Ethiopia.

ADDIS ABABA, May 03 (IPS) - A rebel coalition in Sudan has declared war on the government less than a week after it attacked Sudanese forces. "Now there is a fully-fledged war in the new south of the north," Yasir Arman, a leader of one of the armed groups in the alliance, told IPS, adding that the rebels now control a southern stretch of the country.

JIJIGA, Ethiopia, Apr 03 (IPS) - For over two decades Somali Region, in eastern Ethiopia, has been devastated by a grueling insurgency. Trapped in a time warp, it has been forgotten and underdeveloped. But in the last few years, thanks to the increased security here, a five-star hotel, eco-tourism ventures and even a large abattoir are being built by the former diaspora community.

Sitting outside her small shop, high in the mountains in the Tacueyó indigenous reserve in southwest Colombia, Liliana Alarco tries to hold back tears as she recalls the day her young son was injured.