Middle East & Africa

From bullets to ballots
How Liberia and Sierra Leone ended their cycles of violence
The lessons two African countries offer on ending intractable conflicts

No miracles required
How to save the lives of 200,000 women a year
Maternal deaths are being prevented, but not quickly enough

Sudan’s agony
After six months of civil war, little remains of Khartoum
Sudan’s capital has become Africa’s Aleppo

Crisis in the Middle East
Joe Biden steers a risky course after a Gaza hospital blast
The president takes personal charge of diplomacy as he visits Tel Aviv

Uncomfortable numbers
Wartime leaders usually get a popularity bump. Israel’s hasn’t
Israelis overwhelmingly think Hamas’s attack represents a failure by their government

The Israel-Hamas war
Gaza’s evacuees are racing south with nowhere safe to go
100 tonnes of aid pile up as Egypt and Israel keep the border closed

Conflict in Gaza
Ehud Barak blames Binyamin Netanyahu for “the greatest failure in Israel’s history”
A former prime minister says “destroying Hamas” is unrealistic

Paralysis on the West Bank
Fear and anger rise on the West Bank
Hamas says it wants to trigger a Palestinian uprising

Will Hizbullah act?
Israel faces the danger of fighting on a second front
In Lebanon Hizbullah fighters talk up the odds of war

Forced to flee
As war looms Israel calls for 1.1m people to evacuate northern Gaza
America may want Egypt to take in large numbers of Palestinian refugees

Custom redesigned
Land reform in Africa is challenging the power of chiefs
Activists want to give communities more of a say

The reluctant litigant
The fallout from Mozambique’s debt scandal reaches a London court
But too much transparency makes the government nervous