RABAT, Morocco — They called it a “solidarity caravan” — a group of Spanish volunteers delivering truckloads of donated computers, wheelchairs and other gifts for Africa’s poor. For the last eight years they had followed well-publicized routes through Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia. This time, as the volunteers traversed the stretch of sand-swept pavement that is Mauritania’s main highway, a group of armed men lay in wait. Rather than solidarity, it seems, the gunmen sought hostages.

MARRAKESH, Morocco — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Monday for taking “positive steps” towards peace talks with Israel, while suggesting Israel could do more. Her remarks came amidst criticism from the Arab world that she had sided with Israel by calling their offer to limit, but not halt, settlement growth an “unprecedented” step forward.

RABAT, Morocco — Rivals in one of Africa’s oldest territorial feuds met for talks in Austria recently but longtime observers of the battle to control Western Sahara say the fight is far from over. The borders of the Great Britain-sized swath of desert remain in dispute and half its population lives in Algerian refugee camps. Morocco claims the territory as its own; an Algerian-backed guerilla group representing the 125,000 displaced people, the Polisario Front, wants a referendum on independence.