Nigeria | GlobalPost

African sex slaves forced to work in Irish brothels

Conor O'CleryMay 27, 2010 11:20Updated May 30, 2010 13:34

DUBLIN, Ireland — A founder of the Irish Republic, Eamon de Valera, famously idealized Ireland 70 years ago as an innocent land of saints and scholars, whose villages were joyous with the laughter of happy maidens. If he came back today he would be shocked to find that a village in Ireland is just as likely to contain a brothel, populated by sex slaves from Africa. Despite its isolation off the western edge of Europe, Ireland is now a destination for the trafficking of young women from Africa and eastern Europe to work as prostitutes.

Opinion: What motivates a terrorist?

HDS GreenwayMay 9, 2010 10:34Updated May 30, 2010 13:32

BOSTON — The American reaction to Faisal Shahzad’s failed attempt at a car bombing in Times Square was: Pakistan again? Why do so many of terrorism’s hydra-heads originate in Pakistan? Pakistan answered that Shahzad had, after all, spent decades in America and had become an American citizen. So was he radicalized solely in Waziristan’s training camps? Or were the seeds of his radicalization planted here in the United States?

Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua dies

AndyMay 5, 2010 23:41

Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua, 58, died Wednesday after a lengthy period of ill-health which left Africa's most populous country without effective leadership for more than five months. Vice President Goodluck Jonathan announced that Nigeria will have seven days of mourning. Jonathan is expected to be sworn in immediately as Nigeria's leader and commander in chief. Jonathan as president will tip the balance in Nigeria's factionalized politics because he is a Christian from southern Nigeria. Yar'Adua was a Muslim from the north.

Analysis: Nigeria's smoldering crisis in Jos

Chris Kwaja and Darren KewApril 14, 2010 06:37Updated May 30, 2010 13:28

BOSTON and JOS, Nigeria — Massacres in Jos have again drawn world attention, as three people died last month in renewed clashes between between Christian and Muslim gangs. In total, this year, more than 800 Nigerians have been killed in violence that persists in the central city of Jos, which is the capital of Nigeria's Plateau state. Fierce competition for fertile farmlands between Christians and Muslims has fueled unrest in the region over the past decade.

StreetLife: Moscow — An African in Russia

Miriam Elder and Dmitri VenkovFebruary 24, 2010 07:43Updated May 30, 2010 13:21

Amy Oyekunle: Getting women involved

William DowellMarch 20, 2010 08:07Updated May 30, 2010 13:21

GENEVA, Switzerland — Amy Oyekunle has a modest goal: saving Africa by getting more women involved in government. The political representation of women in her native Nigeria now stands at about 6 percent. Oyekunle wants to raise that to 30 percent. To do that, she literally wants to change the way African men see women. “I don't know when that will happen,” she says, “but it's our goal.”

Nigeria's oil rebels end cease-fire

Shyamantha AsokanFebruary 2, 2010 07:48Updated May 30, 2010 13:20

LAGOS, Nigeria — A militant group in Nigeria’s oil-rich delta region has called off a cease-fire that had held since July, threatening a fragile peace process in the U.S.’s fifth-largest oil supplier.

Where in the world is Nigeria's president?

Shyamantha AsokanJanuary 12, 2010 07:51Updated May 30, 2010 13:18

Update: Nigeria’s President Umaru Yar'Adua quashed mounting rumors that he had died by giving a brief phone interview early Tuesday to the BBC. “At the moment I am undergoing treatment, and I am getting better from the treatment. I hope that very soon there will be tremendous progress, which will allow me to get back home," said Yar’Adua.

"The man who shamed Nigeria"

Frankie Edozien January 1, 2010 10:15Updated May 30, 2010 13:17

ABUJA, Nigeria — Nigerians are still struggling to come to terms with the news that Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old son of one of this country’s most prominent and wealthiest bankers, allegedly tried to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight as it landed in Detroit on Dec. 25. “The man who shamed Nigeria,” is what the local newspaper, "The Guardian," dubbed Abdulmutallab.

Nigeria's kidnapping culture on the rise

Shyamantha AsokanDecember 19, 2009 12:51Updated May 30, 2010 13:16

LAGOS, Nigeria — A recent surge in kidnapping in Nigeria has seen prominent members of society — from all-singing, all-dancing “Nollywood” film stars, to the elderly father of a former central bank governor — becoming victims of abductions. This year has seen a shift in kidnapping. Previously the targets were foreign oil companies’ Western workers who were taken by oil rebels usually in attacks in the energy-rich Niger Delta region. Now criminal gangs are becoming ever more interested in snatching wealthy locals.