Jeffrey Gettleman New York Times

A typical prize for a children's contest might be a backpack, a lunchbox or maybe some toys. Not in Somalia.Over the weekend, a Somali radio station run by the Shabab, the most powerful Islamist militant group in the war-ravaged country, held an awards ceremony to honor children who were experts at Shabab trivia and at reciting the Koran. The prize...

Philip Geng Nyuol started fighting for independence with his hands.He eventually graduated to a machete, then Molotov cocktails, then a gun."I crossed rivers full of crocodiles," he said. "And slept in camps in Congo. And ate wild fruits in the bush."That was nearly 50 years ago -- Mr. Nyuol was on the ground floor of southern Sudan's independence ...

A British couple who had been kidnapped by Somali pirates and held in captivity in a remote, sweltering patch of central Somalia for more than a year was finally released, Somali officials said Sunday, apparently after a ransom was paid. The couple, Paul and Rachel Chandler, were hijacked in October 2009 while sailing in a small yacht in the Indian...

A typical prize for a children's contest might be a backpack, a lunchbox or maybe some toys. Not in Somalia.Over the weekend, a Somali radio station run by the Shabab, the most powerful Islamist militant group in the war-ravaged country, held an awards ceremony to honor children who were experts at Shabab trivia and at reciting the Koran. The prize...

Philip Geng Nyuol started fighting for independence with his hands.He eventually graduated to a machete, then Molotov cocktails, then a gun."I crossed rivers full of crocodiles," he said. "And slept in camps in Congo. And ate wild fruits in the bush."That was nearly 50 years ago -- Mr. Nyuol was on the ground floor of southern Sudan's independence ...

A British couple who had been kidnapped by Somali pirates and held in captivity in a remote, sweltering patch of central Somalia for more than a year was finally released, Somali officials said Sunday, apparently after a ransom was paid. The couple, Paul and Rachel Chandler, were hijacked in October 2009 while sailing in a small yacht in the Indian...