Editor’s Desk

North Africa in the Twenty-First Century

Ted Genoways

This issue owes its origins to a day—last Easter, in fact—spent watching the cable news networks report on the fatal shooting of three Somali pirates who had kidnapped Richard Phillips, captain of the MV Maersk Alabama.


Dispatch

The Pirate Port

Jason Florio

The Somali port of Berbera lies against the Gulf of Aden, a semi-derelict relic of colonial times. Some fisherman here, no longer able to scratch out a living, have turned to piracy.


The Blind Plumber of Tetouan

Eric Calderwood

Mustafa al-Farkhani is blind, but this doesn't prevent him from maintaining Morocco's ancient, underground water distribution system.

Fiction

Irekefe Island

Helon Habila

Boma was alone when I got home in the evening, and I could tell she had been crying. I had gone straight to the office to write my report for tomorrow’s paper, my legs still wobbly from standing all afternoon on the ferry.


From The Archives

The Anglo-Egyptian Controversy (Winter 1927)

Pierre Crabités

“In the United States wets and drys are unable to agree about alcohol. In the Valley of the Nile it is water that keeps England and Egypt from coming to an understanding.”


Freedom in Africa: The Next Stage (Summer 1960)

Elspeth Huxley

“For about a quarter of a century, Africa has been shaking off the rule of the two major colonial powers. The struggle against colonialism has been the live issue—although in fact it has been less of a struggle than a series of deals.”