When Foreign Secretary William Hague raised the Union Flag over the new offices on April 25, the UK became the first EU country to return to the Somali capital since the ruinous civil war that began in the early 1990s.

A year after the worst drought in 60 years sent 13.3 million people in the Horn of Africa into crisis, we are now facing a rising threat of crisis in the Sahel -- an arid belt that stretches from Senegal through Niger and Burkina Faso to Chad.

Food crises are more and more affecting not only the rural poor, but the one-time farmers and laborers who have migrated from the countryside to urban areas seeking a better life.

Although the drought in the Horn of Africa has long since faded from the headlines, unless we continue to plan long term we may never be very far away from the next crisis.

NAIROBI, Kenya — The United Nations said Friday that Somalia's famine is over, but the world body's Food and Agricultural Organization warned th...

Food prices are finally coming down after a year of spikes and high volatility. But prices of certain foods remain very high, and millions of people are still at risk of suffering from malnutrition and hunger.

It wasn't until I mobilized a theater group for female survivors of gang rape at the hands of rebel army soldiers who murdered their parents in front of them that I truly learned what self-expression means to the future of democracy.

Global food prices remain high and volatile, affecting the poorest countries the most. For millions who are already vulnerable, events like the droughts in the Horn of Africa add to their hardships while continued market turmoil increases uncertainty in the global economy.

The reality now is that civil wars do not remain quarantined within national borders. And that forced migration is not an accidental byproduct of war. Many combatants use the forced movement of people as an intentional war strategy.

The current drought and famine is worse than the one in 1985 -- some say it is the worst in 60 years and affects more than 12 million people, most of them women and children -- but seems to be attracting a fraction of the world's attention.

The withdrawal provides momentum for the much-criticized peacekeeping efforts in the country and, despite the famine that is ravaging the region, creates an important window of opportunity.

Burundi is no stranger to massacres. Genocides and civil wars between Hutus and Tutsis claimed the lives of over 300,000 civilians. As many as 6,000 children were used as soldiers, molded to murder.