Jina Moore

What the West Gets Wrong About the Rwandan Genocide

In early April 1994, when the genocide began in Rwanda, the meetings started in Washington. “They couldn’t say we were not going to do anything, because that’s bad policy,” recalled Prudence Bushnell, then the deputy assistant secretary of state for…

Amniocentesis

Our cultural script on pregnancy insists on certainty. Whether the authorities are doctors or majority-male legislatures, we are assured that humans know — that we know how to know — what pregnant people should eat, whether growing babies are getting…

Suffering Is for Other People

You don’t have to read much beyond the headlines from Ukraine to know how this story goes: There are bad guys, stooges of a dictator, and good guys, fighting for freedom. The good guys are the underdogs, which is great for the narrative. But the…

What African Nations Are Teaching the West About Fighting the Coronavirus

In early March, Ingrid Gercama left her home in the Netherlands and flew to war-torn South Sudan. An applied-research anthropologist with a special interest in epidemics, she had spent time on the African continent during a public-health emergency…

Anatomy of an internet shutdown

Holly Pickett/Redux, for Rest of World Abdelazim Hassan is not tall. His voice does not boom. He is balding, wears glasses, and his suit, the dark brown of a standard boardroom table, hangs from his body as if it has given up. He’s mostly a corporate…

تحليل قَطْع الإنترنت

Holly Pickett/Redux, for Rest of World عبد العظيم حَسن ليس طويل القامة. صوته خافت. يتساقط شعره في طريقه نحو الصلع ويرتدي النظّارات، أمّا بِذلته فلونها بنّي داكن يُشبه لون طاولة اجتماعات تقليدية، تتدلى من على جسدهِ كما لو أنها قد استسلمت. يعمل عبد…

Betraying Justice for Rwanda’s Genocide Survivors

In July, 1993, an eleven-year-old named Damas Dukundane got a new pair of shoes. His mother bought them, unused, and paired them with a new blue suit. She was not terribly religious, and her son’s baptism would be the only time in her life that she…

U.N. Cases Read Like ‘Manual in How Not to Investigate’ Sexual Assault

It took the woman one agonizing month to decide to report that she had been sexually assaulted by a colleague from the World Food Program, a United Nations agency, while working in Ethiopia. It took the agency a week to investigate, concluding in a…

Burundi Voters Back Constitution Extending Presidential Term

BUJUMBURA, Burundi — Burundi’s voters approved a new Constitution that extends the presidential term from five to seven years, according to provisional figures released on Friday, handing a major victory to President Pierre Nkurunziza. Mr.…

Burundi’s Leader Can Extend His Term. His African Peers Take Notes.

NGOZI, Burundi — He calls his supporters “keepers of the secrets.” Many people call him “the visionary,” and his political party recently appointed him the Supreme Eternal Guide. Pierre Nkurunziza is Burundi’s longest-serving president, after…

In Tiny Burundi, a Huge Vote

Citizens of the small landlocked East African nation of Burundi headed to the polls on Thursday to vote on a referendum to change the constitution. Our East Africa bureau chief, Jina Moore, was there documenting the day and the mood of those voting…

Gunmen Attack Church in Central African Republic, and Warn of More Violence

NAIROBI, Kenya — Former members of a Muslim militia killed at least 16 people in an attack on a church in the Central African Republic, raising fears that ongoing violence could return to the capital city. Notre Dame of Fatima, a Roman Catholic…

South Sudan Rebels Free 10 Aid Workers

NAIROBI, Kenya — Ten aid workers detained in South Sudan last week have been freed after the rebel group holding them confirmed their identities as representatives of relief agencies, the rebels said on Monday. Lam Paul Gabriel, a spokesman for the…

Motive for Mass Killings in Congo Is Mystery, but Suffering Is Clear

Image DJUGU, Democratic Republic of Congo — The resource-rich but deeply troubled Democratic Republic of Congo is the site of some of Africa’s longest-running conflicts — and the world’s largest peacekeeping mission. About 20,000 United Nations…

Kenya Bans Film About 2 Girls in Love Because It’s ‘Too Hopeful’

NAIROBI, Kenya — The first Kenyan entry ever nominated for an award at the Cannes Film Festival will debut in France in two weeks — but it is now illegal for Kenyans back home to watch it. The Kenya Film Classification Board on Friday banned the…

10 South Sudan Aid Workers Are Abducted, U.N. Says

NAIROBI, Kenya — Ten relief workers traveling in South Sudan have been abducted by an armed group, the United Nations said on Thursday. The kidnapping underscores the risks to humanitarian aid providers in the war-afflicted African country. A…

Top Somali Politician Steps Down, Avoiding Showdown With President

MOGADISHU, Somalia — The speaker of Somalia’s Parliament resigned on Monday ahead of a no-confidence vote, sparing the country a repeat of the armed standoff last week that threatened to descend into violence. The decision by the speaker, Mohamed…

Despite Millions of Displaced People, Congo Rejects U.N. Aid Effort

NAIROBI, Kenya — When the United Nations hosts a donor conference next week to raise $1.7 billion for the violence-racked Democratic Republic of Congo, one important country will not attend: Congo itself. The government of President Joseph Kabila has…

Crisis Averted in Somalia’s Parliament, but Tensions Simmer

NAIROBI, Kenya — A dispute between the speaker of the Somali Parliament and the country’s president briefly threatened on Wednesday to turn violent, the latest development in a complex controversy over the proposed leasing of a major port to a…

In Somalia, Shabab Attacks Leave Ugandan Peacekeepers Dead

NAIROBI, Kenya — Islamist militants in Somalia carried out multiple coordinated attacks against African Union peacekeeping forces on Sunday and claimed to have killed at least 59 Ugandan soldiers. Ceaser Olweny, a spokesman for the Ugandan…