Tunisian suburb has intimate cafes, Arab handicrafts and views of ancient Carthage

Middle East & Africa, Travel

The Tunisian suburb of Sidi Bou Said, a welcoming hilltop village about twelve miles north of Tunisia’s capital of Tunis, overlooks the ruins of ancient Carthage. It offers intimate cafés, locally-made handicrafts and stunning views of the Mediterranean. Locals call the hillside Kursi al-Sulh, ‘the seat of reconciliation,” since in former days it was a quiet place where Muslim holy men retreated for repose and meditation. The town’s name is derived from a religious figure, Abu Said al-Baji, who died in 1231 AD and is buried beside the town’s minaret in a mausoleum built during the period of Turkish rule.

The Hills Are Alive in Rwanda

History, Middle East & Africa

By David DeVoss: We rose before dawn and began driving across Rwanda, a densely populated East African country on the edge of the Great Rift Valley from which springs the headwaters of the Nile. As the sun rose above the misty hills the roadsides filled with brightly dressed women balancing bundles atop their heads and men pushing bicycles piled high with agricultural produce. A mountainous, landlocked nation that calls itself “The Land of 1,000 Hills,” Rwanda has 12 million people who live in a country smaller than Maryland…

God Save Kurdistan

Middle East, Middle East & Africa

God Save the Kurds Kurdistan prospers despite enveloping terror by David DeVoss Iraq’s Kurds are surrounded. To the West lie the Great Syrian Desert and the savagery of the Islamic State. North across the mountains an arc of enmity extends from Turkish Anatolia deep into the valleys of ancient Persia. Beyond the oil-rich province of…