MASTERCARD FOUNDATION - $1.3 Billion Donation

"Mastercard Foundation gives $1.3 billion to boost vaccinations in Africa" PBS NewsHour 6/9/2021

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SUMMARY:  In one of the largest private sector donations of its kind, the Mastercard Foundation announced it will give $1.3 billion over the next three years to vaccinate 50 million people in Africa.  Fewer than 2 percent of the people there have gotten a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, far lower than many wealthy countries.  Ajay Banga Mastercard's Executive Chairman, joins Amna Nawaz to discuss.

RWANDA - Speedy Delivery

"How drones are delivering lifesaving medical supplies in Rwanda" PBS NewsHour 4/16/2019

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SUMMARY:  Getting medical supplies to where they are needed fast can mean the difference between life and death outcomes, but moving them efficiently across long distances to remote and rural areas can be difficult for traditional transportation.  Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro reports from Rwanda on how one innovative company is leveraging new technology to accelerate these critical deliveries.

RWANDAN GENOCIDE - 25 Years Later

"How young Rwandan genocide survivors are documenting 25 years of healing" PBS NewsHour 4/5/2019

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SUMMARY:  April marks the 25th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, in which upwards of 800,000 people were killed in 100 days, leaving 95,000 children orphaned.  The massacre wiped out 75 percent of the Tutsi ethnic group.  Now three young men affected by the violence have turned to photography to document their country’s resilience.  Special correspondent Beth Murphy of the Groundtruth Project reports.

AFRICA - Nurturing Giants

"African food businesses get nurturing from well-known giants" PBS NewsHour 8/13/2018

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SUMMARY:  Volunteers from some of the world’s biggest food producers, who decades ago took food-making from kitchen to the factory, are offering guidance to African entrepreneurs and helping nations become less dependent on imported food.  Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro reports from Kenya.

SOUTH AFRICA - Contemporary Art, African First

"New contemporary art museum shows off complex identities of Africa" PBS NewsHour 11/27/2017

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SUMMARY:  Africa’s first contemporary art museum just opened its doors in Cape Town, South Africa, featuring art from across the continent and the African diaspora.  The grand new space has a grand ambition, to tell the stories of a diverse continent and reclaim how it and its people are perceived.  Jeffrey Brown reports.

Nicholas Hlobo

SOLAR ENERGY - Kenya, Power to the People

"In remote Kenyan villages, solar startups bring light" PBS NewsHour 11/22/2017

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SUMMARY:  Some 1.3 billion people around the globe don’t have access to an electric grid.  But solar startup companies say harnessing an abundant resource -- the sun -- can light up some of the world’s most remote areas.  In this Kenyan village, rooftop panels are becoming a cheap, popular and promising source of light.  Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro reports.

ZIMBABWE - End of a Monster's Reign

Mugabe is a monster who ruined his country.

"Zimbabwe celebrates a rebirth as Mugabe gives in to resignation pressure" PBS NewsHour 11/21/2017

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SUMMARY:  In Zimbabwe, it's as if a 37-year shadow has been lifted.  Robert Mugabe, the leader who once liberated his country from white minority rule, is no longer their president after a titanic battle of wills and a military intervention.  John Ray of Independent Television News reports from Harare.

"The future of Zimbabwe without Mugabe" PBS NewsHour 11/21/2017

NOTE:  There are reports that the military is installing a 'Mugabe-Inforcer' as president, not good.

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SUMMARY:  How did the 37-year rule of Robert Mugabe shape Zimbabwe?  From early high hopes to current economic turmoil, Judy Woodruff discusses the evolution of the country under his leadership -- and what comes next -- with former U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe Johnnie Carson and Blessing Zulu of Voice of America.

NEWSHOUR BOOKSHELF - "Love, Africa"

"American war correspondent details his own love and life in Africa" PBS NewsHour 7/27/2017

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SUMMARY:  As a college student, Jeffrey Gettleman traveled to East Africa and fell in love.  He also fell in love that year with a woman back home.  Their time and work apart, and his life and work covering a continent as a Pulitzer prize-winning correspondent for The New York Times, make up the story told in "Love, Africa: A Memoir of War, Romance, and Survival."  Jeffrey Brown sits down with Gettleman.

ARTS - Africa's Great Civilizations

"Why we're overdue to know the brilliance of Africa's civilizations" PBS NewsHour 2/27/2017

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SUMMARY:  Archaeologists and scholars are learning more about Africa than ever before, from the digitization of records and the unearthing of ancient treasures.  Audie Cornish talks with Henry Louis Gates Jr. of Harvard University about Africa's rich but overlooked history and how his six-part PBS series “Africa's Great Civilizations” took shape.

AUDIE CORNISH, NPR:  The history of the African continent, home to the 15 percent of the world's population, remains a mystery for many.

Historian and Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. admits, in his youth, it was a place he rarely considered.  Now he has a new PBS documentary series that reveals great moments in the continent's pre-colonial history.

It's called “Africa's Great Civilizations.” He joins me now to discuss that work.

Henry Louis Gates Jr., welcome to the program.

HENRY LOUIS GATES JR., Harvard University:  Thanks.  Thanks for having me on.

AUDIE CORNISH:  So, you have tackled all kinds of African-American history, but this goes all the way back, way back to cave paintings.

So, what was the genesis of this idea?

HENRY LOUIS GATES JR.:  I wanted to do a comprehensive history of Africa, and this is it.

I have been thinking about it five years.  Took us a year to shoot.  We went to 12 African countries.  And it's exhilarating, six-hour series on 200,000 years of African history.

When I was growing up, Africa was a place to be avoided, even for black people.  Our images of Africa came from Tarzan and Ramar [of the Jungle] and Sheena [Queen] of the Jungle.  And we were embarrassed about Africa.

BEYOND THE RED CARPET - "A United Kingdom"

"Why actor David Oyelowo made sure this love story became a movie" PBS NewsHour 2/17/2017

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SUMMARY:  In "A United Kingdom," a prince from southern Africa proposes to a British woman in late 1940s London.  Not only does race make the relationship fraught, but their marriage will have international consequences.  Jeffrey Brown sits down with actor and producer David Oyelowo to discuss the true, historical love story that got caught up in Colonial-era politics.

DAVID OYELOWO, Actor:  I'm not asking for an answer this very second.  All I ask of you is that you go away and think about it.

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  In 1947 London, Seretse Khama, played by David Oyelowo, proposes to Ruth Williams, played by actress Rosamund Pike.

ROSAMUND PIKE, Actress:  I know what you're asking.  Yes.  Yes.  Yes.

JEFFREY BROWN:  Their races make the relationship fraught.  But there's more:  He is a prince in his tribe in Southern Africa expected to return to lead his people, and their marriage will have international consequences.

“A United Kingdom” is based on a true story, and it was Oyelowo who first learned of it in a book titled “Color Bar” by Susan Williams.  More than just the film's star, he was the producer who brought director Amma Asante and others into the project.

DAVID OYELOWO:  What was indisputable to me was the power of the love between these two people, and it was that very thing that helped them overcome so many of these insurmountable obstacles and odds that they faced.

And, you know, as someone who is a real believer in love myself, and I mean, love in the truest sense, not movie love.  I'm talking about the unglamorous stuff of sacrifice, of courage.

JEFFREY BROWN:  I must say this film has movie love, because it's love at first sight almost, right?

DAVID OYELOWO:  But, you see, the thing about that is that we even have a name for it, the meet-cute.  You know, we have turned it into something that is so fantastical and so inaccessible that it has become fairy tale-like.

But, actually, what can happen — it doesn't happen every day, admittedly — is that two people see beyond their race, see beyond their cultural differences and their national differences.  And they just — two souls meet.

We should be fighting for equality.  That is where we should be focusing our minds, not on the wife I have chosen, who means you no harm.

"A United Kingdom" Official Trailer #1 (2016)

SOUTH SUDAN - Looting the Wealth

"South Sudan leaders used chaos of war to loot billions, investigation reveals" PBS NewsHour 9/12/2016

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SUMMARY:  Founded in 2011, South Sudan is the world's newest country; but for much of its statehood, it has been engulfed in civil war.  The violence has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than two million people.  A report released on Monday by rights group The Sentry accuses South Sudanese political leaders of making a fortune off the conflict.  The NewsHour's P.J.  Tobia reports.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  South Sudan is the world's newest country, gaining independence from Sudan in 2011.

But, two years later, civil war broke out in the small East African nation.  Though a peace agreement was signed in 2015, sporadic fighting continues.  Millions have been displaced, while rival leaders fight for power and the country's oil and mineral wealth.

A two-year-long investigation into those leaders and their allies revealed billions have been looted from the country.

NewsHour producer P.J.  Tobia has our story

And a warning:  Some viewers may find some of the imagery disturbing.

P.J.  TOBIA, NewsHour producer:  Small, poor and dangerous, the U.N. has called South Sudan one of the most horrendous human rights situations in the world.

Fighters loyal to the president, Salva Kiir, have been battling those backing former Vice President Riek Machar for most of the last four years.  Caught in the crossfire are Sudan's impoverished civilians.  More than two million South Sudanese have been displaced by the fighting.  Tens of thousands have been killed.

The U.N. found that, in just six months last year, 1,300 women were raped by fighters in one South Sudanese state alone.  A report released today by The Sentry, a rights group in Washington, accuses the leaders who've orchestrated this brutality of making billions off the conflict.  Actor George Clooney wrote the foreword to the report.  “Hotel Rwanda” star Don Cheadle also works with The Sentry.  Both were at the National Press Club this morning to talk about the investigation.

GEORGE CLOONEY, Co-Founder, “The Sentry”:  This is pretty explosive stuff.  We're talking about the president and the ousted vice president, along with all of their generals, that we're able to prove without any question that not only are they committing these crimes which they have already been accused of, but that they're profiting off of it.

P.J.  TOBIA:  The report outlines how South Sudan's political leaders, generals and their families have used the chaos of war to generate vast sums of wealth.  They have built mansions across the world, from Uganda and Kenya to Australia.

That young woman flashing the peace sign from the sunroof of a BMW?  She's the daughter of a former general, a former general whose state salary was never more than 45,000 U.S. dollars.

This man is the stepson of another South Sudanese general.  He calls himself the young tycoon.  His Facebook photos show a life of privilege unimaginable to most South Sudanese.  Here, he narrates a tour of a presidential suite at a luxury hotel in Las Vegas.

JOHN PRENDERGAST, Enough Project:  So, it's like a mafia in some ways.  A mafia has taken over the state.

P.J.  TOBIA:  John Prendergast is the director of the Enough Project, a rights group that oversees The Sentry group.

JOHN PRENDERGAST:  The mafia we see in the movies, that is shooting a few people.  In South Sudan, tens of thousands of people have died in this war, with horrific atrocities, mass rape, child soldier recruitment, all the worst of the worst of the human rights abuses that we hear about globally.  And this is how they stay in power.

PHILANTHROPY - Howard Buffett, Feed the World

"How farmer-philanthropist Howard Buffett is planting hope in Africa" PBS NewsHour 5/2/2016

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SUMMARY:  Howard Buffett, son of billionaire Warren Buffett, has an ambitious life goal: ending world hunger.  As a farmer and philanthropist, his focus is on reviving African agriculture, which has suffered massive production failures.  In collaboration with The Atlantic, Judy Woodruff charts Buffett’s efforts to boost food security for billions.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  Africa has vast agricultural potential, yet, over the past half-century, its per capita food production has declined drastically.  In fact, it’s gone from being a net food exporter to now importing much of its food.

The reasons are complex, but they include rapid population growth, political strife and weak institutions.

As part of our ongoing collaboration with The Atlantic, we profile an American farmer and philanthropist who has made it his mission to reverse the trend in Africa.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Howard Buffett is a serious farmer.  He is a conservationist, intent on finding better, more sustainable ways to grow food.

And he is a teacher, sharing what he knows with farmers in Africa, giving them tools to better feed their people.

HOWARD G. BUFFETT, Philanthropist:  This is all going to take nutrients out of the soil.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  He is also a man with a lot of money to spend on making those things happen.

It’s been described that one of your goals or your main goal is ending world hunger.

HOWARD G. BUFFETT:  Well, you got to have a goal.

(LAUGHTER)

HOWARD G. BUFFETT:  But we’re not going to end world hunger, but, you know, I think every step we can take in that direction is something positive.

Just slam it.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  You just slam it?

HOWARD G. BUFFETT:  Hard.  There.  You got it.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  So, now, what do you call this machine again?

HOWARD G. BUFFETT:  8225-R John Deere.  It’s a tractor.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Howard Buffett loves his toys.

HOWARD G. BUFFETT:  My mom always told me I didn’t have enough Tonka toys when I grew up, so I think I have them now.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Mom would be the late Susan Buffett, who died in 2004.  And dad, you guessed it, is Warren Buffett, one of the world’s richest men.

You grew up in Nebraska.  What was it like?  I mean, what do you remember about being in this family?

HOWARD G. BUFFETT:  I think people think it was different because of my dad.

And the truth is, when I was growing up, my dad wasn’t well-known at all.  We grew up in a very normal environment, went to public schools, walked down to the bus stop and went to school.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  At the same time, your dad — because of your dad’s success, you were leading a pretty comfortable upbringing.

HOWARD G. BUFFETT:  Oh, we didn’t have to worry about anything.  And we were always told that, if we wanted to go to college, it would be paid for, if we wanted to go to medical school, it would be paid for, which is kind of funny, because none of the three of us actually finished college.  We all started, but we never quite made it all the way through.

I just had a hard time adjusting in college.  So I went out and I bought a bulldozer, and I started building terraces on farm ground and taking out trees and building basements.  And it was something I always wanted to do, so I went out and did it.

AFRICA - Elephants That Come to Dinner

At a five-star lodge in Zambia, a bizarre phenomenon is stumping wildlife experts and delighting tourists.  An elephant family, led by a matriarch named Wonky Tusk, is overtaking the lobby.  Though elephants can be violent in the wild, here they climb the stairs of Mfuwe Lodge and grace past reception without bumping a chair.

PROTECTED - U.S. Law Protects Lions

"How a new U.S. law protects lions in Africa" PBS NewsHour 12/21/2015

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SUMMARY:  African lions are getting new protections from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  Five months after an American hunter killed an animal named Cecil in Zimbabwe, a new classification will help prohibit imports of lion trophies from Central and West Africa.  Dan Ashe, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, joins Jeffrey Brown to discuss the change.

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed Central and West African lions as endangered, generally prohibiting importation of lion trophies from that region into the U.S.  Lions in Southern and Eastern Africa are now classified as threatened, which will allow U.S. trophy imports only under certain conditions.

The move comes five months after an American hunter killed a lion named Cecil outside a national park in Zimbabwe, and almost five years after U.S. conservation groups petitioned for greater protections for lions.

For more, I am joined by Daniel Ashe, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

And welcome to you.

DANIEL ASHE, Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:  Thank you, Jeff.

JEFFREY BROWN:  Why now?  Is it right to see the killing of Cecil as a kind of game changer that galvanized public attention and now government action?

DANIEL ASHE:  Well, we have been considering the listing of the lion for more than five years.  We were petitioned under the Endangered Species Act, so that’s been our responsibility.

And we proposed listing the lion back in October of 2014, before the controversy over Cecil the lion, but Cecil and that controversy certainly have galvanized public emotions about lions and I think brings us to where we are today.

JEFFREY BROWN:  Advocacy groups have wondered what took so long.

DANIEL ASHE:  Well, we are a scientific organization.  And we’re dealing with what many scientists call the sixth mass extinction.

So we have many, many priorities, a lot of work under the Endangered Species Act.  This is one of those things.  And we have had lots of comment and lots of science to pore through.

ISIS - Recruitment Up, Not in the U.S.

"The number of foreign recruits to the Islamic State is booming, but not in the U.S." PBS NewsHour 12/8/2015

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SUMMARY:  As U.S. officials worry about attacks inspired by the Islamic State group, a new report says the number of foreign fighters traveling to Iraq and Syria has increased dramatically in the past year.  Judy Woodruff learns more from Richard Barrett of the Soufan Group and Rukmini Callimachi of The New York Times.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  As law enforcement and intelligence officials worry about attacks inside the United States inspired by the Islamic State group, a new report released today says the number of foreign fighters traveling to Iraq and Syria has dramatically increased over the past year.

This chart shows most of the new fighters are from the Middle East and North Africa, the former Soviet Republics and Western Europe.  The average rate of fighters then returning to Western Europe is estimated to be 20 to 30 percent.

We turn now to the lead author of the report, Richard Barrett.  He’s senior vice president of the Ali Soufan Group.  It’s a security consulting company.  He’s also a former British diplomat and intelligence officer.  And New York Times reporter Rukmini Callimachi.  She’s written extensively about the Islamic State group and its followers.

Richard Barrett, Rukmini Callimachi, welcome to you both.

Let me start with you, Richard Barrett.

So, the number of foreign fighters going into Syria and Iraq increasing dramatically over the last 18 months.  How much has it gone up, who are they, and where are they coming from?

RICHARD BARRETT, The Soufan Group:  Well, we reckon it’s about doubled.

It’s gone from 12,000, as we estimated in June of last year, to somewhere between 27,000 and 31,000 now.  And most of the recruits are, as you said earlier, from the Middle East and North Africa, but a considerable the number from other countries as well, most notably, of course, Europe, and Russia and the former republics of the Soviet Union.

I think one thing that’s interesting perhaps is that, from North America, the number has remained pretty flat.  There’s been really rather an unremarkable increase from North America, which is quite an illustration of your discussion earlier in the program.

But there are many reasons why people go to join the Islamic State, and it doesn’t mean that all of them are domestic terrorists in training.  A lot of them will go to join the Islamic State.  And I think the key question is about the returnees, whether they have some intention to do something like the Paris attacks or whether, in fact, they’re just fed up with the whole thing, completely disillusioned by the Islamic State and want to go home.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  And I do want to ask you about the returnees, but back to the origin of their decision to make this move, what is driving most of them?

RICHARD BARRETT:  Well, it’s hard to say, of course, and we need to know more.

But I think that the Islamic State does offer some very real attractions.  I think it offers, obviously, some sort of adventure.  And it’s a new venture as well.  You can be in on something which looks really important from the very beginning.  And you can be in on something which gives you a sense of purpose, a sense of belonging, a sense of direction which may be completely lacking in your life at home.

And I think, also, it sort of forgives the past, so you can shed all your past and you can start afresh as a valued and respected member of society.  And I think for many people who go to join the Islamic State, that, they found lacking.  That, they found difficult.

NIGERIA - Pain and Promise

"Civilians are caught in the middle of the war against Boko Haram" PBS NewsHour 11/30/2015

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SUMMARY:  While the Nigerian military has made significant gains against Boko Haram, killings by the group continue, with some civilians caught in the middle.  As part of a week-long series "Nigeria: Pain and Promise," special correspondent Nick Schifrin reports with producer and cameraman Zach Fannin on the government's attempts to wipe out the militant group.

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  Tonight, we begin a week-long series on Africa’s most populous country, “Nigeria: Pain and Promise.”

Special correspondent Nick Schifrin and producer and cameraman Zach Fannin spent more than a month on the ground there, chronicling a nation in the midst of an encouraging and impressive economic boom, but still plagued by income inequality, corruption and terrorism.

This evening, we look at the government’s attempts to wipe out Boko Haram, a terrorist group that killed more people in 2014 than the Islamic State we hear so much about.

While the Nigerian military has made significant gains, the killings by the group continue.  As we report, some civilians are getting caught in the middle.

A warning:  Some of the images in this report may be disturbing.

NICK SCHIFRIN (NewsHour):  On the outskirts of Maiduguri, the men who protect the city fight with whatever they can find, 40-year-old shotguns and iPhone ear buds.  Some carve their own clubs.  Others patrol in floral and kitchen knives.

What they lack in weaponry, they make up for in divinely inspired confidence.

There’s a couple of shotguns.  There’s a few machetes, a few knives, but that’s it.

ABBA AJI KALLI, Civilian JTF:  Yes.

NICK SCHIFRIN:  I mean, what would you actually be able to do if you ran into Boko Haram out here?

MAN:  We chased them out of Maiduguri with stick and we didn’t even have a gun, and when they have AK-47, they have RPG on their hand, but we pushed them out.

ABBA AJI KALLI:  God has put the fear of the Civilian JTF in their heart.  Well done.

NICK SCHIFRIN:  Fifty-one-year-old Abba Aji Kalli leads the Civilian JTF, for Joint Task Force.  He used to be a government auditor.  Today, he’s more comfortable on the front lines.

"Can Nigeria’s booming economy lift its poorest people?" PBS NewsHour 12/1/2015

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SUMMARY:  Nigeria is a nation of superlatives.  It’s Africa's richest country and its fastest growing economy.  At the same time, millions still live in poverty and lack basic services like running water.  As part of a week-long series "Nigeria: Pain and Promise," special correspondent Nick Schifrin reports on the country's massive economic surge, new millionaires, growing inequality and those fighting to provide new opportunities for all Nigerians.

"How a cancer of corruption steals Nigerian oil, weapons and lives" PBS NewsHour 12/2/2015

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SUMMARY:  In Nigeria, where corruption is part of daily life, police officers routinely demand bribes, local government leaders pocket money meant for schools and the former national security advisor is accused of stealing billions from the military.  As part of a week-long series "Nigeria: Pain and Promise," special correspondent Nick Schifrin reports on the challenges of fighting corruption.

"Gay Nigerians face beatings, harsh prison sentences, even death" PBS NewsHour 12/3/2015

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SUMMARY:  Nigeria made same-sex marriage and gay rights activism illegal last January.  Since then, gay Nigerians say abuse and extortion have become commonplace by state-sponsored vigilantes, police and public mobs.  As part of a week-long series "Nigeria: Pain and Promise," special correspondent Nick Schifrin reports on the threats and violence that LGBT citizens face in that country.

"Understanding Nigeria, a country of pain, promise and complexity" PBS NewsHour 12/4/2015

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SUMMARY:  NewsHour has focused in on Nigeria for a week-long series, “Pain and Promise,” examining the fight against Boko Haram, economic development, corruption and LGBT discrimination.  Special correspondent Nick Schifrin and Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author of "Americanah," speak with William Brangham about that country’s complexity.

CONSERVATION - Protecting the African Lion

"Protecting the African lion from trophy hunters" PBS NewsHour 10/27/2014

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JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  Today, there are thought to be little more than 30,000 African lions remaining on the continent, and about 70 percent of those live in just 10 major strongholds.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing that the African lion now be listed as an endangered species following a years-long push from a coalition of advocacy groups.

A representative from one of them joins us now, Jeff Flocken of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Well, welcome to you.

The Wildlife Service says the three main threats facing African lions are habitat loss, loss of prey base, and increased human-lion conflict.  Explain what that means for us.  What exactly is the threat?

JEFF FLOCKEN, International Fund for Animal Welfare:  Sure.

Today’s announcement was very important for lions.  It not only said that this — in fact, the species is endangered with extinction, but that it deserves protection.  You mentioned the threats that include habitat loss, and when there’s conflict with local people and the lions are killed in retaliation, also loss of prey base.

But in addition to those, unsustainable trophy hunting have been a problem.  When the government made an announcement today, they went out of their way to include a new system to monitor and regulate imports of trophy-hunted lion into the U.S.  And that’s our best way to protect them here in the U.S.

AFRICA - Photographer's View of Ebola Crisis

"Photographer documents effects of Ebola on daily life in Liberia" PBS NewsHour 8/18/2014

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JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  I spoke to John Moore, a photographer with Getty Images, a short time ago.  He witnessed the attack on the quarantine center and has been documenting the outbreak in Monrovia.

John Moore, thanks for joining us.

First, tell us more about the event.  Who was involved and why did they seem to be doing it?

JOHN MOORE, Getty Images:  Well, it was an angry crowd who had just driven away a burial team who had come to claim several bodies that were suspected of — people suspected of dying of Ebola.

And the crowd drove away the burial teams and the police and then marched on the isolation ward, the holding center for Ebola patients.  They pushed through the doors and told people that they really didn’t have Ebola after all, that they were sick of other causes, and that it was safe to come out.

There’s a lot of people who deny the existence of Ebola here.  They think that it’s a scheme, a hoax, a plot by the government to bring in international money.  And they pulled these people out of the ward.  And then I left the scene because it was getting difficult.

And afterwards this crowd looted the facility, taking soiled mattresses and contaminated medical equipment, and I assume spreading the disease much more in their community.

AFRICA - Summit in Washington DC

"Turning a narrative of struggle into success story in Africa" PBS NewsHour 8/5/2014

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GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  We turn now to the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit happening this week in Washington.

The main event today was a business forum, where leaders focused on what they see as a wealth of untapped opportunities in one of the world’s fastest growing markets.

President Obama’s appearance highlighted day two of the summit, as he announced billions of dollars in new public and private investment.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:  We want to build genuine partnerships that create jobs and opportunity for all our peoples and that unleash the next era of African growth.

That’s the kind of partnership America offers.  I want Africans buying more American products.  I want Americans buying more African products.  I know you do, too, and that’s what you’re doing here today.

(APPLAUSE)

GWEN IFILL:  U.S. companies plan to spend about $14 billion on everything from construction to banking to clean energy initiatives like wind and solar power.

Former President Bill Clinton, also appearing at the conference, played up business prospects in Africa.  In 2000, he signed the African Growth and Opportunity Act.  The measure aimed to expand U.S. trade with African countries while encouraging free markets.  It is up for renewal next year.

Today, he said investment in the continent remains — quote — “a massive opportunity.”

"How human rights issues factor into African economic advancement" PBS NewsHour 8/4/2014

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JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  As we just heard, despite their emerging economic power, some countries in Africa still lag behind on human rights issues.

Many who follow developments on the continent are hoping that this week’s summit will be an opportunity to press for change beyond trade.

One of them is Nicole Lee.  She’s a human rights attorney and former head of the U.S.-based policy organization TransAfrica.  And she is with us now.

Thank you for being here.

NICOLE LEE, Immediate Past President, TransAfrica:  Thank you.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  So, Nicole Lee, when you look at this summit, what do you think could come of it?

NICOLE LEE:  Obviously, we know by definition this is really an opportunity for African leaders to get together with U.S. leaders and talk about investment in business.

What has also happened — and I’m not sure that the administration was — really understood that this was going to happen, but civil society from the continent of African also got on those planes, came over and want their voices to be heard as well.  They want to be heard on the issue of good jobs.

So does investment mean there’s going to be good jobs?  Does investment mean there is also going to be human rights?  And so while we have the official meeting, there is also a lot of side meetings going on as well.  And in those side meetings, they’re really talking about the preeminence or the need, if you will, for the preeminence of human rights at the table as well.