UTHMAN ABU BAKR DIQNA
‘Uthman Abu Bakr Diqna “ ‘Uthman Digna” (c.1840-1926) was one of the ‘Amils (Provincial Governors) of the Mahdist State in the Sudan (1885-1898). His ancestors were Kurds who came to Suakin from Diar Bakr (Northern parts of Modern Iraq) during the time of Sultan Selim I of Turkey (1512-1520) who conquered Egypt in 1517. They […]
SAINT CYPRIAN
THASCIUS CAECILLIUS CYPRIANUS AFER, African bishop and martyr, who was born in Carthage of rich pagan parents, was first a Professor of Rhetoric and then converted to Christianity towards 245. He was elected Bishop of Carthage in 249. He left the city in 250, during the persecution of Decius. He stayed for fifteen months as […]
RIFA’AH RAFI AL-TAHTAWI
RIFA’AH RAFI AL-TAHTAWI (1801-73), the first intellectual reformer of modern Egypt and father of modern Arabic literature, was born at Tahta, Upper Egypt in 1801. For eight years he studied under the best teachers at al-Azhar. His family suffered great financial loss when Mohammed Ali (r.1805-48) confiscated his father’s monopolies, and his mother had to […]
Lake Volta and the Construction of the Akosombo Dam – Ghana
The Volta lake, as it is popularly known, was created by the construction of the Akosombo Dam over the River Volta in the mid-1960s. The filling of the lake necessitated the resettlement of nearly 80,000 people from some 740 villages. The reservoir starts from the Volta Basin, situated in the Central part of Ghana and […]
SIERRA LEONE
A HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION Sierra Leone is a small country, roughly circular in shape, and occupying the southwest coast of West Africa between 6° 55′ and 10° N latitude, and 10° 16′ to 13° 8′ W. It is 27,925 sq mi (72,326 sq km) in area, with a coastline extending for 212 mi (339 km) along […]
