Niger

Half a world and almost immeasurable economic differences separate the privileged students of Polytechnic School in Pasadena from the nomads of Niger and the genocide victims of Darfur. Yet the three groups have a common bond, thanks in part to one student's visit to Africa last year. In March 2006, Leslie Brian, 17, and her parents joined Wodaabe nomads in the Niger desert in a "volunteer vacation" offered through the Nomad Foundation, a 10-year-old nonprofit organization based in Ojai.

Rebels attacked an army base in Niger, killing 13 soldiers, wounding 30 and taking at least 47 prisoners, officials said. A statement read on national TV by government spokesman Mohammed ben Omar said a group of heavily armed men attacked security forces early in the day in a remote Saharan outpost not far from Libya.

Egypt and Niger were declared free of endemic polio Wednesday by the World Health Organization, bringing the goal of eradicating the paralyzing disease worldwide a step nearer. Egypt, where polio has been traced back 5,000 years, has had no cases for more than a year, and the nine reported in Niger were due to imports of the virus from neighboring Nigeria.

Militants released six foreign oil workers Wednesday, including a diabetic Texan celebrating his 69th birthday. But three other hostages -- two Americans and a Briton -- were kept by militants from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta. The nine were taken captive Feb. 18 to press fighters' demands for a greater share of oil revenue generated in the restive southern region. A militant spokesman said Wednesday that all "low-value" hostages had been freed.

Two Italian tourists kidnapped nearly two months ago in Niger's desert were released in Libya and flew home, Italian officials said. Claudio Chiodi and Ivano De Capitani were abducted along with nearly two dozen others near Niger's border with Chad on Aug. 21. A group calling itself the Revolutionary Armed Forces of the Sahara, known by its French initials FARS, claimed responsibility, the Foreign Ministry said. Chiodi and De Capitani were released Thursday night.

Niger ordered the expulsion of 150,000 Arab refugees. The refugees, from Chad and other neighboring countries, have lived in Niger for decades. The Interior Ministry said the drastic measure was taken because many of the refugees are livestock herders whose camels are destroying arid Niger's fragile ecosystem, particularly water sources in short supply. Many of the Arabs are nomads who fled conflicts in Chad decades before.

Niger said an expulsion order issued this week applied to 3,300 refugees from neighboring Chad who lack proper identity documents, not 150,000. The interior minister had said Tuesday that the larger number of Arab refugees, who have lived in this West African nation for decades, would have to leave because they were destroying arid Niger's fragile ecosystem, particularly water sources. Government spokesman Mohamed Ben Omar said the 3,300 had until Saturday to leave the country.

Niger's government called off a threat to expel thousands of Arab refugees who had fled neighboring Chad. Spokesman Mohamed Ben Omar said the government was not reacting to international pressure. On Thursday, Omar had said 3,300 refugees living in Niger without proper identity documents would have to leave. That number was many times smaller than an original figure from the interior minister, who said Tuesday that 150,000 refugees were required to leave because of ecosystem damage.

Niger appealed for emergency food aid to help millions of people facing severe shortages in the poor West African nation after a drought and locust infestation. "In these difficult, and to be honest, tragic moments ... I want to launch ... an anguished appeal to the international community for emergency food aid," Prime Minister Hama Amadou told the parliament. About 3.6 million people in Niger are in critical need of food aid, the United Nations says.

Millions of people on the southern fringe of the Sahara Desert face severe food shortages unless donors provide more funds, the United Nations said Wednesday. The U.N. World Food Program said it had received only a third of the $11 million it needs to fund emergency operations in Niger and Mali, two of the world's poorest nations, where drought and a locust plague have triggered a food crisis.