Eliza Griswold: All Publications, Events and Press

The Man For a New Sudan

Ron Tang — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 22:46:00 -0400

When Roger Winter’s single-engine Cessna Caravan touched down near the Sudanese town of Abyei on Easter morning, a crowd of desperate men swamped the plane. Some came running over the rough red airstrip. Others crammed into a microbus that barreled toward the 65-year-old Winter as he climbed down the plane’s silver ladder. Some Sudanese call Winter “uncle”; others call him “commander.” On this day, angry and anxious, the people of Abyei wanted Winter’s help in averting a return to civil war between the predominantly Arab north and the black south -- a decades-long conflict, claiming more than two million dead,… more

God's Country

Ron Tang — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0500

It was an ordinary soccer pitch: sparse tufts of grass and reddish soil surrounded by cinder-block homes. The two candidates stood on opposite sides of the field as the people of Yelwa, a town of 30,000 in central Nigeria, lined up behind them one May morning in 2002 to vote. Whoever had more supporters would lead the town’s council. And whoever led the council would control the certificates of indigeneship: the papers certifying that Yelwa was their home, and that they had a right there to land, jobs, and scholarships. Between the iron goalposts milled ethnic Jarawa, principally Muslim merchants… more

Eliza Griswold on Public Radio International | 'God's Country: Nigeria's Middle Belt'

Communications — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:39:00 -0500

New America in the News:

God's Country: Nigeria's Middle Belt (Public Radio International)

Over a slideshow of photos by Seamus Murphy, Lisa Mullins talks with The Atlantic magazine's Eliza Griswold about reporting in Nigeria's middle belt, and the history of religious tensions in the region.

Eliza Griswold wrote the article "God's Country" appearing in the March 2008 issue of The Atlantic. It is available online along with additional coverage of Nigeria's middle belt.

Occupational Hazard

Articles — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 12:55:00 -0400

"Take off your veil!" the Somali soldier shouted at the woman in the mostly empty street. Steadying his assault rifle with his right hand, he ripped away the woman's black niqab with his left. "Why are you coming so close to us? You have explosives?" He leveled the muzzle of his gun against the bridge of her nose. Her mouth, suddenly embarrassed and exposed, broke into a jester's forced grin.

"I just want a juice," she pleaded. Except for a handful of armed soldiers, the only other person on the deserted street was a man selling mango juice from behind a… more