Fighting Terrorism at Gleneagles - New York Times

"Africa straddles the increasingly fraught divide between Islamic and Christian civilizations...."
Fighting Terrorism at Gleneagles - New York Times: "As the leaders of the richest nations carry on their annual conference despite the bombings in London, they have a chance to embrace what should be an essential element of any long-term global strategy against terrorism. By adopting a coherent plan to tackle the extreme poverty of Africa, the leaders of the G-8 countries will also take on the civil wars, governmental breakdowns and illicit financial flows of one of the world's most troubled regions.

For weeks, this page and people around the world have exhorted the leaders deliberating in Scotland to rise to the challenge of Africa for reasons of human compassion and economic fairness. But there are security reasons, too, starting with the way Africa straddles the increasingly fraught divide between Islamic and Christian civilizations. That schism has found expression in some of the continent's longest-running conflicts."

And with Africa now on track to be the source for 25 percent of this country's crude oil imports by 2015, Washington has a special interest in promoting the continent's peaceful development and avoiding the nexus between oil money and terrorism that has developed in the Middle East. That concern underscores the importance of the other main issue on the meeting's agenda: global climate change and the need to find alternatives to polluting fossil fuels.