Since President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali was ousted in January 2011, the unemployment rate has risen to 18 percent from 13 percent, meaning some 1.8 million people are out of work.

The M23 rebel group pulled hundreds of soldiers out of Goma, but many of the city’s residents said they feared the return of the government’s forces, who have a reputation for lawless behavior.

Human rights groups said that the rebels who captured Goma last week were now going on an assassination campaign, despite vows to withdraw peacefully.

Dozens of officials, including ward councilors, party leaders and mayors, have been killed in what has become a desperate, deadly struggle for power and its spoils.

Angered by President Mohamed Morsi’s hurried effort to pass Egypt’s new constitution, tens of thousands of people streamed into Tahrir Square.

Congo isn’t too big to fail; it’s too big to succeed. Rather than striving to hold it together, we should let it break up.