Word: townes
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...Africa, Durban and Mombasa endured but Goree (Ghana) and Ibo (Mozambique) declined with the end of slavery. Nowhere, though, was harder hit by the end of that terrible trade than Zanzibar. Its former capital, Stone Town, was literally built on slaves: the bones of thousands were encased in the foundations of several buildings in a horrific form of reinforced masonry. But if slavers deserted Zanzibar, the immense houses they built on the backs of their ghastly cargo remain, along with a host of cultural legacies. And that's Stone Town's main draw: the chance to walk through the past...
...Today, Stone Town is the historic center of the present capital, Zanzibar City, and is a UNESCO World Heritage area. The showpiece is the waterfront, a line of whitewashed palaces and forts beside clear, green waters. Here the British Old Dispensary sits next to Portuguese cannons, a fort built by Omani Arabs, and the Victorian clock tower of the Beit al-Ajaib - the first building in Africa with running water, electricity and a lift...
...stronghold of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the villager from Karam was fleeing with his family in the opposite direction. After walking for several hours, a bus happened to stop nearby. Parting with whatever cash they had, they bought themselves a ride to this wild and dusty frontier town three days later. "The bombing was hard," Din recalls. "It destroyed five houses near my own." (See pictures of Pakistan's vulnerable North-West Frontier Province...
...Dera Ismail Khan traditionally welcoms the Mehsud tribe this time of year, as they vacate their homes in the chilly mountains in favor of the town's warmer plains. But the influx now is seen as fanning the flame of the town's existing ethnic and sectarian tensions. "It changes the dynamic," says Faiysal AliKhan, head of Fida, the main refugee support group in the area. "Dera Ismail Khan is already cash-strapped. There is a shortage of schools and water. There is a lot of crime. Some of the locals are growing resentful. They say that troubles will follow...
...Already scarred by two years of violence from sectarian bomb attacks and targeted killings, the town is now bracing for fresh attacks as fears rise that militants posing as refugees may creep in. The local Shi'ite community, which has suffered vicious suicide bomb attacks, erected new fortifications as the refugees came to town. The garrisoned quarter of the city is sealed off to outsiders. On the streets, where a deceptive calm prevails, soldiers in fatigues plunge through the streets at high speeds, flashing their weaponry. Nearby civilian cars swerve and screech to a halt. The faintest sign...