Chinua Achebe rejects award

According to BBC, Nigerian author Chinua Achebe has rejected a high honor from his government as a protest against the government's failure to stabilize the country.

Olusegun Obasanjo has been in power for five years, and was hailed as a huge step for democracy when he came into power. But things have not turned out exactly as planned:

"Nigeria is a country that does not work," he said: "Schools, universities, roads, hospitals, water, the economy, security, life." There was a four-day national strike last week over a rise in fuel prices, while more than 10,000 people have been killed in communal clashes since Mr Obasanjo was elected in 1999.