Today's Story Line

Securing peace often means building trust between two sides. In Northern Ireland, another historic plank in that platform of trust now is ready to be laid. The IRA agreed on Saturday to open its arsenal to international inspections.

In Sierra Leone, a tattered peace agreement raises questions about the effectiveness of the UN's peacekeeping role in Africa. Efforts continue to free some 500 UN peacekeepers and aid workers being held hostage by rebels.

On the far side of the continent, Ethiopia is struggling with another huge famine. Fifteen years ago, images of starving Ethiopians touched hearts and galvanized international help. Again, people are responding, but aid is slow in coming.

David Clark Scott World editor

REPORTERS ON THE JOB..

BEARING WITNESS TO A FAMINE: Today's story on the famine in Ethiopia was one of the most demanding assignments - physically and emotionally - that reporter Corinna Schuler has faced. She arrived in Ethiopia without her luggage. So, the first four days of the trip - to some of the most remote areas of the country - were spent in the same blue jeans and white linen shirt. Desert dust permeated everything. "At one point, the driver and photographer broke into laughter at the sight of me," she says. Her face and hair were caked in dust, and red sweat was painting her shirt with stripes. At one area, they ran out of water, and Corinna was reduced to begging. She washed with a "slimy green" water. But such indignities were minor compared to the hardships of the Ethiopians she met. Witnessing the skeletal frames of children, a grandmother drinking from a mud puddle, and being advised not to give money to an elderly, starving beggar, "brought me to tears." Corinna filed several stories on the famine for Canada's National Post, and the stories have prompted thousands of dollars in aid donations.

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