Bangui

World leaders and regular people gathered Tuesday in South Africa to honor Nelson Mandela — a man who was labelled a terrorist by the US until 8 years ago, a friend of China and Cuba, and now a symbol of hope and reconciliation for millions. We also look at Saudi Arabia’s interest in its own human genome project, one of the most extreme zipline rides in the world, and a video game where the villian is alcoholism. All that and more, in today’s Global Scan.

The UN will send a force of French and African troops to try to prevent the deepening violence in the Central African Republic. They will be heading into utter chaos.

Violence is increasing in the Central African Republic. And now, its former colonial overseer, France, is talking about an intervention.

France is sending 1,000 troops to the Central African Republic on a peacekeeping mission to help avoid a genocide. New Yorker staff writer Philip Gourevitch says it’s part of a broad effort to re-establish its sphere of influence and reputation in Africa.

Marco Werman speaks with The World’s Carol Hills about an incident that’s showing up in a lot of South African political cartoons.