In The News

Africa Held Back From Manufacturing Success

Larry Elliott June 5, 2006
While some African nations can count themselves as rich in natural resources, a great proportion of raw materials produced in these mainly poor countries are exported to other continents for manufacture into finished goods. While Africa has potential for industrial development, the obstacles to growth are daunting. To begin with, the lack of infrastructure and training are widespread problems...

Somalis Brave a Sea of Perils for Jobs Abroad

Marc Lacey June 5, 2006
For individuals seeking an escape from the crushing drought, poverty and violence of Somalia, the width of the Gulf of Aden between the African coast and that of Yemen is tantalizingly narrow. The two-day journey, however, is deadly for the migrants who cram onto rickety fishing boats, waiting to be smuggled across the divide. Conservative estimates suggest that since September 2005, about 1000...

Africa Cannot Catch Up Until the West Keeps to Its Deal

Larry Elliott June 1, 2006
Ghana benefits from relative economic advantages over many of its neighbors in Africa. The country does, after all, have its own stock exchange. Alan Kyerematen, Ghana’s minister of trade, points to four levels on which improvement is needed for sub-Saharan countries to rise from debt: the firm, where investment is needed in both physical and human capital; the government, which must pursue...

The West Is Teeming with Africans Doing Odd Jobs Because Our Leaders Can’t Provide Vision or Hope

Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem May 31, 2006
The narratives of illegal immigration in both Europe and North America often focus on the problems faced by receiving countries or the trials of those forced to live covert lives in foreign lands. The exodus of citizens from underdeveloped states, however, imposes the most harm on the countries that are abandoned. Author Abdul-Raheem describes the irony of sitting on a plane next to a man who...

“I’ll Make It to Europe, Or Die Trying”

Matthias Gebauer May 25, 2006
Mauritania, like other African countries, offers a desperate future. Residents age with a fatalism born of a failed education system, joblessness and constant violence. Any endeavor to escape is a testament to the human spirit, and many pin their hopes on a treacherous Atlantic journey to Europe. The risk often ends in death or disappointment as patrols from Europe capture makeshift boats,...

Drought Insurance for the Third World

Beat Balzli May 15, 2006
After a year of natural disasters, the international community may shrug about the possibility of 6 million Kenyans, Ethiopians and Somalis facing drought and possible starvation. In response, the World Food Program and the World Bank have developed a new plan to replace aid: famine insurance. The new model of relief shifts emphasis from donations to arrangements with international financial...

Africa’s Bitter Harvest

G. Pascal Zachary May 10, 2006
For years, Souley Madi has had many advantages as a cotton farmer in Badjengo Cameroon. He requires no complex, costly machinery to plant his fields. He has a beneficial arrangement with a state-owned company that collects his harvest on time for a satisfactory rate. With these earnings, he sends his five children in school, which he believes is the key to their future. Yet Madi wonders how...