The richest persons in Africa are heads of state, governors and ministers. So every 'educated' African who wants to be rich - and there is nothing wrong with wanting to be rich - heads straight into government or politics.

If NATO goes in and solves the crisis in Darfur, when the next one comes along Africa's leaders will just sit back.

To be sure, dictators are crafty, evil geniuses with awesome firepower at their disposal. They are also brutally efficient at intimidation, terrorism, and mass slaughter. However, a force is able to dominate because the counterforce is either nonexistent or weak.

Getting rid of the dictator is only a first step in establishing a free society. The dictatorship must also be disassembled.

Back in the 1960s Africa not only fed itself, it also exported food. Not anymore.

Africa's salvation doesn't lie in begging and begging for more aid, and as an African, I find it very, very humiliating.

In the West, the basic economic and social unit is the individual; in Africa, it is the extended family or the collective.