Look at the history of peace accords in Africa. They have a terrible record. They are shredded even before the ink on them is dry.

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

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

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.

Western-style multi-party democracy is possible but not suitable for Africa.

There was free trade in Africa. There was free enterprise in Africa before the colonialists came.

In a banana republic, one might slip on a banana peel but things do work - now and then for the people, albeit inefficiently and unreliably.