You have to separate the humanitarian impulse from the record of aid itself. We all want to help. Many people would say that it's the moral impulse of the rich to help the poor, but the record of aid has been terrible.

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

When Uganda got debt relief in 1999, the first item President Museveni bought was a presidential jacket for himself.

Personally, I regard myself as an intellectual 'rebel,' kicking against the 'old colonialism-imperialism paradigm' which has landed Africa in a conundrum.

The election of Senator Barack Obama brought jubilation across Africa, where millions celebrated him as 'one of their own.'

Dictators are allergic to reform, and they are cunning survivors. They will do whatever it takes to preserve their power and wealth, no matter how much blood ends up on their hands. They are master deceivers and talented manipulators who cannot be trusted to change.

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