Washington's ministerial meeting raised morale but offered no new strategies for tackling the worsening regional conflicts
For a time during Washington’s 16-18 March Africa Ministerial Conference, the capital’s political hatchets were buried and politicians, business people and bureaucrats applauded the administration’s efforts to bring together more than 80 senior African ministers with senior officials from 15 government departments. Administration kingpins such as Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright addressed the meeting, as did Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman and Labour Secretary Alexis Herman. Only Libya, Somalia and Sudan were barred from attending, but 46 African states sent delegations, as did the World Bank, the United Nations and the African Development Bank.
The capital's Africanists are divided over new policies and their authors
Few are indifferent about Washington’s Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Susan Rice, who inspires critics and loyalists in almost equal measure. The press oscillates from adulation...
The generals' choice seems certain to be the people's new president
Like Nigerians last month and Indonesians in June, Algerians will get their chance on 15 April to vote for a civilian president after decades of despotic and corrupt...