Bro Abdou, Thanks for forwarding this harrowing rendering of our collective welfare dilemma. I cannot remember when Africa has ever been so much in the news as it is now. But as usual, it has always been Western journalists and media parading Africa's seemingly endless litanies of woes and obituaries: unpredictable outbreaks of Ebola in Gabon and Central Africa; the vicious scourge of malaria amongst Gambian toddlers, the outbreak of fresh slaughter in Liberia, widespread famine throughout Southern Africa, the ravages of AIDS throughout sub-Saharan Africa (even in Gambia), and mass and massive poverty all over the place. True, the recent burying of the OAU for something tentatively hoped to prove better, the impressive but still rhetorical resolve of respectable leaders to live up to the promises of NEPAD - a commitment to observe and respect the Human Rights of Africans, and to rethink and reshape Africa's economic thrust - all suggest that the news have not been all bad. But the rate at which we are burying the dead in Africa simply dwarfs the speed at which the wires are able to report the good news. John Jeter's article on the Post just confirms that position. Nevertheless, I am placing a caveat lector on the said article. It has been fashionable for Western journalists to make sweeping and reckless generalisations in describing historical circumstances in Africa, the result, I presume, partly of propagandistic leanings and partly professional indescretion toward all matters African. For how else must we read Jeter's assertion that .. "we're seeing an entire continent struggle to make the passage from authoritarian, Marxist-style government to a modern, market-driven democracy". Such wooly thinking in a paper as major as the Washington Post, with its authoritative pitch, intructs EVERYONE that all African governments were not only Marxist (sic!) but that these governments are responsible for widespread destitution in the continent. Even where one is unwilling to be ideologically strident, that kind of assertion is simply false. Most African governments, at anytime after independence, were capitalist. Much less than half paid lip-service to a marxist-leninist ideology and even fewer still made any serious inroads to experiment with socialist economic organisation. It is incredible that Jeter fails to mention that Sotuth Africa, the subject of his work, is perhaps modern history's most grotesque capitalist monstrosity! He can therefore be forgiven for missing the observation that the rest of the world indeed reflects Apartheid cum post-apartheid's structural discrepancies through and through. Capitalism like socialism, equally failed in Africa., but only less dramatically, wrote Ousman Manjang. It is our business to find out why and put the necessary corrections in place! On the other hand, the people of South Africa must push for the Mbeki government to take its responsibility and implement BIG. It will be a more significant political and economic milestone that all the huge talk about NEPAD. African governments but especially African peoples need to understand that the governments they elect and pay tax to are responsible for their welfare; it is time that African governments stop liberating themselves from the people. As soon as the governments begin committing themsselves practically to feed every citizen, they would have come a long way in respecting their Human Rights. Momodou S Sidibeh, Stockholm/Kartong ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~