Africa, Another Side of the Coin

''Africa is a lost cause''. This is a cynical view held widely in the West, in much of the world and even in Africa. Many people in the old European colonial powers - and not only the dwindling band of ''old Africa hands'' who served in the colonies - are in despair, lamenting maladministration, corruption, civil and inter-state wars, poverty, famine and the seemingly unstoppable march of AIDS. An...