<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1" ?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title>washingtonpost.com - Commentary</title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/world/africa/opinion?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</link><description>Commentary</description><language>en-us</language><ttl>15</ttl><image><title>washingtonpost.com</title><width>140</width><height>20</height><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com</link><url>http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/hp/image/wp_web.gif</url></image><item><title><![CDATA[The Africa You Never See]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58294-2005Apr16.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58294-2005Apr16.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:17:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  In the waiting area of a large office complex in Accra, Ghana, it's standing room only as citizens with bundles of cash line up to buy shares of a mutual fund that has yielded an average 60 percent annually for the past seven years. They're entrusting their hard-earned cash to a local company called Databank, which invests in stock markets in Ghana, Nigeria, Botswana and Kenya that consistently rank among the world's top growth markets.]]></description><author> Carol Pineau</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Zimbabwe's Enabler]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23877-2005Apr3.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23877-2005Apr3.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:17:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  Thursday's election in Zimbabwe was not merely stolen. It was stolen with the complicity  --  no, practically the encouragement  --  of Africa's most influential democrat. If you think too long about this democrat, moreover, you reach a bleak conclusion. For all the recent democratic strides in Africa, the continental leadership that was supposed to reinforce this progress is not up to the challenge.]]></description><author>Sebastian Mallaby</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Easy Ways to Aid Africa]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52534-2005Mar20.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52534-2005Mar20.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:17:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   People know that Africa is desperate  --  that half the population lives on less than one dollar daily; that life expectancy has fallen to 46 because of the AIDS crisis. But people are mostly resigned to this. They believe, wrongly, that progress is impossible. They suppose, wrongly, that helping Africa would cost impossible amounts.]]></description><author>Sebastian Mallaby</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[A Practical Plan to End Poverty]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14732-2005Jan16.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14732-2005Jan16.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:17:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   Americans know a good deal when they see it. Today a group of  leading scientists and practitioners from several fields -- agriculture,  medicine, economics, education, engineering -- is making a proposal to  the world. If  rich and poor countries will follow through on the promises  they have made over the past five years  to fight extreme poverty and disease -- and rely on the best science and technology in doing  so -- the world can save millions of lives and extricate hundreds of millions of  its poorest people from the trap of extreme poverty. The cost is a mere 50 cents out of every $100 of rich-world income in the coming decade.]]></description><author> Jeffrey D. Sachs</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Africa's Health Worker Exodus: Who's at Fault?]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41807-2004Dec6.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41807-2004Dec6.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:17:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Regarding Sebastian Mallaby's Nov.  29 op-ed column, "How Africa Subsidizes U.S. Health Care":]]></description><author></author></item><item><title><![CDATA[How Africa Subsidizes U.S. Health Care]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18883-2004Nov28.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18883-2004Nov28.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:17:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  This Wednesday is World  AIDS Day: It will be marked by concerts and candlelit vigils from Armenia to Zambia. The speeches and statistics will have a horrific familiarity: Two decades after the first diagnoses, AIDS shows no signs of letting up. And yet the debate about AIDS is changing subtly. In Africa, the epicenter of the crisis, the shortage of cash and affordable medicines is no longer the prime issue. Attention is turning to the shortage of health workers, and hence to a dark aspect of globalization.]]></description><author>Sebastian Mallaby</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Road to Violence]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3155-2004Nov21.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3155-2004Nov21.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:17:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[The decision last Monday by the U.N. Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Ivory Coast -- with the possibility of further sanctions -- was necessary to slow the spiral toward chaos in what once was West Africa's oasis of stability and relative prosperity. The simmering conflict in Ivory Coast threatens the region, already buffeted by brutal war and crises. It is also a broader security concern because terrorist organizations, including al Qaeda and Hezbollah, have established sanctuaries in West Africa. More unrest will offer them new opportunities to become entrenched.]]></description><author> Douglas Farah</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[They're Looking Hard for a Reason to Be Optimistic]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56575-2004Oct23.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56575-2004Oct23.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:17:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  The ballots were still being disputed in Florida and the legal briefs were flying fast and furious in Washington, yet what remained a mystery to Americans in November 2000 seemed clear to many people in Lusaka, capital of the southern African nation of Zambia: George W. Bush would be the next president of the United States. And to some, that was cause for optimism.]]></description><author></author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Politics of Misery]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13743-2004Aug18.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13743-2004Aug18.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:17:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  The humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan has usefully drawn the world's attention to the plight of a million or more refugees and to the lifesaving assistance many of them receive from relief organizations. It also spotlights the brutality of a weak national government fighting multiple local rebellions.]]></description><author> Jim Hoagland</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Zimbabweans Seeking Political Asylum]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56509-2004Jul16.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56509-2004Jul16.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:17:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  The July 11 editorial "Sipping Tea in Africa" correctly criticized South Africa for failing to do more to prevent the destruction of Zimbabwe.]]></description><author></author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Al Qaeda's  Growing Sanctuary]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48221-2004Jul13.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48221-2004Jul13.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:17:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   With the end of the brutal conflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone, West Africa is seldom in the news or on the policy agenda these days. Yet the region is quietly gaining recognition as what it has long been: a haven for al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. Weak and corrupt governments, vast, virtually stateless stretches awash in weapons, and impoverished, largely Muslim populations make the region an ideal sanctuary.]]></description><author> Douglas Farah and Richard Shultz</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Beyond 'ABC': Helping Women Fight AIDS]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13501-2004Jun28.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13501-2004Jun28.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:17:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   "Access for All," the theme of next month's International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, sets an appropriately high standard for the world's response to the pandemic. Unfortunately, all too many prevention and treatment programs fail to address the needs of most of those living with the virus, especially in Africa: women and girls. It's time to design programs targeted to the risks that women and girls face in a world of AIDS.]]></description><author> Janet Fleischman</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Flouting the Rule of Law]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4060-2004Jun24.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4060-2004Jun24.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:17:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[   FREETOWN, Sierra Leone -- Last year, when a war crimes tribunal announced the indictment of former Liberian president Charles Taylor for ravaging the neighboring country of Sierra Leone -- my country -- it generated hope for lasting peace in West Africa. But international failure to enforce the indictment has deflated that hope, and Taylor remains a menace.]]></description><author> Zainab Bangura</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Building a Better Africa]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29860-2004Jun9.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29860-2004Jun9.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:17:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  Africa, Henry Kissinger writes in his book "Does America Need a Foreign Policy?" is destined to become "the festering disaster of our age." In his view, only the "moral commitment of the American people and the international community" can save us from that fate.]]></description><author> Thabo Mbeki</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Sartorial Snag]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3522-2004May30.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3522-2004May30.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:17:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  There's a program that works for Africa. It has created 150,000 jobs there, stimulated $340 million dollars of private investment and boosted the region's exports by perhaps $1 billion a year. This program costs the United States almost nothing, but it's about to be gutted. The culprits are the absurd rules of the Senate and the indifference of the Bush administration and prominent senators who could bust through the logjam.]]></description><author>Sebastian Mallaby</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Darfur Catastrophe]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64717-2004May28.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64717-2004May28.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:17:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  Ten years ago CNN ran footage of bloated corpses floating down Rwanda's rivers, while Washington debated whether to call it "genocide." As U.S. officials who later were responsible for U.S. policy toward Africa, we helped plan several subsequent military interventions in Africa. But, like many others, we remain haunted by the Rwandan genocide. So it is with some humility and a full appreciation of the complexity of decisions to deploy U.S. forces that we hazard to recommend how to deal with a new Rwanda now unfolding in the Darfur region of western Sudan.]]></description><author> Susan E. Rice and Gayle E. Smith</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[Misplaced Help in the AIDS Fight]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53219-2004May24.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53219-2004May24.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:17:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  When it comes to the HIV-AIDS pandemic, generosity isn't enough. Wealthy nations' contributions to fight the disease are unwittingly and unnecessarily exacerbating another crisis in some poor countries: the staggering shortage of health care personnel. African doctors and nurses are leaving public-sector jobs in droves to take more lucrative positions in foreign-funded HIV-AIDS programs. Public hospitals and clinics are being stripped of staffers; rural and slum outposts are being abandoned. The United States, the world's largest donor in the HIV-AIDS crisis, must also take the lead in supporting primary health care infrastructure and nourishing Africa's overwhelmed, underpaid nurses, doctors and other health workers.]]></description><author> Holly Burkhalter</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[One South Africa]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45768-2004May21.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45768-2004May21.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:17:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  Lynne Duke's article regarding African author Rian Malan [Style, May 11] assumed that white South Africans had a negative response to Malan's recent outstanding article, which was quoted by President Thabo Mbeki to illustrate the South African miracle of peace and prosperity. Although many whites  turned a blind eye to apartheid's brutalities while benefiting from  its policies, it was not  without a price: fear, guilt, alienation and a sense of failure because they neglected to heed Nelson Mandela's words that we are all equal South Africans, black and white. And so sadly the mass exit and the subsequent brain drain to the United States, Britain and other countries of educated, skilled young South African whites has been your gain and our loss.]]></description><author></author></item><item><title><![CDATA[What an Unnecessary Disaster]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38706-2004Apr24.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38706-2004Apr24.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:17:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[ Last month in Jonizi, South Africa, I watched my friend Jocky Gumede happily bounce his grandchild on his knee. The recent malaria epidemic had subsided, and Jocky was relieved that the child had escaped death -- for this year, anyway. Jocky can't erase the memory of the toll the disease has taken on his family. Still, he is relatively lucky. In South Africa, the malaria rate is falling.]]></description><author> Roger Bate</author></item><item><title><![CDATA[South  Africa's Struggles]]></title><link>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38193-2004Apr23.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38193-2004Apr23.html?nav=rss_world/africa/opinion</guid><pubDate>Sun, 24 Apr 2005 11:17:46 GMT</pubDate><description><![CDATA[  Richard Morin relentlessly accentuated the negative in his March 31 front-page report on  the Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard University poll on attitudes in South Africa  in the 10th year of its democracy.]]></description><author></author></item></channel></rss>