The Foreign Service Journal, January 2012

22 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 2 ery, and I find that to be true.) But by 1983, when I was posted in Guinea, farmers in their fields asked me when “independence” would be over. They recounted how they had suffered during the colonial period, and said that since becoming a nation in 1958 they had suffered even more. Their only hope was for independence to end, they insisted, and wanted to know what comes after it. I did not have the heart to tell them that “independence” is a permanent con- dition. Today I find it difficult to gain a clear vision of Africa’s fu- ture. Where should Africa be in 40 years, and how do Africans get from here to there? I do not have the answer. I have observed Ghana’s progress firsthand, and it seems to represent a future to which many African countries should aspire. If Ghana can move ahead, why can’t other countries? New hopes for development arise every few years, and new initiatives that promise not to repeat the errors of pre- vious strategies are rolled out. Optimism for the success of the newest initiative is hard to rein in, and maybe this is all right, for the continent continues to need all the help it can get. But, as you often hear there, enough with the words and promises—what’s needed is action. Certainly, if words could be eaten, there would be no hunger in Africa! Searching for a New Way Forward To remind myself of howmuch the fundamental devel- opment challenges in Africa have not changed, I keep near my desk a copy of Al Mosher’s 1962 book, Getting Agri- culture Moving in Africa , and Carl Eicher’s article, “Fac- ing Up to Africa’s Food Crisis,” that appeared in the fall 1982 edition of Foreign Affairs . I also find it useful to keep handy the 1982 World Bank publication, Accelerated De- velopment in Africa , that Elliot Berg and his very capable team produced. When I served in Somalia in 1993 and 1994, I also kept a copy of a 1981 issue of National Geographic with its fea- ture article, “Somalia in Its Hour of Hope,” on my desk. Almost 30 years later, Somalia, as well as a number of other African countries, is still in search of hope. I am also still waiting for the promises of the Lagos Plan of Action of 1980 to be fulfilled. It’s not clear to me how the wealth needed to sustain progressive growth in Africa can be created andmanaged competently. The reality may be that some coun- tries, or parts of countries, are not predisposed to develop in the way Western donors prescribe. Per- haps new measures need to be de- vised to record progress in such areas. This implies that for transformational development to work, Africans need to take control of their own destinies and develop homegrown models that best respond to their circumstances. A way must be found to reshape values and transcend current mindsets. Of course, nothing will work well without honest and competent leaders who have the best interests of their people at heart. Tragically, there is a shortage of such leaders in Africa. Africans have also learned over the years not to count too much on donor promises. Many development assis- tance failures occurred because donors were not reliable partners, especially because they seldom held the course for the time needed to achieve lasting results. And much development assistance failed because it was overly politi- cized and too tied to foreign policy considerations, partic- ularly during the Cold War era. A major disappointment was that the expected post-ColdWar peace dividend never materialized. Today Is More Complicated Today’s Africa is more complicated, more crowded and less peaceful, and I do not hear people laugh as much as before. You have to keep looking over your shoulder all the time, ready in many places to deal with bandits. Urban crime has risen steeply, and fear among Africans about being robbed, or worse, is greater. A study of the heights of walls around houses and all the security meas- ures taken these days would make for an interesting, if alarming, read. Surely if crime and corruption could be reduced substantially, the continent would enjoy a huge development boost. Of course, a big difference today is communications technology. Thanks to the cell phone you can make a call from almost anywhere in Africa, and Internet cafés abound. These advances make life in the village very dif- ferent than it was years ago. Yet the age-old problems of satisfying basic needs for food, water, health services, shel- ter and energy still remain to be solved. For me, techno- F OCUS But by 1983, when I was posted in Guinea, farmers in their fields asked me when “independence” would be over.