The Foreign Service Journal, May 2004

18 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A Y 2 0 0 4 he land of the “Horsemen of the Apocalypse” was how we described Ethiopia when brief- ing visitors during my last posting there (1999-2002). And regrettably, those of us who have spent time on the conti- nent know that the term can apply to wide swaths of Africa. That’s the bad news. The good news is that in those same briefings, we would also point out that beyond the grim reality of war, pestilence (HIV/AIDS) and hunger, there are, finally, encouraging trends: increasing availability of basic health services, growing school attendance (especially for girls), and, perhaps most importantly for the longer term, the government’s genuine interest in fighting corruption and F O C U S O N A F R I C A A FRICA C AN M AKE I T — A ND H OW W E S HOULD H ELP T A MIDST THE DAILY DRUMBEAT OF DIRE NEWS FROM A FRICA , THERE ARE ALSO ENCOURAGING TRENDS . T HE U.S. CAN AND SHOULD HELP FOSTER PROGRESS ; HERE ’ S HOW . B Y T IBOR N AGY David Dean