Back in the 1960s Africa not only fed itself, it also exported food. Not anymore.
To be sure, dictators are crafty, evil geniuses with awesome firepower at their disposal. They are also brutally efficient at intimidation, terrorism, and mass slaughter. However, a force is able to dominate because the counterforce is either nonexistent or weak.
Hippos kill more people in Africa annually than any other wild animal.
The election of Senator Barack Obama brought jubilation across Africa, where millions celebrated him as 'one of their own.'
When Uganda got debt relief in 1999, the first item President Museveni bought was a presidential jacket for himself.
In a banana republic, one might slip on a banana peel but things do work - now and then for the people, albeit inefficiently and unreliably.
