'The Many Voices of Africa' by John Ryle

Granta

John Ryle

'Africa is far less homogenous—geographically, culturally, religiously and politically—than Europe or the Americas. South Africa and Burkina Faso have as much in common as Spain and Uzbekistan.'

It has been the year of Africa, the year, according to Our Common Interest, the report of Tony Blair's Commission for Africa, when a combination of indigenous resolve and cash from Western governments was to launch a new assault on the roots of poverty in the continent, stimulating trade, increasing aid, tackling corruption, cancelling debt. In the months since the appearance of the Commission's report, events in African countries have had higher than usual media visibility—but not because of progress in combating poverty. It's been the familiar cavalcade of war, famine and mass killing—in Sudan, then Uganda and Côte d'Ivoire, then Sudan again. In the West, in the world's lucky countries, it may have been the year of Africa; but for many Africans, in much of Africa, it was another year of living on the edge.

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