Bump!
April 9, 2002 - Senegalese Loner Works to Build Africa, His Way***"I've never seen a country develop itself through aid or credit," said Mr. Wade, who was trained as an economist in Senegal and at the Sorbonne. "Countries that have developed - in Europe, America, Japan, Asian countries like Taiwan, Korea and Singapore - have all believed in free markets. There is no mystery there. Africa took the wrong road after independence."***
April 19, 2002 - Zimbabwe's sole African critic, Senegalese***Wade, a 76-year-old leader elected in 2000 after more than two decades in opposition, emerged as the only African leader to condemn the vote. Last summer, he stood nearly as alone among African leaders in dismissing the idea of European reparation for past African enslavement - asking if his own family, former slave-holders like many in Africa, should also pay. On Zimbabwe, he said Friday, "For me, my problem is: Did the people of Zimbabwe express their free choice of election? My answer is 'no.'"
His remarks came as Wade emerged from a week in which he spearheaded African leaders' successful mediation of Madagascar's violent three-month election impasse. After three days of room-to-room shuttling by himself and four other presidents in a Dakar hotel, Madagascar's two rival presidents agreed to a temporary power-sharing plan. "Something very important on that is the consideration Africans have for elder persons," he said of his own role in that effort. "There are very few people who speak frankly, and generally we succeed," he said. The peace-making came on the sidelines of an African leaders' summit in which heads of state laid strategy for a promised massive infusion of Western aid.
Wade broke from one key provision of African leaders' proposal for encouraging good government among themselves - a demand of the wealthy Group of Eight nations promising the aid. The proposal, endorsed by influential Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, calls for a "peer review" in which African leaders themselves keep leaders like Zimbabwe's president in line. "Maybe if there is a problem, they call the head of state ... and maybe scold him," he said. "I am not very optimistic for the good functioning of the system," he said. "In general, we have little capacity to put pressure on a president."***