Sanou Mbaye
Sanou Mbaye is a former senior executive of the African Development Bank. His most recent book is L’Afrique au secours de l’Afrique (Africa to the Rescue of Africa).
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2011-08-25
| In 2000, Senegalese voters enthusiastically went to the polls to elect Abdoulaye Wade as their president. Unfortunately, Wade turned out to be almost a caricature of the dozy African potentate for whom power, nepotism, and embezzlement become indistinguishable.... read |
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2011-04-26
| Elite corruption and incompetence, a population vulnerable to demagogic manipulation, and the ruthlessness of French neo-colonialism have combined to plunge francophone Africa into a deadly cycle of violence, humiliation, and hopelessness. As change comes to the region, will Francophone Africa finally end its French enthrallment?... read |
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2011-02-01
| Chinese leaders pride themselves on a keen sense of history, but that sense is absent in China's dealings with Africa. In perpetuating a partnership with the same breed of corrupt leaders that colluded with previous invaders and exploiters, the Chinese have forgotten that Africans have always gained the upper hand over their foes in the end.... read |
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2010-10-20
| Sub-Saharan African is in the grip of currency-union mania, with regional groups of countries in eastern, southern, and western Africa all giving priority to the idea of creating a common monetary area. But, at this stage of their economic development, Africa’s countries should prioritize long-term economic integration, not currency union.... read |
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2010-09-27
| For much of Africa, high commodity prices and rising consumption should mark a decisive break with endemic poverty. But, unless African leaders change their ways, it will not.... read |
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2010-07-29
| Across Africa, almost all governments praise economic modernization as the cornerstone of prosperity and the yardstick by which their effectiveness should be measured. But too many African leaders have been willing to spend a fortune to equip their countries with state-of-the-art settlement systems, only then to proceed to exclude their citizens from using them.... read |
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2010-05-20
| This month, Africa’s Francophone countries will mark the 50th anniversary of their independence, and of the ties they maintain to France. But there isn't much to celebrate.... read |
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2010-01-26
| Official statistics for 2009 are likely to show that migrants’ remittances fell sharply, as the global recession severely eroded job opportunities abroad. That makes it all the more important that African countries, many of which have paid a strong groundwork for sustainable growth, have a financial system in place that can leverage remittances effectively as the global economy recovers.... read |
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2007-10-17
| Sub-Saharan Africa’s historical legacy of artificial and unmanageable colonial boundaries, ethnic antagonisms, and an appalling record of leadership failures has hampered its quest for economic integration. But a sector-by-sector approach, beginning with energy, could mitigate these handicaps.... read |
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Overcoming Africa’s North-South Divide
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Sanou Mbaye 
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The late President Mobutu Sese Seko of former Zaire once declared that the North African countries, which pride themselves on their Arabic descent, should be excluded from the then Organization of African Unity. Mobutu’s rule was, of course, deeply flawed, but he was not alone within the pan-African movement in such thinking. The antagonism between the blacks of sub-Saharan Africa and the inhabitants of the continent’s north remains a reality that impedes the prospect of any union between them. ... read
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2003-09-17
| The African Union, which replaced the Organization for African Unity (OAU) in 2002, is trying to reproduce the European Union's institutions and ways of acting. But copying the EU blueprint means that nothing has been learned from the past and that nothing is being done to avoid the pitfalls Europe has endured. ... read |
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2004-01-02
| France's unchallenged political, economic, and military domination of its former sub-Saharan African colonies is rooted in a currency, the CFA franc. Created in 1948 to help France control the destiny of its colonies, fourteen countries--Benin, Burkina-Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Bissau Guinea, and Chad--maintained the franc zone even after they gained independence decades ago. ... read |
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2004-09-09
| It takes a threat to oil supplies to get world leaders to pay attention to Africa. Usually neglected by globetrotting statesmen, the continent recently saw visits from US President George W. Bush, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Brazil's Lula Da Silva, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and many other world leaders. Their public comments were typically devoted to development, ending Africa's many wars, and the fight against HIV/AIDS, but all of them had oil on their minds. ... read |
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2004-05-04
| The success that US President George W. Bush and his special envoy, former Secretary of State James Baker, had in getting Iraq's foreign debts canceled or rescheduled shows what can be done when a policy is backed by political will. The contrast with Africa's debts could hardly be starker. Just three years ago, Jubilee 2000 made news when civil society groups, rock stars, and a few finance ministers like Britain's Gordon Brown pushed for African debt cancellation. President Bush mostly succeeded in his crusade; Jubilee 2000 succeeded mostly in getting empty promises. ... read |
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2006-05-03
| Why are the countries of sub-Saharan Africa the poorest in the world? One reason is the set of ill-designed development strategies that the IMF and the World Bank have implemented in the region for nearly half a century. But the centuries-old culture of leadership that is ingrained in many African societies has played an equally disastrous role.... read |
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2006-10-06
| Ever since the Berlin conference of 1883, which Belgium’s King Leopold II called “the sharing of Africa’s cake,” the West has assumed exclusive rights over sub-Saharan Africa. But, while centuries of struggle to end colonial rule and apartheid have not changed this much, now Western influence is being challenged by China, which likewise covets Africa’s rich reserves of minerals and resources. ... read |
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2004-11-29
| Sub-Saharan Africa's appalling poverty and living conditions have been exposed repeatedly through television and the Internet. But these agonizing pictures represent only the symptoms of an underlying - and largely unreported - malady: capital flight. ... read |
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2007-03-05
| The late President Mobutu Sese Seko of former Zaire once declared that the North African countries, which pride themselves on their Arabic descent, should be excluded from the then Organization of African Unity. Mobutu’s rule was, of course, deeply flawed, but he was not alone within the pan-African movement in such thinking. The antagonism between the blacks of sub-Saharan Africa and the inhabitants of the continent’s north remains a reality that impedes the prospect of any union between them. ... read |
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2010-09-27
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| For much of Africa, high commodity prices and rising consumption should mark a decisive break with endemic poverty. But, unless African leaders change their ways, it will not.... read |
2010-01-26
