Africa

Guinea-Bissau policeman Edmundo Mendes got a tip that South American drug traffickers had dumped 2 tons of cocaine off the coast of his West African country and marked it with a buoy so confederates could pick it up, then smuggle it to Europe. But Mendes, part of his country's tiny counter-narcotics force, was powerless because he didn't have a boat with which to seize the drugs. Even if he had, he and his colleagues were pitifully short of weapons to defend themselves if a fight ensued.

In the heart of the Ethiopian community here, a group of friends gathered after work in an office to chew on dried khat leaves before going home to their wives and children. Sweet tea and sodas stood on a circular wooden table between green mounds of the plant, a mild narcotic grown in the Horn of Africa. As the sky grew darker the conversation became increasingly heated, flipping from religion to jobs to local politics. Suddenly, one of the men paused and turned in his chair.

This sprawling industrial park south of Nairobi was supposed to be a centerpiece of a Clinton-era U.S.-Africa trade program designed to make "Made in Kenya" almost as familiar as clothing labels from China and Taiwan. Well-known American brands, including wrinkle-free Dockers, Gloria Vanderbilt jeans and Izod polo shirts, roll off sewing assembly lines here before being shipped to Target, Sears and other U.S. retailers.

Just 20 years ago, South Africa was commonly perceived as one of the most polarized, ill-starred places on the planet. Shackled by the racist system of apartheid, or legally enforced segregation, it was a nation divided against itself and shunned by the rest of the world as a pariah state. Today the world is looking at South Africa for very different reasons. This summer the country will become the first African nation to host the World Cup soccer tournament. As one of the most politically stable, democratic and relatively prosperous countries on a troubled continent, South Africa is regarded as a model by many of its neighbors.

On his medical missions to Africa, Dr. Lawrence Czer has dealt with poverty, lack of electricity, bad accommodations -- and military checkpoints. In Sierra Leone, Czer and his team were sometimes stopped by rifle-toting soldiers who simply wouldn't let them through. "They'll just have you stand there and you'll see other people going through," Czer said. The medical team refused to give the soldiers any money. All they could do was try to cajole them. "Or shame them," the doctor said.

President Obama's conversation with Africa is unlike any dialogue in history between that continent and the U.S. government for one reason: It is being led by a black American president with African roots. And Obama, who often cites his father's homeland of Kenya, clearly sees his background as an advantage in pursuing new policies.

Alarmed by the rise in Latin American drug traffic in West Africa, nations including Colombia, Brazil and the United States are establishing or increasing their police presence in that unstable region. Racked by internal strife that has left them poor, crime-ridden and institutionally weak, several West African nations in recent years have become key transit hubs for Colombian, Peruvian and Bolivian cocaine headed to Europe. In an interview last week, Colombian National Police commander Gen.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced Friday that it would greatly increase agricultural grants designed to reduce hunger and poverty in Africa and South Asia. The $306-million commitment over four years included $164.5 million to the Nairobi, Kenya-based Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, for efforts to improve soils and help small farmers boost crop yields. The Rockefeller Foundation contributed an additional $15 million to the effort.