What Bono Doesn't Say About Africa

[Mark O'Neill]

An article of half truths and skewed factoids - not really that different from the folks he is having a go at.

I believe that Africa's problems, much like those of COIN, are complex and not amenable to reductionism and sound bite solutions from people stuck firmly in their Western 21st Century paradigms.

I would find Blair, Bono, Oprah, the LA time commentator and the plethora of other folks who comment on Africa far more believable if they:

a. lived in sub-Saharan Africa for more than five minutes;
b. stayed somewhere other than the Mt Nelson hotel, Sun City or the Sabi Sands when they visited; and
c. had met, talked to, and shared time with some African's other than Nelson Mandela ( This is not a criticism of Mandela - he is probably the most amazing bloke I have ever met).

I have lived in Africa for a while over my career - good places and 'bad'. To my experience, it defies the trivial categorisation offered by either the LA times piece or the celebrity do gooders.

It does deserve 'better' - I think the best place we can start is learning more, and displacing the developed world's profound ignorance of the continent.

Cheers,

Mark