Forging a new policy toward Africa

Forging a new policy toward Africa

Africa, and Africans, will indeed have a critical role to play in post-Clinton America and in fact, in the world itself. That reality was intently brought home this week, when during the orientation tour he took of the State Department that he now heads, Secretary of State Colin Powell tipped his hand on department priorities by making the Africa Bureau his first stop.

Africa holds much promise for the world -- if that promise can be properly mined -- tapping the best of its population and human potential, lessons on how to build a multiracial society and its massive natural resources that can benefit not just Africans, but the world at …