Which country will set the pathway for the rest of Africa??

Why do you choose this particular country??

And what has this country done before to support your claim??

I have to say Nigeria. Population+wealth"land"+history, if only they knew!!!

ghana, nigeria, botswana, namibia, uganda, senegal,south africa,kenya, mozambique,gabon

[align=left]6/15/00[/align]
[align=left]If u dnt read all of this then just scroll down to the red parts which are specific to this topic.[/align]
[align=left]Tiny Eritrea, population 3 and 1/2 million people, has been invaded by Ethiopia, population 60 million plus. Presently, there are almost 1 million Eritrean refugees driven from their homes and farms, many into the desert, with no shelter, little food or water, with over half of them being children under 5 years of age. [/align]
[align=left]Up to 1 million Ethiopian troops are continuing to launch major assaults on Eritrean defenses, even though the Ethiopians proclaimed "the war is over" more than two weeks ago. [/align]
[align=left]This invasion constitutes one of, if not the largest, land war since WWII. At the same time it is estimated that up to 15 million Ethiopians are in the midst of famine, suffering from 3 years of drought. Why, many ask, is this happening?[/align]
[align=left]Ethiopia claims they are the victims of Eritrean aggression, are merely seeking to defend their sovereign territory and have no intent to permanently seize any Eritrean territory. The Ethiopians, along with the entire international press, continue to describe this invasion as a "border conflict."[/align]
[align=left]As someone who has been a student of the situation in the so called "Horn of Africa" since the early 1980's I find this claim ludicrous.[/align]
[align=left]What the media almost never mentions is that the invasion of Eritrea by Ethiopia is funded by the USA and armed and advised by Russia. Preliminary research shows that in the last 18 months the American government has provided Ethiopia with at least $460 million in aid in the form of hard, convertible cash. The Economist reports that the UK based International Institute for Strategic Studies claims that Ethiopia has spent over $460 million on arms in the last year alone, almost all of it from Russia and former Soviet block countries. Could these figures be coincidental?[/align]
[align=left]When confronted with these figures, supporters of the "border conflict" line immediately raise the question, "why would the US support the invasion of Eritrea?" They point out, correctly, that Eritrea has almost nothing any outsiders wants, except of course, access to the sea for Ethiopia, which is the main reason why Ethiopia under Haile Sellasie illegally annexed Eritrea over 40 years ago.[/align]
[align=left]But again, why would the US support this invasion? To answer this question I must provide a little history on the subject. Very few people outside the region, especially journalists, have done their homework on this conflict.[/align]
[align=left]At the end of the 1800's, Italy, the last European country to invade Africa, grabbed what was left over, establishing the colony of Eritrea on the western side of the Red (or Erythrean) Sea south of Sudan. Italy held this colony until over run by the British during WWII. Following the war, Britain, after stripping Eritrea of any thing of value, withdrew, turning Eritrea over, supposedly, to the UN. The UN passed the buck to Ethiopia under Emperor Haile Sellasie, with the provision that a plebiscite be held (in accordance with the UN Charter) on whether the Eritreans wanted independence or to be federated with Ethiopia.[/align]
[align=left]Without Eritrea, Ethiopia was landlocked, something that vexed Sellasie's Amhara ethnic minority that ruled Ethiopia. Sellasie, of course, being an "Emperor" had no intention of holding elections and proceeded to illegally annex Eritrea.[/align]
[align=left]Following annexation, Sellasie set about trying to turn Eritreans into good Ethiopians, forcing the use of the Amhara language in schools and various other chauvinist practices that ensured that the Eritreans would rebel.[/align]
[align=left]By 1960 the Eritreans had had enough and began what was to be the longest liberation war in modern African history. Even though the US provided major military support to the Ethiopians, by the mid 1970's the Eritreans had pretty much destroyed the cream of the Ethiopian army that was occupying their country. Eritrea was on the verge of winning independence when a council of army officers, called the Durgue, led by the notorious Col. Mengistu, overthrew and assassinated Sellasie.[/align]
[align=left]Spurned by the US, Mengistu and the Dergue announced themselves to be Marxists and quickly turned to the Soviet Union for support. The Soviets responded with billions of dollars of weapons and advisers, including thousands of Cuban troops who played a key role in Mengistu's ability to consolidate his power. (This is the only time it seems that the Soviets and Cuba did something really rotten in Africa).[/align]
[align=left]Mengistu and the Dergue immediately began to attack the Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front (EPLF) who had, by the late 1960's, succeeded in uniting all the Eritrean people under a united front for national liberation. The EPLF withdrew to the rugged terrain of the Sahel desert and the northern end of the African Rift Mountains and returned to peoples war guerrilla tactics.[/align]
[align=left]Even though the EPLF was "anti-soviet" their aim was to establish a democratic, independent, "socialist" country and as such were on the US's shit list. As such, the EPLF was forced to go it alone, in the process of which they developed an enormous self reliance and self sufficiency. One must not forget that all of this was carried on through the worst drought in Africa in the 20th Century.[/align]
[align=left]Their strength was always the Eritrean people, including the Eritreans in the Diaspora and remains so to this day.[/align]
[align=left]Through out the 1980's the Soviets pumped increasing amounts of the latest military hardware into the Ethiopian army as they desperately attempted a series of larger, more powerful military campaigns to try and wipe out the EPLF liberated zones. By relying on classic "peoples war" tactics of strategic withdrawals followed by sudden, concentrated, overwhelming counterattacks when their enemy was overextended and vulnerable, the EPLF destroyed every Ethiopian offensive, culminating, by the end of the decade, in the battle of Afabet which remains one of the most crushing military victories in history.[/align]
[align=left]Having effectively destroyed the Ethiopian military at Afabet, the EPLF, with their allies the TPLF, drove on Addis Ababa and the last outpost of the Mengistu led Dergue. Having surrounded Addis Ababa, the liberation forces allowed Mengistu to fly to Zimbabwe and end the fighting, sparing Addis from destruction.[/align]
[align=left]Having accomplished their mission, and facing an enormous humanitarian crisis at home due to the war and drought, the EPLF withdrew, leaving Ethiopia effectively in the hands of the TPLF forces.[/align]
[align=left]Originally, the TPLF had only called for independence for Tigray, but when it became apparent that the Dergue's days were numbered they changed their position, declaring that their goal was to oversee a united Ethiopia, of course under Tigrayan rule.[/align]
[align=left]By 1993 Eritrea had carried out their independence plebiscite, as well as the vote ratifying the EPLF leadership as the peoples choice to lead the country ,and set about rebuilding their homeland. Relying primarily on support from patriotic Eritreans in the Diaspora, Eritrea established a socialist based, mixed economy which quickly became the fastest growing economy in Africa.[/align]
[align=left]Eritrea soon became known for its independence from western aid institutions as well as for being the most efficient and corruption free society in Africa. To this day Eritrea is the only country in Africa that owes nothing to the World Bank or the IMF. [/align]
[align=left]This independence, backed up by a thriving economy, is a powerful role model for not only Africa, but for the rest of the world. If tiny, natural resource poor Eritrea can not only go it alone, but do better than all the rest of the IMF/World Bank controlled countries, what is to stop everyone else from following suit?Thomas C. Mountain is a long time revolutionary political activist and anti-racist educator. His background includes participation and leadership roles in the environment, land and housing struggles, labor, cultural work and education. He is founding co-chair of the Hawaii Black History Committee (1985), founding VP of the Hawaii Alliance for Peace and Justice in the Middle East (1982), co-editor and publisher of the [/i]Ambedkar Journal on India's Dalits or Black Untouchables (1996) and one of the founders of the US Eritrean Peoples Friendship Association.[/align]

what u just posted above does not answer ur own question.....but useful information though, they always give aid to this countries they want kissing their arse-then lose control or are not interested in toying with them anymore.

Nigeria....(oh yes)...Its has always been at the forefront of negotiations in africa,the best army resources and with more money pumped into defence they continue tomantain stability in west african n other african countries with rebel forces causing misery...

Even though the country has so many problems it has the best potential....as they say Rome wasnt built in a day.....Nigeria is fightin corruption,mismanagement, religious differences,"international" imageand many other things most "developed countries" faced in their time

i think it will be a good idea if every region-south,west,east,north have a country acting like da "area co-ordinator" and if countries like Libya,Egypt, and other african arab contries actually help other countries in their region like somalia,eritrea and ethopia instead of making the palestinia n isreal issue their priority...

if Egypt is making as much effort in the north-east as Nigeria is making in the west, then i think there will be less problem in dat region

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Botswana is good. Everyone should do a Botswana. And while they are at it, unify under the flag of Unified Africa (UA)

@disguy

yes u are right about were we must start. u said1 african country from all four sides must take a stand forits region and look out for its neighboring countries. but which countries, u mentioned nigeria perhaps for the west,i dnt even no were to start with the north. south africa's got to much white influence,perhaps mugabe could take a stand is the south,i dnt no so much about him,but i no the whites hate him.and in the eastit wouldbe betweenchoose between egypt or eritrea or sudan.

I would say Ghana,South Africa and Botswana.But unitl a cure for AIDS is found Ghana is the jewel.

we cant wait around for the west to find a cure for AIDS,because i dont believe that will happen. 28 Million children in africadie from easy curable diseases each year and
17 million children in africadie from malnutrition and starvation each year. whats going to be the difference when acure for aids is found??? the cure lies within each african,for aids,for corruption,for mismanagement, and for many other problems. once these are realised liberation from aid can be achieved.

i would have to say zimbabwe, i support mugabe all the way

@somali chick,yeah im with you there,as i said before there must be a reason why the whites hate him,wherever its the reasons they present to me or something like his becoming a strong african figure,theres one thing thats clear and thats they hate him.

Eritrea is not a model for Africa, this article sums up my thoughts best

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=13567