World Report 2005: Events of 2004

Many of the pages that follow are written in dry academic prose, but the concerns that led to them are deeply emotional. Any author brings to his or her subjects a series of personal interests and attitudes. It is best to be "up front," revealing in advance how these concerns have developed, and how they in turn may have affected the analysis. Protecting Human Rights in Africa continues my personal involvement in seeking to understand, and to present to others, informed, sympathetic analysis of political change south of the Sahara. My quest bas lasted well over three decades. It started in the heady years of rapid decolonization and ascendant nationalism. A profound transformation of the map of Africa came in 1960, when the pink of the British Empire, the green of the French Empire, and the varied colors of Belgian and Portuguese possessions shifted to the multiple hues of independent Africa. New Dames sprouted inside borders drawn long before. These events seemed to promise a new beginning. The process was fascinating. I first started to follow it as an undergraduate; thoughts of a possible State Department or international organization career heightened my interest in the new born nations. For my baccalaureate thesis, 1 delved into the rate of Namibia (then called Southwest Africa) under United Nations supervision; one benefit was a nodding acquaintance with international reporting systems Several of my college classmates chose the nascent Peace Corps as their first post-BA experience of Africa; others of us decided that further study was our forte; my doctoral work in England included close to a year's field research in West Africa, my first chance to experience directly the charms and challenges of the region. The State University of New York at Buffalo, where I started to teach in 1964, encouraged my continued learning and writing about Africa, her people, and her politics.