The outlook for Africa
Over the course of Condoleezza Rice’s many trips to Africa, one indelible image — at a museum commemorating the roughly 800,000 people murdered in the 1994 Rwandan genocide — still haunts the former secretary of state. “There was a note that had been found in the rubble, and it was from a little boy about 8 years old. And it said, ‘Don’t worry, the U.N. is coming,’ ” Rice recalled at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) on Tuesday (Nov. 30). “Well, of course, the U.N. never came.” That era marked a low point in foreign policy toward Africa, she said, and indeed, much of Rice’s work in the region demonstrated her desire to re-engage with the often-struggling continent. In her talk, “The National Interest, Africa, and the African Diaspora: Does U.S. Foreign Policy Connect the Dots?” Rice argued that the United States’ continued involvement in African affairs is good for this country...