Half a year into the global economic crisis, an economist tells WIDE ANGLE “there have been positive developments in the past ten years that should help African countries weather the storm.”

A round-up of how nations around the globe are dealing with the economic downturn: bailouts, I.M.F. loans, and schadenfreude.

Links to information on migration in Africa and the history of Botswana and Zimbabwe.

(July 26, 2005) "Border Jumpers" takes us inside the human drama at the Botswana-Zimbabwe border, profiling illegal immigrants threatened with arrest and deportation, and a journalist who reports on growing fears among Botswana's citizens that their 1.7 million people could be overrun by Zimbabwe's troubled 12 million.

Africa has long been saddled with poor, even malevolent, leadership: predatory kleptocrats, military-installed autocrats, economic illiterates, and puffed-up posturers. By far the most egregious examples come from Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zimbabwe — countries that have been run into the ground despite their abundant natural resources.

This photo essay examines aspects of life in nine African countries.

Learn more about the historical facts of Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africans.