On Presidents Day, Boston University’s African Presidential Archives and Research Center (APARC) released its first State of Africa report, a platform for democratically elected African leaders to assess the pressing economic, political, and cultural issues in their respective countries. Publication of the report was supported by a $75,000 grant from the Coca-Cola Africa Foundation, with additional support from Fleet National Bank, trustee of the Lloyd G. Balfour Foundation, which gave APARC a $1 million grant last year to launch a residency program bringing former African presidents to BU.

APARC was created in 2001 as a center for research and dialogue on contemporary political and economic trends in Africa. It will be a repository for interviews and papers of democratically elected leaders of Africa and others who have influenced the current phase of Africa’s development.

Charles Stith, director of APARC and former U.S. ambassador to Tanzania, recently presented the report at an African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) summit in Mauritius, where it was well received. “The presidents and heads of state all expressed the sentiment that the report is a significant contribution to the North-South dialogue that is long overdue in Africa,” Stith says. The report is of double significance to APARC, he adds. “In terms of our pedagogical mission at BU, it is a significant contribution to materials for study for present and future generations of scholars and students. And from a practical perspective, it will positively impact the United States’s foreign policy in Africa.”

One goal of the report, says Obenawa Amponsah, APARC center administrator, is to give a voice to African leaders whose opinions and ideas rarely appear in the press. “So often, the news we hear from Africa comes from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and human rights groups,” she says. “But you rarely hear what the heads of state are dreaming about for their countries.”

Indeed, the news often focuses on social ills of the continent and overlooks achievements. “While journalists and educators should not deny the reality of poverty, disease, and conflict on the continent, Africa is more than the sum of its problems,” says Stith. “The viewpoints of the leaders of African states address the challenges, but also the hopes and successes of the countries they lead.”

— Tim Stoddard

For more information on APARC and the African Leaders State of Africa Report, 2002 please visit www.bu.edu/aparc.