Outlook: Africa's Destructive Leaders

Outlook: Africa's Destructive Leaders: "Douglas Farah , former West Africa bureau chief for The Washington Post and author of 'Blood From Stones: The Secret Financial Network of Terror,' was online Monday, April 24, at 2:30 p.m. ET to discuss his Sunday Outlook article, African Pillagers , ( Post, April 23, 2006 ), on the capture of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor and the destructive leaders still in power on the continent.

Despite Taylor's arrest, Farah notes that there are many like him who still maintain their grip on power to the detriment of their own nations: Omar Bongo of Gabon, who has been in power since the Johnson administration, Chad's dictator Idriss Deby and others who have been unchecked for decades. Despite their number, they have escaped the international attention and condemnation focused on equivalent leaders elsewhere. Farah argues that they are a danger both to the countries they control and to the stability of the region as a whole, and the assumption that are irrelevant outside of Africa is shortsighted."