Even an enthusiast for the African cause cannot but be a bit perplexed by your main leader and briefing about the forgotten continent (“Africa Rising” and “The Sun Shines Bright,” December 3, 2011). In the leader one reads that in the past decade the six of the world’s ten fastest-growing countries were African, while in the briefing one learns that the continent provides no more than two and a half percent of world output at purchasing power parity, which cannot but boost its contribution. At about fourteen percent of the world’s population, the economic base is tiny, indeed. Your enthusiasm is so great that you must remind the bewildered reader in the last paragraph of the briefing that Africa is not the next China. Oh, why not? The World Bank’s pronouncement mentioned in the briefing that Africa is on the brink of an economic takeoff sounds somewhat far-fetched, as well. Sifting through all you have to say, one can only hope that Africa will also benefit from the recent successes of Asia and South America, but that is the best one can come up with. The future of the least-developed continent, just as the future of Asia and South America, ultimately depends on what happens in Europe and North America. And that is where the rub is. Enthusiastic or not about Africa, your poor reader is left praying for the rich world. Go Africa, go!