he 1990s there were signs of improvement. World Bank figures showed some economic growth in the continent, enough to take more people out of poverty than in years. At the same time, multi-party democracy spread across the continent and new leaders emerged- Nelson Mandela in South Africa, Yoweri Museveni in Uganda, Meles Zenawi in Ethiopia. This "new breed'' wanted to make life better for all their people by providing basic health care and education. They seemed to understand that peace and good government were essential. Though most of them had been socialists, they embraced the free market. Democracy and liberalization seemed to flourish. There was talk of an ``African renaissance''.
             It was an illusion. The new leaders became embroiled in wars, some with each other, and the cheerful statistics were the result of good rains and bad accounting. Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole had a growth rate of less than 3% in that period, which just about kept step with the rate of population increase. So no one was getting richer.
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