Four years after the Wold Bank's seminal 1989 report, the continent's crisis is deepening and more children are dying, says Michael Holman.

Not sice the end of colonial rule, some three decades ago, has Africa been gripped by such a fundamental struggle. At stake is the fate of a continent battling for economic recovery against mounting odds.
Over the past handful of years, the old order has collapsed, or is on its last legs. Apartheit has crumbled. Dictators have been overthrown, democracy sought, and state-controller economies have succumbed to the market.