The Americans have to deliver something on the Ethiopian side to be credible, and that is Ethiopia accepting the border decision.

What it has not been able to do, really, has been to stop the movement of people and weapons down the coast.

It’s nice that we can do these things, but this isn’t long-term development. It’s good for our image … but it doesn’t substitute for general development because the troops come and go.

They want to be seen as a major ‘player’ in the world, and to be a major ‘player’ you have to carry a certain degree of responsibility.

You’ve got the general problem of poverty and lack of government capacity. In Africa, everyone is encouraged to privatize, but there is a very important role of the state, strengthening oversight and regulatory mechanisms as...

The Nigerian government needs to use its naval resources, and get help if it can from the U.S. Navy, to stop the serious bunkering and cut off the big money that is flooding the area...

A billion dollars a year is a lot of money. You can’t move that kind of oil out to the high seas without some pretty significant, high-level cooperation in the Nigerian government and the military.

Eritrea has made this extremely difficult to deal with. It’s not that their position is wrong, but their tactics are terrible. They feel everyone is against them.

The Chinese are offering the loan as an alternative to working with the IMF.