What Continent Should Learn from WikiLeaks

These include thousands of US military documents pertaining to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as politically charged documents concerning the disquieting spread of corruption in Kenya and the deadly dumping of toxic chemical waste in C™te d'Ivoire. More recently and in a previously unimaginable manner, the website started disseminating 251,287 diplomatic cables sent from and to nearly 270 US embassies and consulates.

Many Africans had the opportunity to read through these cables and study the information that they contain about how the US, the lone superpower since 1991, assesses political developments around the world and interacts with other states behind closed doors. They had the opportunity to get what a British commentator described in the Guardian as 'a deep sense of priorities, character, thought patterns' in US secret diplomacy.