Africa's middle-class : a factor favouring political stability

The international community has little confidence that Africa can offer protection against the West's deadly enemies. 2012-2013 has seen increased Western-power interventions into Africa and the strengthening of military alliances sought for self-security reasons. These developments reflect a modern world that offers swift-over-border travel for terrorists and other technological advances that have made terrorist operations possible, even in remote parts of the world. The rising tide of technology has raised the boats of all Africans, from Kenyan school children promised free laptop computers by their newly elected President, Uhuru Kenyatta, to South Africa's national sporting organisations that wish to build upon the technological triumph of the 2010 World Cup hosted there to play host to an Olympic Games. Benefitting also are cells of international terrorist organisations like al-Qaeda. Their membership is highly mobile and connected by all the tools of modern communications technology. All they need is a pocket of ungovernable territory - inhospitable to everyone else, but ideal for their need to operate undetected - in a war-ravished country whose central government is struggling to maintain control.