President Obama was right to give his recent address in Ghana, highlighting an African success story rather than casting his speech against the backdrop of poverty and pity. One of the great underreported stories of the last decade has been the rise of this new Africa. In 2007, before the economic crisis hit, 37 countries on the continent were growing at 4 per cent a year or more, and 34 countries there are classified by Freedom House as ‘free’ or ‘partly free’. The OECD reports that, in a first, Africa gets more money from investors than from foreign aid. The continent remains poor, disease-stricken, and often poorly governed. But for the first time in a long time, there is forward momentum.

Nowhere is this more true than in Rwanda. If ever a nation seemed destined to fail, it was Rwanda. A little more than 15 years ago, the country suffered the most brutal genocide since the Holocaust. In 100 days, Hutu mobs slaughtered more than 800,000 Tutsis, one tenth of the population, a literal decimation. Many thought Rwanda would plunge into a death spiral like other “postconflict” countries, such as Somalia.

In fact, Rwanda has become a model for the African renaissance. It is now stable, ordered, and being rebuilt every month. Average incomes have increased by 30 per cent. The country has a national health-care system, burgeoning countrywide education, and much less corruption than is usual in Africa. In 2007, Fortune published an article titled “Why CEOs Love Rwanda.” The heads of Starbucks, Google, and Costco are among the country’s supporters.

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