How aid hurts Africa

Rafael Marques, an Angolan journalist currently facing a possible nine years in jail for accusing Angolan army generals of corruption, gave me an early lesson in the harsh and complex reality of aid.

Marques’s trial in Luanda, the Angolan capital, was due to start on Tuesday, but was adjourned until next month to allow prosecutors add new charges. He now faces 24 charges in total, arising from a book he published in Portugal alleging that the generals were responsible for murder and torture in Angola’s diamond fields. (The Angolan government is ranked one of the most corrupt in the world.)

I met Marques first as a ...