West African Visions

The following pages are extracts from a series of interviews with six wellknown people from the region: José Brito (Cape Verde), Ayoko Mensah (France/Togo), Ken Ofori-Atta (Ghana), Doumbo Ogobara (Mali),AminataTraoré (Mali) and Lionel Zinsou (France/Benin). The extracts taken from the interviews, carried out by a team of journalists between June and September 2008 - hence before the global financial crisisdemonstrate a wide-range of positions due to the interviewees’ diverse backgrounds and experience. They have all lived outside their own countries, whether in the United States, Europe or another African country. Given this multicultural experience and their responsibilities, they are qualified to share their ideas on the challenges the region faces today and, more generally, on the future ofWest African societies.