Africa.

• Position: Table

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Some 33 million people worldwide are believed to be infected with AIDS. The disease has hit Africa particularly hard; more than 15 million Africans have died of AIDS since the epidemic began 30 years ago.

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The debate over the effectiveness of international aid is intensifying: Does it promote the development Africa needs or foster continued dependency and corruption?

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The violence in the Darfur region of Sudan has subsided, and the U.S. is trying to help resolve the conflict in which 300,000 people have been killed and 3 million made into refugees.

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Pirates operating off the coast of Somalia have been attacking ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, sometimes kidnapping the crews and holding them for ransom.

Africa URBAN AREA (SQ MI) POP. % COUNTRY CAPITAL POPULATION POP. RISE %/YEAR Algeria 919,591 63 Algiers 36,000,000 1.8 Angola 481,351 57 Luanda 19,000,000 2.5 Benin 43,483 41 Porto-Novo 9,800,000 3.0 Botswana 224,606 60 Gaborone 1,800,000 1.9 Burkina Faso 105,792 23 Ouagadougou 16,200,000 3.4 Burundi 10,745 10 Bujumbura 8,500,000 2.1 Cameroon 183,568 53 Yaounde 20,000,000 2.3 Cape Verde 1,556 161 Praia 500,000 2.0 Central African 240,533 38 Bangui Republic 4,800,000 2.2 Chad 495,753 27 N'Djamena 11,500,000 2.9 Comoros 861 28 Moroni 700,000 2.6 Congo, 905,351 33 Kinshasa Democratic 67,800,000 2.9 Rep. Congo, 132,046 60 Brazzaville Republic 3,900,000 2.5 Cote d'Ivoire 124,502 50 Yamoussoukro (Ivory Coast) 22,000,000 2.4 Djibouti 8,958 76 Djibouti 900,000 1.8 Egypt (7) 386,660 43 Cairo 80,400,000 2.1 Equatorial 10,830 39 Malabo Guinea 700,000 2.3 Eritrea 45,405 21 Asmara 5,200,000 2.9 Ethiopia 426,371 16 Addis Ababa 85,000,000 2.7 Gabon 103,347 84 Libreville 1,500,000 1.9 Gambia 4,363 54 Banjul 1,800,000 2.7 Ghana 92,100 48 Accra 24,000,000 2.2 Guinea 94,927 28 Conakry 10,800,000 3.0 Guinea-Bissau 13,946 30 Bissau 1,600,000 2.4 Kenya 224,081 18 Nairobi 40,000,000 2.7 Lesotho 11,718 23 Maseru 1,900,000 0.9 Liberia 43,000 58 Monrovia 4,100,000 3.3 Libya 679,359 77 Tripoli 6,500,000 1.9 Madagascar 226,656 31 Antananarivo 20,100,000 2.7 Malawi 45,745 14 Lilongwe 15,400,000 2.9 478,838 33 Bamako Mali 15,200,000 3.1 Mauritania 395,954 40 Nouakchott 3,400,000 2.3 Mauritius 788 42 Port Louis 1,300,000 0.5 Morocco 172,413 57 Rabat 31,900,000 1.5 309,494 31 Maputo Mozambique 23,400,000 2.3 Namibia 318,259 35 Windhoek 2,200,000 1.9 Niger 489,189 20 Niamey 15,900,000 3.5 Nigeria 356,668 47 Abuja 158,300,000 2.4 Rwanda 10,170 17 Kigali 10,400,000 2.9 Sao Tome 371 58 Sao Tome and Principe 200,000 2.9 Senegal 75,954 41 Dakar 12,500,000 2.8 Seychelles 174 53 Victoria 100,000 1.0 Sierra Leone 27,699 36 Freetown 5,800,000 2.4 Somalia 246,201 34 Mogadishu 9,400,000 3.0 South Africa 471,444 52 Cape...