A year before the first American combat troops arrived in Vietnam, then-United States president Lyndon Baines Johnson was told by his mentor, senator Richard Russell, that he saw no way out of the worsening mess in South-East Asia: ”The more we try to do for them, the less they’re willing to do for themselves.” Sound familiar?

A pivotal African state was missing from the launch of the African Union (AU) in Durban. Morocco withdrew from the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1982 over that organisation’s recognition of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).