A continent of vast diversity, stretching from the deserts of the north through the equatorial tropics into the more temperate south, Africa brims with challenges and issues. This book collects a series of papers examining a number of these topics and how they impact African nations, the United States and the global community. The analysis also present possible solutions to some of the continent's most vexing problems as many of its nations chart a course of political and economic development. This book discusses ocean piracy in the strategic waterways in the Gulf of Aden, off the East coast of Africa where hijacking by pirates has focused world-wide attention on economic and humanitarian threats in this region and the troubles affecting Zimbabwe and China's foreign aid activities in Africa through infrastructure and natural resource development projects.