Tony Blair, the British prime minister, recently launched a commission for Africa to "take a fresh look at the challenges Africa faces in the context of the global forces in play in the 21st century". The new commission will discuss Africa's development challenges in the areas of the economy, education, conflict resolution, peace building, health, the environment, HIV/AIDS, governance and culture. The distinguished panel of commissioners includes prominent and respected Africans as members. The implications of the new British initiative on Africa are many and varied. First, all the publicly identified core "themes" have been the subject of studies, policy reviews or programmes by various African institutions, bilateral and multilateral agencies. Various United Nations (UN) agencies, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have spent most of the past 25 years studying these issues. It is difficult to predict what new facts the commission will unearth in 12 months, says this commentary in Business Day newspaper.