The only supreme quality of Tory that was left unexpressed by these endorsers-cum-cheerleaders is his ability to walk on water or raise Bob Marley or Claudia Jones from the realm of the ancestors.

The African-American political establishment within Obama’s Democratic party constituency appears to be ‘missing in action’ instead of acting as a core base of support for Obama’s attempt at a complicated resetting of Middle East policy.

Maybe President Zuma and his xenophobic countrymen are right, after all. Why would a Nigerian close his barber shop in Karmo ghetto to go operate the same in Soweto? Why would a second degree holder prefer to travel to Johannesburg to be a cabbie when that line of business would have been more profitable in Lagos?

Despite the sharp salience of ethnicity in Burundi’s politics historically, the ongoing disturbances are not about that. They centre on one issue: the people are protesting against violation of their Constitution by a greedy and dumb political class.

Burundi is burning. If the UN, the international community and the African Union don’t act quickly, and prepare to intervene if necessary, the small East African nation could explode into a full-scale civil war that will destabilize the entire Great Lakes region.