across the oceans. In this almost desperate situation, African people experience the selfishness of advanced countries which are determined to exert domination by force, along with the shameless exploitation of African natural resources, particularly in crisis-affected countries or with weak political leadership. Nevertheless, Africa's under-development cannot be linked to foreign cause alone. Africa is bedeviled by mis-governance, mainly characterised by counter-productive policies(often with neither vision, nor people's participation, nor democratic oversight) that are implemented by certain leaders with their selfish interests and/or those of their foreign partners in mind, rather than the people's interests; o A plethora of career-seeking workers in the civil service, rather than true civil servants; o Corrupt public administration machinery and officials, with poor performance, headed, in some cases, by irresponsible leaders; o Proliferation of« profiteers»(rather than businessmen) seeking easy and instant enrichment opportunities, moving around the corridors of power and, sometimes, taking the leaders as hostages; o Sharp drop in education and living standards; o The structural impoverishment of States which transform the populations into paupers, etc. Included among the factors underlying insecurity, vulnerability and under-development, is the« silent tsunamis» which kills slowly its victims daily and, drawing little or no public attention. This silent killer manifests itself in various forms, namely: epidemic and pandemic diseases, unending community conflicts, global warming, desert encroachment, drought, migratory locust invasions, food crisis, famine, natural disasters, 28