Road and rail links west to Dakar, in Senegal, are ropy, so Mali's lorry drivers face a grinding round trip of 2, 000km (1, 200 miles) or more through Benin or Togo to get any goods on to the world market.

ECONOMIST: Mali

Road and rail links to Dakar, in Senegal, to the west, are too ropey, so Mali's truckers face a grinding round trip of 2, 000km (1, 200 miles) or more through Benin or Togo to get any goods to the world market.

ECONOMIST: Deserving cases, getting too little help | The