Pop Quiz:

The economy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo—a nation endowed with vast potential wealth—has declined drastically since the mid-1980s. The two recent conflicts (the First and Second Congo Wars), which began in 1996, have dramatically reduced national output and government revenue, have increased external debt, and have resulted in the deaths from war, famine, and disease of perhaps 3.8 million people. Foreign businesses have curtailed operations due to uncertainty about the outcome of the conflict, lack of infrastructure, and the difficult operating environment. The war has intensified the impact of such basic problems as an uncertain legal framework, corruption, inflation, and lack of openness in government economic policy and financial operations.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo

If you are one of the world's poorest nations, what should you not do?
Alex, I'm going to go with
"fight two massive wars that completely destroy your infrastructure and the infrastructure of surrounding nations."

ooo, I'm sorry, the answer we were looking for was "blame your problems on not enough positive media coverage."

Yes, we could learn something from the africans. In fact, we already have. Should we continue learning from them our results that are likely to be similar to theirs.