The sorry state of much of Africa’s transport and communication networks is holding the continent back and preventing its countries from competing on the global market, the United Nations advocate for the world’s poorest States has told the “World Bank“http://www.worldbank.org.

In an address a meeting at the Bank’s headquarters in Washington, the UN Special Adviser on Africa, Cheick Sidi Diarra said road transport – which accounts for 90 per cent of inter-urban transport in Africa – was particularly poor.