Howard W. French is a senior writer for the "New York Times. "After teaching at the University of Ivory Coast in the early 1980s, he began his journalism career writing about Africa for the "Washington Post, Africa News," "The Economist" and numerous other publications. Since 1986, he has reported for the "Times" from Central America, the Caribbean, West and Central Africa, Japan, Korea and now China. In 1997, his coverage of the fall of Mobuto Sese Seko won the Overseas Press Club of America's award for best newspaper interpretation of foreign affairs. French was born in Washington, D.C., and...