51.  Ethiopia leads a group of African nations, many of them in the tropics with abundant biodiversity, which are pushing for the widest scope and most stringent rules.

52.  Even some tour operators in Kenya, whose livelihood depends on attracting people to the central African nation, say they have difficulty advising people to come.

53.  Exactly how such a marketing regime would be implemented in various African nations and European diamond centers is undecided, officials say.

54.  Few African nations have managed to do the same.

55.  For dozens of African nations, however, the cliches of despair no longer hold.

56.  For the most part African nations are now politically stable and just beginning to undertake the economic reforms needed to attract the investment they need to grow.

57.  Former Rep. Howard Wolpe stops in D.C. for a brief layover between trips to Burundi to try and bring peace to the war-torn African nation.

58.  France and several African nations have suggested that arbitration of the border would be possible.

59.  France, Portugal and any of the qualified African nations probably fall into the next tier of contenders, along with the United States.

60.  Four southern African nations wanted permission to sell their stockpiles of ivory, amassed mostly from culling herds of elephants in their national parks.