LUANDA, Angola (AP) — Traveling from lush green hilltops to hot dusty roads and seaside ports, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry asked African nations last week to make a choice: Choose democracy. Embrace economic stability. Reject violence, and move people into the modern world.

It was an optimistic offer, and the kind of Western jingoism the U.S. is used to espousing. But two conflict-wracked African nations said no, challenging the limits of American influence in a continent that is emerging as the next land of opportunity for foreign financial investors.

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