You have a very good point about the US needing to see more Africa B. I think that even moreso than the conference and seeing the ruins of ancient Carthage and the fantastic mosaics at the museum, the most important thing about going to Tunisia for me was having my assumptions that Africa is uniformly grim Africa A shot to pieces.

I've seen a few blogs basically trying to argue that South Africa should be viewed as Africa A (citing a higher rate of rape than of literacy for women), and therefore is unworthy of the honor of hosting the World Cup. I don't know enough about the situation there to comment.