With most of the world's attention being focussed on the Middle East and the flow of oil from that region to the West, much of that attention will soon be shifted to West Africa. The West African region supplies approximately 15% of the US oil imports and with supplies from the unruly Middle East less than secure, the African region gains in importance.
Some West African countries are very small, like Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tom� and Principe and have been largely ignored by most of the world. But no longer! It doesn't take a lot of money to buy favours from often corrupt governments in these small nations, especially since corruption is rampant in the region. And the developments there are indeed interesting. 

The country of Sao Tom� and Principe consists of two small islands in the Gulf of Guinea, has a population of less than 160.000 and a Gross Domestic Product of less that 60 million US dollars. It was a Portuguese colony until 1975, when it became independent and elected a communist oriented government with a president at its head. Since multi-party elections in 1991, a more right of centre policy has been followed. The present government is lead by president De Menezes who has a rightwing orientation.

The discovery of offshore oil in recent years is likely to have a major impact on the islands economy. Not surprisingly, the US has been knocking on the door and a 2002 announcement by president Menezes declared that an agreement had been reached with the US government for the building of a military naval base that will be a harbour for aircraft carriers and patrol boats as well as for marines stationed in the region. No doubt this base is intended to secure the region for American oil corporations, by force if necessary. And all is not well on the islands.
"Political life remains dominated by the 15 or so families descended from the offspring of Portuguese colonists and freed African slaves. Since 1991 there have been seven governments and political life has been dominated by power struggles between the President and government, party in-fighting, widespread corruption and administrative paralysis. There was an attempted coup in 1995. Economic difficulties and political rows over the government�s handling of development issues and oil exploration licensing led to violent protests in April 2003, and a coup attempt on 16 July 2003, which lasted a few days before the existing government was restored to power." (1)

Despite this turmoil, the people of San Tom� and Principe have high hopes of seeing substantial improvements in their living standards as the result of oil revenues, but before getting their hopes up too high they no doubt will cast an anxious eye on what happened in that other small country in the region, Equatorial Guinea.
Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony consists of five islands and a land segment on the west African coast. It has less than 500.000 inhabitants. Petroleum exploration and development has revitalized the economy. Large scale oil production commenced in 1996 and the country's GDP grew by an average of 26.8% annually between 1999 and 2003. Today, U.S. oil firms dominate the Equatorial Guinea landscape. ExxonMobil, Amerada Hess, Chevron Texaco and Marathon Oil have the largest share of the country's oil production.

Despite this rapid growth however, poverty remains widespread. So what happened to all that oil money?
"The landscape in Malabo and Bata, the two major cities in Equatorial Guinea, is dotted with state-of-the-art buildings belonging to the president and senior members of his government that stand in stark contrast to the slums in which the majority of people live. In 2000, the president bought a house in the posh Washington, D.C., suburb of Potomac, Maryland, for $2.6 million and another one in nearby Rockville, Maryland, for $1.15 million. The president's son, Teodoro N. Obiang, purchased a house in the ritzy celebrity haven of Bel Air, Los Angeles, in March 2001, for $5.8 million. Actress Farrah Fawcett lives across the street. The younger Obiang, who is also his country's minister of Forests, Fishing and the Environment and is in the running to succeed his father as president, also owns a record label and publishing company in Los Angeles called TNO Entertainment, which specializes in rap records."
So writes the Center for Public Integrity in November, 2002 under the heading "Making a Killing. The Curious Bonds of Oil Diplomacy". (2)
And further:
"The average Equatorial Guinean, by contrast, has seen little of the country's oil wealth. A United Nations development report ranked the country's per capita gross domestic product of $4,676 as 79th out of 149 countries in the world in 2001, but even this is barely reflected on the ground. In 2000, the World Bank reported that the average income per capita was a little over $2 a day."

Andrew Donaldson of The South African Sunday Times (3), in an article dated Sep 22, 2002 puts it bluntly and in clear terms when he writes:
" (The)US (is) falling over itself to secure West African oil. Leaders best be aware Washington' s flattering attentions have but one objective.
And further:"US strategists have for some time been pushing for a military base in the Gulf of Guinea - hardly surprising, given the Bush administration's intentions of shifting US reliance on oil imports from the Middle East to West Africa".

These articles, written well before the disastrous and illegal war in Iraq and well before the price of a barrel of oil exceeded $50 US, once again show the vulnerability of the USA through its dependence on foreign oil. Its greedy eyes are cast all over the world to see what can be had. Many generations have come and gone since the time the USA captured and sold African people as slaves on their home markets. Nothing has been done since to improve the living standards of the people of Africa. Washington's renewed interest in West Africa is purely a matter of self interest, that is 'corporate self-interest'. It will matter little to the masters in Washington whether or not the African people will reap any benefits from the exploitation of their oil.
For the people of San Tom� and Principe whose hopes for a higher living standard have been raised it must be discouraging indeed to see how little benefit has reached ordinary people of other West African countries with large oil revenues. They had better beware of the devil they are bringing in. Oil is too often equated to corruption.

W. Vic Ratsma is a lifelong political activist, now retired and living in Nova Scotia, Canada. He is a columnist for Axis of Logic and occasionally writes some poetry as well. He also contributes articles in both English and Dutch to a number of other progressive publications. He can be reached at vic@axisoflogic.com