U.S. Quest for Oil in Africa Worries Analysts, Activists

The Bush administration's search for more secure sources of oil is leading it to the doorsteps of some of the world's most troubled and repressive regimes: the petroleum-rich countries of West Africa.

West Africa already supplies about 12% of U.S. crude oil imports, and the National Intelligence Council predicts its share will rise to 25% by 2015.

"We don't have a single example of oil leading to long-term positive outcomes in developing countries," said Stanford University political scientist Terry Lynn Karl, who has studied the effects of Third World petroleum development.

"We're repeating the mistakes of the past, and that lays the basis for difficulties down the road," she said. "Future generations will face the problems of having failed states, just as we are now facing the problems of the Middle East."

The poorest and most corrupt countries in the world now have what US business interests want.