People rely on being helped here. You have governments in Africa that are paid far too high salaries in comparison to the productivity of their country. In Senegal a member of parliament earns between 80,000 and 100,000 Franc-CFA per month. A farmer’s family of five earns about 150,000 Francs a year. Who profits from aid, the bourgeoisie or the farmers? And when the bourgois African complains about poverty, he speaks about himself and not about the farmers! The aid given to the Africans is therefore extremely bad for Africa’s development. You have to realize that those who rule cannot rule without outside help. And the debts, which exist because of this situation, do no good at all. At the moment you can witness the recolonization of francophone West Africa—a recolonization by the most legal means you can imagine. Private French companies, for instance, begin to control the big cities’ water and energy supplies communication and TV stations. And what is left? Nothing.

[From EZEF, http://www.gep.de/ezef/Guelwaar-2006.pdf. Translated from the German by Gabi Schneider.]