Oil and tensions bubble beneath the surface

…”The production of natural resources is liable to give rise to various types of political frustrations within a country.” That is the view of such leading economists as Jeffrey D. Sachs, and Nobel Prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz, writing in the introduction to ‘Escaping the Resource Curse’ a book to be released by Columbia University Press in June 2007, which cites Principe and Sao Tome as one country at risk.

The authors warn that, “resource-rich countries grew less rapidly than resource-poor countries during the last quarter of the twentieth century.” Plus, they said, “[research suggests] a strong association between resource wealth and the likelihood of weak democratic development, corruption, and civil war.”

Yet researchers specialized on Sao Tome remain divided over whether it is going the same way. It does not have a history of social tensions and there has not been political bloodshed.

“I basically remain optimistic, said Gerhard Siebert, a researcher from the Lisbon-based Tropical Research Institute and author of a book on political and economic changes in the country since Portuguese rule ended in 1975. “I just don’t think things will get as bad as in other oil-rich African countries.”

Reuters