
An article in the new edition of the World Today, a publication of Britains Chatham House think tank, examines widening rifts between sub-Saharan Africa and the European Union.
The December summit of European and African heads of state in Lisbon was supposed to herald a new partnership between the two continents, the dawn of an era of equality and mutual respect. Instead it revealed deep divisions over free trade agreements between the European Union and 76 of its former trade in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. The deadline is the turn of the year, when the existing preferences, ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization, expire. Twenty countries have signed up, but the pressure is mounting and Europe is refusing to remove the red lines. The continents reputation and many of the worlds poorest people are set to suffer.