Interview: Professor Chris Alden
"Some countries in Africa have a much stronger civil society and are more vocal when it comes to non-transparency of loans, corruption or human rights. They see China as a violator of human rights, and Western sources are more attractive to them. However, I have heard many times what African politicians say to their colleagues from the European Union and the West in general: 'Yes, we would rather have a loan package and we are happy to have human rights as part of it, but there is no money from you. In fact, you are only talking big stories, pointing fingers at us when we borrow from China, but you are not offering us any alternative'”