The inevitable trade-offs.

These days, gifts of beads and blankets for large tracts of fabulously wealthy land have been replaced by an increasingly fast-flowing stream of foreign direct investment as players in the new scramble for Africa bid for stakes in resource-rich African territory.

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Africa possesses 99% of the world's chrome resources, 85% of its platinum, 70% of its tantalite, 68% of its cobalt, and 54% of its gold, among other minerals. The continent has significant oil and gas reserves, the extent of which have not been definitively measured. It produces more gem quality diamonds than anywhere else.

The numbers speak for themselves: In 2006, annual FDI rose to a historic high of $38.8bn, a record growth of 78% from 2004. According to the UN World Investment Report, the serious FDI cash was concentrated in a few industries, notably oil, gas and mining. And six oil-producing countries--Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria and Sudan--consumed nearly half of it.

Oil is the most important lure, with competition between foreign states and companies to secure resources so intense it attracts more than 50% of all foreign direct investment.

"European firms represent roughly two-thirds of the total FDI in Africa. More than half of European investment originates from the UK and France, going mainly to countries with which they have historic ties," says Ravinder Rena, an associate professor of economics at the Eritrea Institute of Technology.

French oil companies such as Total--locked out of the Middle East through France's opposition to the Iraq war--have made large investments in Francophone countries such as Cameroon, Chad, and Gabon.

The US sees the region as a reliable alternative to the increasingly volatile Persian Gulf. West Africa already supplies about 12% of US crude oil imports, probably increasing to 25% by 2015.

As is often the case with oil, military involvement follows trade. In February last year, the US set up an Africa Command (Africom), which has established bases in, and signed access agreements with Senegal, Mali, Ghana, Gabon, and Namibia. Africa is becoming strategically important to the US because of its oil production and China's increasing regional influence.