African governments risk long-term debt dependency and threats to their sovereignty if they accept funding from “opaque forces” to develop their oil and gas resources, a senior US energy official said Tuesday. Speaking at a major Africa energy conference in Cape Town, the US assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Energy Resources, Francis Fannon, said the US sees global energy development as a proxy for broader foreign policy issues. “All countries face a choice on their investment path. Transparency and best practices or do they fall under the spell of opaque forces that provide short-term money and long-term debt and eventually dependency,” Fannon told the Africa Oil Week event. “Be careful, fast and loose money often comes with high interest rates, unclear terms and lack of respect for the domestic population and the environment. Today’s quick deal can, over time, turn into a debt […]