ABSTRACT
In spite of decolonisation and increasing economic globalisation, relations between sub-Saharan Africa and Europe continue to be built on bilateral government-to-government contacts and agreements. The incorporation of the former European colonial powers into the European Community did not fundamentally alter this pattern even though the introduction of the Lomé Conventions broadened the linkages which the African states could seek in Europe. The govemment-to-government system of agreement was also carried on into the current Cotonou Agreement between the European Community and Africa.1 The most important relationship between the two parties, that surrounding development aid, is similarly fundamentally a government-to-government arrangement.
