Hélène Desage was as surprised as the Malian. "What is going on? Are
you trying to whitewash yourselves by casting blame on this gentleman?"
"Let me go on," Johnny said. "Needless to say, there are conflicting
interests. The Soviet Complex obviously would as soon we didn't
succeed. However, wars are impractical today, and the Russkies and
Chinese are taken up with their own development. The Southeast Asia
bloc wouldn't mind taking over here themselves, they desperately need
land already. But they aren't our biggest opponents. There's another
group even more involved--the _colons_ of Algeria and Morocco and those
of even such Mali cities as Dakar. I suppose it is this last element
that you represent, Miss Desage."
She was staring unbelievingly at him now.
"Their interest is to get the Sahara Reforestation Commission out
of the way so that they can immediately exploit the area. They are
interested in the _now_, not the potentialities of the future. They
resent the use of the Niger for reforestation, when they could use it
for immediate irrigation projects. They would devote the full resources
of the Mali Federation and Algeria to seeking oil and minerals and in
the various other ways the country might be exploited. Finally, they
rather hate to see the western schools, hospitals, and other means used
to raise the local living standards. They liked the low wage rates that
formerly applied."