Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Over the next ten years China wants to increase its oil imports from Africa from the current 14 per cent to 25 per cent.

China is the world foremost energy guzzler but its domestic output cannot meet demands. Even its large coal reserves are inadequate to meet energy demands. For this reason, in all of China's 23 provinces regular power blackouts are scheduled even during working.

With economic growth running at a rate of 9 per cent per year, energy consumption in the last two years rose by 16 per cent and oil imports by a almost 40 per cent.

But China is not alone in its search for African oil. The US has joined the Asian giant in wooing African countries in search for new deposits.

Instability in the Middle East and a desire to break the Arab oil monopoly over oil production have made hunting for oil in Africa a US priority.

However, as much as sub-Saharan countries like Nigeria, la Mauritania, Niger, Mali and Chad are rich in oil they have also weak and unstable governments. And both China and the US share the same concerns over what local crises and Islamic fundamentalism might do.

US government sources, confirmed by independent studies, show in fact that western Africa is fertile ground for Islamist extremism.