The most typical argument about this subject holds that countries of the "global North" have continued to use African states for their own benefit and have thereby contributed to the poverty and general lack of development of those countries.  To this way of thinking, countries of the "North" and the mulitinational corporations based in those countries take advantage of African countries.  They push the African countries into signing unfair contracts in which the African countries' resources are taken and little or nothing is done to help with the development of the countries' overall economies.  The "North," then, takes resources that could be used to develop the African states and does not give fair compensation for them.  This leaves the African states poor and underdeveloped.