Bush ends Africa tour focused on successful partnership
MONROVIA (AFP) — President George W. Bush on Thursday wrapped up an emotional five-country Africa tour in Liberia, having doled out more than one billion dollars in aid and redoubled promises of lasting friendship.
Bush, whose term ends in January 2009, highlighted US-backed "success stories" on the blighted continent and tried to ease worries about competition with China and plans for a new US military command.
"We do not contemplate adding new bases" to house AFRICOM, currently anchored in Germany, said Bush. But "that doesn't mean we won't develop some kind of office somewhere in Africa. We haven't made our minds up."
He urged feuding Kenyan leaders to accept a power-sharing deal to end weeks of deadly clashes and sent US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Nairobi to throw Washington's weight behind the plan -- with no immediate results.
In Rwanda, Bush paid somber tribute to the victims of the 1994 genocide but said his conscience was clear on his decision not to send US troops to try to end the violence in Sudan's Darfur region, which he has also dubbed genocide.
"I made a decision and I stand by it," he said with Rwandan President Paul Kagame at his side. "I'm comfortable with the decision I made, I'm not comfortable with how quickly the (international) response has been."
Bush also repeatedly cast US aid to the continent, which he has sharply increased, not as an act of guilt but one of equal partnership and self-interest, citing desperation as fuel for extremist attacks.
"Don't come to the continent feeling guilty about anything," he advised his successor, to be chosen in November elections. "Come to the continent feeling confident that with some help, people can solve their problems."
Bush's trip opened in Benin, where he urged feuding Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga to accept a power-sharing deal in talks negotiated by former UN chief Kofi Annan.
In Tanzania, the next stop, Bush signed a 698-million-dollar (472-million-euro) Millenium Challenge Compact, the largest ever package of aid specially designed to reward democratic, anti-corruption, and free market reforms.
He also pushed US lawmakers to quickly approve his proposal to double US monies to fight HIV/AIDS from 15 billion dollars over five years to 30 billion, while pushing a new anti-malaria plan in the country's safari capital, Arusha.
"It is irresponsible for comfortable nations to stand by knowing that young babies are dying from mosquito bites," he said in Liberia.
The initiative aims to distribute 5.2 million new insecticide-treated bed-nets to help defend all of Tanzania's children aged one to five years old from the mosquitoes whose bite spreads the deadly disease.
In Rwanda, Bush visited Kigali's memorial to the at least 800,000 people killed during the country's 100-day genocide, laying a wreath on one of the stone slabs covering remains from 258,000 victims.
Bush also warily welcomed the news that Cuba's Fidel Castro was formally ending five decades of ironclad rule, saying he hoped it would usher in "a period of democratic transition" culminating with free and fair elections.
And he formally recognized the independence of Kosovo.
In Ghana, the US president unveiled a 350-million-dollar campaign to battle neglected tropical diseases like hook worm and elephantiasis, and strove to downplay ever-hotter US-China rivalries in Africa.
"I don't view Africa as zero-sum for China and the United States," Bush said during a joint press conference with Ghana President John Kufuor. "Do I view China as a fierce competitor on the continent of Africa? No, I don't."
While Bush argued US-African relations were a two-way street, Kufuor did him one better, naming a 14-kilometer (nine-mile) stretch of highway the "George Bush Motorway."
For his final stop, Bush became the first US president in 30 years to visit Liberia, where he offered one million textbooks and desks and seating for 10,000 students to help the strife-torn country recover from decades of civil strife, including a 14-year bloodbath that ended in 2003.
"Though we're over 4,500 miles from the United States, I feel pretty much at home," he said.
Bush said along with the UN, the US was "working to heal the wounds of war, and strengthen democracy".
Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf asked the US not to hurriedly wind down its aid to the peacekeeping force to safeguard the security of the still fragile nation.
"We understand the need ...for reducing the level of support to the peacekeeping force, but please do not do so so shortly as it will affect our security, until our forces are ready," she said.
