20 February 2008
Bush Cites Positive Changes in Africa
Credits African leadership, people for changes since 2001
Accra, Ghana -- Africa has changed “in a very positive way” since President Bush first took office seven years ago, he said in Ghana February 20. He attributed that positive change to the work of African leaders.
“There were six regional conflicts when I was elected president," Bush said at a press conference with Ghanaian President John Kufuor. "Take Liberia, for example. It was a real issue and a real problem, along with Nigeria. With John’s advice for example, I made some decisions along with other leaders that helped put in place the first democratically elected woman [president] in the continent’s history,” Bush said, referring to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Bush said he is traveling to Liberia February 21 -- the last stop on a five-nation trip that has also taken him to Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda and Ghana -- to herald the success that the Sirleaf government has achieved and to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to help with further progress.
“Conflict resolution has been taking place [across Africa] and the United States has not tried to impose its will,” Bush said. “We have just tried to be a useful partner, like in Eastern Congo, for example -- working with the presidents of Rwanda, Congo and Burundi to bring peace to that region.”
“Democracy is making progress across the continent of Africa,” he added.
One reason conflict resolution and democracy now are moving forward, he said, is “because there are leaders like Ghanaian President John Kufuor.”
In Africa, the United States has helped end conflicts in Sierra Leone, Angola and Burundi, he said, and long has been working for peace in Sudan’s Darfur region.
Bush also said the positive momentum achieved in Africa has been aided by changes his administration has implemented in U.S. assistance programs. The old programs, he said, for the most part provided funds with few restrictions. That has changed, he said, to today’s situation, where “we expect there to be certain habits in place, like fighting corruption or investing in the education of children.”
Bush said that although tough accountability questions had not been asked in the past, he was “confident” in asking nations to adhere to such principles because “I believe in setting high standards for African leaders. I am confident in the capacity of the leaders I have met.”
Bush also reiterated his belief that U.S. development assistance is central to America’s national security, foreign policy interests and well-being, and his administration has launched major initiatives in Africa on malaria, education and HIV/AIDS treatment and novel development programs such as the Millennium Challenge Corporation in which countries basically devise their own development plans and then ask for U.S. help.
Since taking office, Bush has more than doubled U.S. development assistance from about $10 billion in 2000 to $23 billion in 2006. That makes it the largest increase in development aid since the United States launched the Marshall Plan after World War II to aid in the reconstruction of Europe.
On this trip -- his second to Africa as president -- Bush said, the leaders of the countries he visited or will visit (Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia) “are leaders who have committed themselves to the good of their people, have committed themselves to honest government, and have committed themselves to investing in people. They are more interested in leaving behind a legacy of education than leaving behind a self-serving government.”
“There’s no better way of making that point than coming to the continent, and that’s why I’m here. … It’s been a great trip.”
