Oh well. What can I say? Better yet, how can I say it nicely.
So…Bush is in Africa this week end (Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda…) in what is his 2nd tour of the continent. He had gone first in 02-03, that didn’t go too well. At least for africans. In Senegal, he showed up, secret services blocked everything. Worst, when they went to the Island of Goree (whicih is where slaves were shipped from), he and secret services locked the island’s inhabitants in houses with guards and dogs, and forbid them to go out to allow for Pdt Bush’s visit to go as smoothly as possible. It was an outrage and the populations were furious, even more with our own Pdt who would allow such a thing. So, I don’t think he would be welcome in Senegal anymore. Clinton’s previous visit on the other hand was a bliss. He came, spoke, charmed, shook hands and left.
Anyhow, Bush is visiting the continent and has decided to overlook issues like Kenya and Sudan. No doubt, the bush presidency is the one that has given Africa the most money. Pouring money into the continent is not the solution though. One has to recognize the grounds made in the fight against AIDS and Malaria. One clouding element though is the insistence on preaching abstinence. It is one way to approach the AIDS endemic, but it sure is not the most realistic one and will only reach a minimal percentage of the targeted population.
Children greet a visitor at Gaga Camp in Chad. ‘Some of the children used to run away as soon as an adult came close to them,’ says UNICEF assistant child protection officer Adolphe Mbaikouma.
Can someone tell this guy it’s almost useless to be helping the ones doing better, because of the Chad, Congos, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Somalia…to name a few. As long as those will be unstable battlegrounds, their neighbors will be as well (influx of refugees, violence, rebels…). So recognize achievements, that’s commendable. But those won’t go as far as they should given the mess other countries are in. The Horn is in turmoil and Chad is a casualty of the Sudan conflict. The sooner the genocide and conflict are addressed, the sooner the whole region can get back on track.
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — Opening a six-day tour of Africa, President Bush on Saturday defended his decision not to visit violence-stricken nations like Kenya and Sudan, saying he wanted to focus on his programs to fight AIDS and malaria instead. “This is a large place with a lot of nations, and, no question, everything is not perfect,” Mr. Bush said during a brief visit to Benin before arriving Saturday evening here in the capital of Tanzania. “On the other hand, there’s a lot of great success stories, and the United States is pleased to be involved with those success stories.”The stop in Benin made Mr. Bush the first American president to visit that tiny West African nation. It was on his itinerary because it represents the kind of success Mr. Bush wants to highlight — how American aid has helped improve water, schools, infrastructure and health care in some of the world’s poorest nations. In 2006, Benin signed a five-year, $307 million agreement with the Millennium Challenge Corporation, created by Mr. Bush to help nations that embrace democracy and free markets and commit to fighting corruption. Benin also benefits from America’s antimalaria programs, as well as an education initiative that provides money to train teachers, build schools and buy textbooks.So it was no surprise that Benin’s president, Thomas Yayi Boni, had high praise for Mr. Bush when the two appeared together for a short news conference at the airport in Cotonou, the country’s economic capital. Vowing that “everything that would stain democracy will be suppressed” under his leadership, he said Mr. Bush’s visit was an important symbol.The White House is hoping that the Africa trip will remind not only Africans, but also Americans, that Mr. Bush has done more during his presidency than fight a controversial war with Iraq.Dar es Salaam was festooned with billboards bearing Mr. Bush’s likeness, including one on the road from the airport to downtown that declared, “We Cherish Democracy,” and another outside his hotel, the Kempinski, that said, “Feel at Home.”Still, there were some undercurrents of resentment. Two thousand people protested here on Friday, before Mr. Bush arrived, waving signs that suggested he was a terrorist. And he cannot seem to avoid crisis elsewhere on the continent. Before he left Washington, Mr. Bush said he would send Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to Kenya, where post-election violence has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people since late December. But at Saturday’s news conference in Benin, he was asked why his administration was not taking a more active role, not only in Kenya but also in Darfur, where 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been chased from their homes in an ethnic conflict that Mr. Bush has called genocide. He said he had “a tough decision to make early on” about whether to send troops into Darfur, but had decided against doing so in favor of allowing African Union and United Nations peacekeeping troops to intervene.He also said he intended to bring up Darfur during his visit to Rwanda, where he planned to thank that country’s president for sending in peacekeeping troops. As to Kenya, Mr. Bush said Secretary Rice’s visit was “aimed at having a clear message that there be no violence and that there ought to be a power-sharing agreement.” The former United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, has been in Kenya trying to negotiate a peace agreement. Mr. Bush’s national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, told reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday that Mr. Annan appeared to be “making incremental progress.” Mr. Hadley said that Ms. Rice, who is traveling with the president, would spend only a few hours in Kenya. He described the visit as an opportunity “to show the president’s concern — but also get on the ground and help support Kofi Annan and maybe move things forward a little further and a little faster.”
