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AFRICA
AND THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION
President George W. Bush
travels to Africa on February 15-21, where he will visit the five
nations of
Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia. This is the second
Presidential trip to Africa and the top agenda items focus on Bush’s
commitment to fighting poverty and disease.
This presidential
trip comes at a time when many corners of Africa are experiencing
violent conflicts: from the genocide in Darfur-Sudan, and fragile peace
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to civil unrest in Chad,
violent election crisis of Kenya and political crisis in Zimbabwe.
These crises will
not dominate the agenda of the Bush trip. The focus will be an
assessment of the Bush Africa initiatives: the
President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Millennium
Challenge Corporation (MCC), the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA),
and U.S. programs on education and malaria prevention.
As the Bush trip
takes along the global media to Africa, it is important to remember that
Africa as whole still faces challenges and barriers to real development.
The United States has leverage to journey with Africa to success;
unfortunately some U.S. policies are antithetical to Africa’s
interests.
Among those policies
that undermine Africa’s interests are some U.S. trade policies that
undermine Africa’s market competitiveness due to U.S. agricultural
subsidies. Access to African oil has become a strong strategic point of
engagement in Africa. The U.S. is boosting the military presence in
Africa by creating a new
African Military Command called AFRICOM whose mission has not yet
been fully elaborated publicly.
The Bush Africa
legacy will largely be about his initiative to fight HIV/AIDS through
President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). This relief fund
has helped and given hope to millions of Africans who receive treatment,
care and prevention of HIV/AIDS. To be even more effective, PEPFAR needs
to partner with national AIDS plans and ought to move from being an
emergency fund to a more sustainable effort. The U.S. Congress must
reauthorize PEPFAR when it expires in September 2008.
It is hoped that the
Bush trip will not overlook the challenges and interests of Africa in
moving towards sustainable economic development. |
