Bush Tour: PR Exercise or Boon to Africa?

ABUJA - Has Africa seized a permanent place on the US foreign policy agenda or is it fated to endure more years of neglect now that President George W. Bush has wrapped up his five-day sprint through the continent?

In what he called a 'wonderful week', Mr Bush dashed across the continent, hugging Aids victims, recalling the cruelty of the slave trade and highlighting the economic potential of what he called 'a continent of possibilities'.

But Africa's long-suffering people may be forgiven for waiting for solid evidence of US commitment before they run cheering into the streets.

Mr Bush's trip to Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and Nigeria was dominated by two countries he did not visit.

On Liberia, he stalled on the shape of a US contribution to a peacekeeping force for the tottering west African state, and the signs are that it will be a supporting role rather than US boots on the ground that emerges.

Niger also thrust its way onto the agenda as Mr Bush was pursued by questions over the use of now-discredited intelligence claims in his State of the Union speech that Saddam Hussein sought uranium yellowcake there.

Initial signs for sustained US engagement for Africa were not promising, as a House of Representatives panel decided not to fully finance the first year of a US$15 billion (S$26 billion) anti-Aids plan even as Mr Bush touted it around Africa.

But Bush administration officials said they would 'ramp up' funding over the remaining four years of the programme.

Cynics have argued that the tour amounts to little more than a high-speed public relations junket, high on rhetoric but low in substance.

They note that Washington's first priority may have been to mend relations bruised by the Iraq war, and argue that its professions of concern mask a greedy appetite for new sources of oil, especially in Nigeria.

Critics also claim the trip, especially a speech at the former Goree Island slave depot in Senegal, had more to do with appeasing minority voters ahead of Mr Bush's re-election battle next year than helping Africans.

'This trip may boost the Republican campaign image among the African-American community before elections,' said a letter to Mr Bush last week released by a coalition of trade union groups.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell rejected criticism of Mr Bush's motive. 'The purpose of the trip was not a political exercise and was not designed to influence the election of next year. It was designed to deal with real problems facing people in need in Africa,' he said.

Even critics grudgingly admit that the fact Mr Bush went to Africa provided valuable media coverage of the issues at stake.

Some observers believe that after finding itself short of friends in the United Nations Security Council before the Iraq war, Washington is trying to assemble a core of support among African nations, an increasingly important voting bloc in the world body.