Bush at home in Africa, where the US still shines

MONROVIA, Liberia – In a humid rehearsal studio, Liberia’s pop queen is practising her newest single – a song called ‘Thank you’ to be released on the occasion of US President George W Bush’s visit to this African capital this week.

Her head tilted back, her face wet with sweat, Juli Endee pulls the microphone close and belts out, “Thank you George Bush.” “Thank you for democracy,” she croons over the electric guitar, shaking her hips wrapped in yellow cloth.”Thank you for the rule of law,” she sings.”Thank you for debt relief.”President Bush, who is on a five-nation African tour, has returned to one of the only parts of the globe where people still have a favourable view of America.A recent Pew poll of 47 African nations found that America’s popularity is sky high on the continent, with some holding America in higher regard than America views itself.It’s a popularity that verges on exuberance in this nation founded in 1847 by freed US slaves.”If you were to take a survey, you would find that there is not one Liberian that doesn’t love George Bush,” effuses pop star Endee, whose songs calling for peace were among the most played during Liberia’s civil war.It’s an unexpected turn of events for a man that eight years ago discounted Africa, telling PBS’s Jim Lehrer that “it’s not part of the national strategic interests as far as I can see them”.Yet since taking office, US development aid to Africa has tripled, funding for HIV programmes vaulted from under US$1 billion to over US$6 billion per year and garment exports from Africa to America, helped by special trade deals, increased sevenfold, according to official US statistics.The Bush administration has, moreover, made Africa the centrepiece of its overall aid strategy.Twelve of the 15 focus countries receiving funding from the five-year, US$15 billion President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief are in Africa, as are nine of the 16 countries drawing grants from Bush’s Millennium Challenge Corporation.”His Africa policy has taken us by surprise.None of us expected this,” says Tom Kamara, editor-in-chief of the New Democrat, a leading Liberian daily.Bush’s reversal, say analysts, comes from a realisation that it’s no longer just a case of Africa needing America, but of America needing Africa.Today, a fifth of US oil imports come from a single African nation – Nigeria.By the end of the decade, one in five new barrels of oil entering the global market are projected to come from Africa, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.Africa’s vast, ungoverned spaces have lately been recognised as one of the new frontiers in the war on terror, with al Qaeda claiming responsibility for attacks in northern Africa and a radical Islamic group with alleged links to the terror organisation waging a bloody insurgency in Somalia.More than 1 200 US troops are now stationed in Djibouti and last year, the US Defence Department announced the creation of a unified US military command for the continent.”Of course there is a strong element of self-interest in all this,” argues Peter Pham, director of the Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs at James Madison University.The US approach to aid is no longer just about charity, but about helping emerging democracies evolve and secure their borders, an effort designed to avert them becoming breeding grounds for terror, says Pham.PROGRESS & REWARDS Bush’s Africa itinerary – his second trip to Africa since 2003 – offers examples of countries making progress and consequently being rewarded by US aid.Benin, where Bush began his trip on Saturday, received a US$307 million grant from the Millennium Challenge Corporation two years ago for its commitment to democracy.That same year, the nation’s elections were nearly derailed when the government ran out of funds to finance its election machinery, but voters stepped in, raising cash, loaning computers and using their motorcycle headlights to illuminate ballot-counting centres.Ghana, one of the most stable democracies in West Africa, is the recipient of US$547 million – “the largest grant ever to Ghana”, says Kwabena Anaman, director of research at Ghana’s Institute of Economic Affairs.Rwanda, recovering from a 1994 genocide, has just reached the threshold needed to be eligible to receive funding under the Millennium Challenge programme.To be sure, the administration’s new approach to dispensing aid has its critics, including in Africa.Although the scale of funding under the Millennium Challenge is unprecedented, the programme has been slow to take off, with only a fraction of the intended funds reaching the target countries six years after its launch.”They built a great embassy here in Kigali, but if you go out to the countryside you don’t see any signs of the American presence,” says Venuste Karambizi, a dean at Kigali Independent University in Rwanda’s capital.Others say the set of indicators used to determine good governance are far from foolproof.For example, Bush is expected to announce a US$700 million grant for Tanzania, where days before Bush’s arrival, the prime minister resigned in a corruption scandal.Nathaniel Heller, a former US State Department official who now directs Global Integrity, a think tank on corruption, said international donors mistake Tanzania’s “economic progress for governance progress”.In the streets of Monrovia, these criticisms seem petty.As bodies piled up outside the American embassy in 2003, many here remember the sight of US warships on the horizon and Bush’s call for former President Charles Taylor, accused of orchestrating war crimes, to leave.Liberians also thank Bush for the recent cancellation of Liberia’s debt.Endee, the pop star, has no time to discuss critiques of Bush’s foreign policy.In her studio, she is busy finishing not only her song, but also a welcoming dance.It begins with dancers asking each other, “Have you heard who’s coming to Liberia?” When one answers, “George Bush is coming to Liberia,” they explode into dance.- Nampa-AP – Associated Press Writers Francis Kokutse in Accra, Ghana, Virgile Ahissou in Cotonou, Benin and Thomas Rippe in Kigali, Rwanda contributed to this report.”Thank you for democracy,” she croons over the electric guitar, shaking her hips wrapped in yellow cloth.”Thank you for the rule of law,” she sings.”Thank you for debt relief.”President Bush, who is on a five-nation African tour, has returned to one of the only parts of the globe where people still have a favourable view of America.A recent Pew poll of 47 African nations found that America’s popularity is sky high on the continent, with some holding America in higher regard than America views itself.It’s a popularity that verges on exuberance in this nation founded in 1847 by freed US slaves.”If you were to take a survey, you would find that there is not one Liberian that doesn’t love George Bush,” effuses pop star Endee, whose songs calling for peace were among the most played during Liberia’s civil war.It’s an unexpected turn of events for a man that eight years ago discounted Africa, telling PBS’s Jim Lehrer that “it’s not part of the national strategic interests as far as I can see them”.Yet since taking office, US development aid to Africa has tripled, funding for HIV programmes vaulted from under US$1 billion to over US$6 billion per year and garment exports from Africa to America, helped by special trade deals, increased sevenfold, according to official US statistics.The Bush administration has, moreover, made Africa the centrepiece of its overall aid strategy.Twelve of the 15 focus countries receiving funding from the five-year, US$15 billion President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief are in Africa, as are nine of the 16 countries drawing grants from Bush’s Millennium Challenge Corporation.”His Africa policy has taken us by surprise.None of us expected this,” says Tom Kamara, editor-in-chief of the New Democrat, a leading Liberian daily.Bush’s reversal, say analysts, comes from a realisation that it’s no longer just a case of Africa needing America, but of America needing Africa.Today, a fifth of US oil imports come from a single African nation – Nigeria.By the end of the decade, one in five new barrels of oil entering the global market are projected to come from Africa, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.Africa’s vast, ungoverned spaces have lately been recognised as one of the new frontiers in the war on terror, with al Qaeda claiming responsibility for attacks in northern Africa and a radical Islamic group with alleged links to the terror organisation waging a bloody insurgency in Somalia.More than 1 200 US troops are now stationed in Djibouti and last year, the US Defence Department announced the creation of a unified US military command for the continent.”Of course there is a strong element of self-interest in all this,” argues Peter Pham, director of the Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs at James Madison University.The US approach to aid is no longer just about charity, but about helping emerging democracies evolve and secure their borders, an effort designed to avert them becoming breeding grounds for terror, says Pham. PROGRESS & REWARDS Bush’s Africa itinerary – his second trip to Africa since 2003 – offers examples of countries making progress and consequently being rewarded by US aid.Benin, where Bush began his trip on Saturday, received a US$307 million grant from the Millennium Challenge Corporation two years ago for its commitment to democracy.That same year, the nation’s elections were nearly derailed when the government ran out of funds to finance its election machinery, but voters stepped in, raising cash, loaning computers and using their motorcycle headlights to illuminate ballot-counting centres.Ghana, one of the most stable democracies in West Africa, is the recipient of US$547 million – “the largest grant ever to Ghana”, says Kwabena Anaman, director of research at Ghana’s Institute of Economic Affairs.Rwanda, recovering from a 1994 genocide, has just reached the threshold needed to be eligible to receive funding under the Millennium Challenge programme.To be sure, the administration’s new approach to dispensing aid has its critics, including in Africa.Although the scale of funding under the Millennium Challenge is unprecedented, the programme has been slow to take off, with only a fraction of the intended funds reaching the target countries six years after its launch.”They built a great embassy here in Kigali, but if you go out to the countryside you don’t see any signs of the American presence,” says Venuste Karambizi, a dean at Kigali Independent University in Rwanda’s capital.Others say the set of indicators used to determine good governance are far from foolproof.For example, Bush is expected to announce a US$700 million grant for Tanzania, where days before Bush’s arrival, the prime minister resigned in a corruption scandal.Nathaniel Heller, a former US State Department official who now directs Global Integrity, a think tank on corruption, said international donors mistake Tanzania’s “economic progress for governance progress”.In the streets of Monrovia, these criticisms seem petty.As bodies piled up outside the American embassy in 2003, many here remember the sight of US warships on the horizon and Bush’s call for former President Charles Taylor, accused of orchestrating war crimes, to leave.Liberians also thank Bush for the recent cancellation of Liberia’s debt.Endee, the pop star, has no time to discuss critiques of Bush’s foreign policy.In her studio, she is busy finishing not only her song, but also a welcoming dance.It begins with dancers asking each other, “Have you heard who’s coming to Liberia?” When one answers, “George Bush is coming to Liberia,” they explode into dance.- Nampa-AP – Associated Press Writers Francis Kokutse in Accra, Ghana, Virgile Ahissou in Cotonou, Benin and Thomas Rippe in Kigali, Rwanda contributed to this report.