DAR ES SALAAM, Feb 17, 2008 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush with backing from Tanzania's leader Sunday defended US policies towards Africa, from efforts to end Kenya's bloody political crisis to the war on HIV/AIDS.
On the second stop of Bush's Africa tour in the Tanzanian capital, President Jakaya Kikwete told reporters that he hoped Barack Obama would treat the continent as well as the current US leader has if the Democratic senator, a fierce Bush critic with a Kenyan father, wins the White House in November.
"Of course, people talk with excitement of Obama," said Kikwete. "The US is going to get a new president, whoever that is. For us, the most important thing is, let him be as good a friend of Africa as President Bush has been."
All smiles under a blazing sun, the two leaders signed a five-year, 698-million-dollar US aid package meant to help Tanzania build better roads, get electricity to more people, and increase its supply of safe drinking water.
With just 11 months left before he leaves office, Bush defended his handling of Africa's often violent political crises and said he and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had consulted their host on deadly turmoil in neighbouring Kenya.
"She and I spent time discussing a mutual strategy with the president; how best can we help the process, not what we should do to dictate to the process, but what can Americans do to help the process move along," he said.
Bush underlined that Rice would go to Nairobi on Monday to tell Kenyan leaders in person that the United States wants them to sign on to a power-sharing plan drafted by former UN chief Kofi Annan.
The US president is on a five-country tour of the continent that took him to Benin on Saturday and from Tanzania to Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia. His first trip to Africa was in 2003.
Bush, basking in Africa's warm welcome, fired back at critics of his unprecedented campaign to fight HIV/AIDS and rejected calls to drop controversial abstinence education from the project.
"It's a program that's been proven effective," he said, telling US lawmakers: "Listen to leaders on the continent of Africa, analyze what works, stop the squabbling, and get the program reauthorized."
The US leader has urged Congress to double funding for his plan from about 15 billion dollars over five years -- already the most spent by any country to fight an infectious disease -- to around 30 billion dollars.
Bush said he and Kikwete had discussed other tough political crises, including what he has called "genocide" in Darfur, and turmoil in Zimbabwe under President Robert Mugabe, a frequent target for US criticism.
"There's no doubt the people of Zimbabwe deserve a government that serves their interest and recognizes their basic human rights and holds free and fair elections," Bush said, apparently referring to a March presidential vote.
Bush also defended US policy on Sudan's Darfur province, saying Washington had imposed "real, meaningful sanctions" on individuals who have thwarted efforts to end violence there and speed humanitarian aid to the region's people.
Asked by a Tanzanian reporter why he had waited until 11 months from the end of his term to come here, Bush joked: "Why finally getting to Tanzania? I don't have many excuses, except I've been a pretty busy guy."
"We have been actively engaged in diplomatic efforts on the continent of Africa for a long period of time, and very engaged since I've been the president," said Bush. "Our record speaks for itself."
On another front, Bush signalled support for Kosovo's plans to declare independence, declaring himself in favor of a UN envoy's proposal for international community supervision of its break from Serbia.
"On Kosovo, our position is that its status must be resolved in order for the Balkans to be stable," said Bush, who called for Serbia to be "aligned with Europe" and vowed to work "to make sure there's no violence."
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