United Press International - July 2, 2003
Richard Tomkins, UPI White House Correspondent

Most pressing of the conflicts -- and the one bringing the most pressure to bear on Washington -- is Liberia, where President Charles Taylor has fought a 3-year battle with rebel forces.

African nations, together with Britain and France, are pressing for direct U.S. military involvement in the form of some 2,000 troops as part of an international peacekeeping force for Liberia.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- once called Zaire and before that the Belgian Congo -- African countries and the United Nations want U.S. backing for an expanded peacekeeping force. At least nine countries have taken part in the Congo's civil war over the past five years. Efforts by the various factions, through the intervention of South Africa, are underway to form a government of national unity.

On the other side of the continent is Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe is accused of human rights abuses and of having brought a former British colony to the point of mass starvation.

So egregious is his rule that the British Commonwealth shuns him and Washington bars the president and his senior officials from entering the United States. Any assets Mugabe and other senior Zimbabwean officials may have had in the United States have been frozen.

South Africa, which faces a refugee influx because of the situation in Zimbabwe, is among the countries working on a behind-the-scenes track to resolve the economic and political turmoil in the former British colony.

Washington would like Pretoria to do more to encourage Mugabe to leave. "It's an important visit because Africa is becoming more important (to the United States)," Princeton Lyman, former U.S. ambassador to South Africa and also Nigeria, told United Press International.

"We see the terrorism problem in spreading in Africa," he said, referring to the bombings in East Africa, the attack on Israel in East Africa, and the use of failed states in West Africa for al-Qaida to finance itself through illicit diamonds, adding that the United States sees a growing economic market in the continent.

"I think there is growing recognition in this administration, as in the last, that Africa has to be an important part of our foreign relations."

Bush begins his 6 1/2-day trip Tuesday in Senegal on the west coast of Africa. Stops in South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and Nigeria follow.

Nigeria supplies the United States with oil; South Africa is a major trading partner.

Of the countries being visited, only Uganda is not yet a full participatory democracy although elections are slated for 2006.

Bush canceled a scheduled visit to Africa earlier this year because of the impending conflict with Iraq.

"In 11 days I leave for Africa, and I will carry a message," Bush said last week in outlining his Africa agenda. "And I will carry this message: The United States believes in the great potential of Africa. We believe this can be a decade of unprecedented advancement for freedom and hope and healing and peace."

Administration officials said Bush will sound several recurrent themes in his remark during his stops in Africa: the economic and emerging market decisions governments face to increase trade and alleviate poverty; the U.S. commitment of $15 billion in the continent's fight against AIDS; the president's Millennium Challenge program under which poor nations making make strides toward democracy and open markets receive economic aid; increased trade and establishment of democracy; and crisis resolution.

"The first great goal in our partnership with Africa is to help establish peace and security across the continent," Bush said. "The second goal of our partnership in Africa is to make the advantages of health and literacy widely available across the continent, and that work begins with the struggle against AIDS, which already afflicts nearly 30 million Africans."

The third goal, Bush said, "is to help African nations develop vibrant, free economies through aid and trade." He added, "Wealthy nations have a responsibility to provide foreign aid. We have an equal duty to make sure that aid is effective, by rewarding countries that embrace reform and freedom."

The Bush administration, in addition to the AIDS program, has urged Congress to extend the law that grants African goods greater access to U.S. markets, and through its urging the United Nations has agreed to provide more than $200 million over the next three years for small business loans in 10 African countries.

On Liberia, Bush is expected to listen carefully to African arguments, but it appears unlikely direct troop involvement would be in the cards.

Walter Kansteiner, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, said the United States wants to be engaged in helping restore peace in Liberia, but is keeping its options open.

"How that engagement comes about, we are still very seriously looking at and considering," he said in remarks at the Brookings Institution this week.

"Politically and diplomatically we are engaged and will continue to remain so." Lyman, the former ambassador, said the idea of the United States putting troops on the ground in Liberia would meet "a lot of resistance in the administration."

"I think it will be hard to do so with so many troops tied down in Iraq and other places," he said.

Bush has called for Taylor to step down in Liberia -- a country founded in the 1800s by freed slaves from the United States -- to end the violence and bring about reconciliation.

Bush last week also noted Africa's increasing involvement in the war on terrorism. The 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were said to be the handiwork of al-Qaida, which is accused of masterminding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.

Al-Qaida also is believed to have been behind last year's attack on an Israeli-owned and -frequented resort on Kenya's coast, and the simultaneous attempt to shoot down an airliner.

Early on in the investigations of the Sept 11 bombings, it appeared al-Qaida gained at least some of its funds through trade in diamonds mined illicitly in West Africa.

Bush last week announced the United States would provide $100 million over the next 15 months to help Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Uganda and Tanzania improve air and seaport security and improve intelligence capabilities.

030702
UP030701

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2003. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2003. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .