Wall Street Journal - July 8, 2003
Jeanne Cummings, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

In an exchange with reporters, Mr. Bush said he "assured" Ghana President John Kufuor, who heads the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, that "we will participate" in the peace process. "We're in the process of determining what is necessary to maintain the cease-fire and to allow for a peaceful transfer of power," Mr. Bush said at the close of a meeting with eight leaders of Western Africa nations.

White House officials said ECOWAS is expected to take the lead on any peacekeeping effort, and those Africa nations have already said they could send about 3,000 troops to Liberia. But some African leaders and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan are pressing the administration to send troops as well. Asked specifically about troop deployments, Mr. Bush hedged, saying, "we're now in a process to determine the extent of our participation." White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said it could be "some time" before the exact nature of the U.S. participation in the peace process is known.

The fate of Liberia and embattled President Charles Taylor, a brutal former warlord, captured international attention after the collapse of a June cease-fire agreement reached with rebel groups opposing Mr. Taylor.

African leaders are seeking to resolve the strife because of its destabilizing effect on neighboring countries and the suffering of civilians caught in the crossfire. In the capital of Monrovia, a series of recent incursions by rebels has caused hundreds of deaths. Residents of Liberia believe that the U.S. has a special obligation to help them since the nation was founded in the 19th century by freed American slaves.

Mr. Bush Tuesday repeated his call for Mr. Taylor, who has been indicted for war crimes in an international court, to leave the country and pave the way for a serious peace process to begin. Mr. Taylor this week said he would accept an asylum offer from Nigeria, but he also argued that a hasty exit on his part would create a power vacuum that could lead to greater bloodshed. He has not announced his departure plans.

A senior administration official, briefing reporters on the meeting with African leaders, said Mr. Bush "didn't link Charles Taylor's exit to any particular U.S. engagement." In fact, a quick departure by Mr. Taylor could create a odd diplomatic situation for the White House. Mr. Bush is scheduled to stop in Nigeria on Friday, and there's some question about whether Mr. Taylor might also be there. "There are still a lot of ifs on this trip," a senior administration official shrugged.

Meanwhile, in Liberia, a U.S. team dispatched by Mr. Bush to assess conditions and recommend administrative action was blocked from conducting its first mission, according to wire services. The U.S. team, which arrived in Liberia on Monday, was seeking to interview refugees when a group of armed loyalists to Mr. Taylor blocked their access to the camp.

The sudden rise of the Liberia question threatens to overtake Mr. Bush's plans to use his five-day tour through Africa to highlight his initiatives to fight the spread of AIDS, poverty and famine, and to boost trade.

In a string of pretrip interviews, Mr. Bush admitted that the purpose of the Africa agenda is to soften the U.S. warmongering image abroad. White House officials, privately, also acknowledge that the trip is aimed at reassuring anxious moderate Republicans and swing voters at home who supported Mr. Bush's because of his self-styled compassionate conservative philosophy. "I proposed an AIDS initiative because I believe it's very important for the United States to not only show its muscle to the world, but its heart," Mr. Bush told African reporters last week.

To that end, the White House chose what it considered a series of African success stories to frame the trip.

In Senegal Tuesday, Mr. Bush hoped to highlight one of Africa's most stable democracies. In South Africa Wednesday, he will focus on the strong economic ties between that nation and the U.S., including a stop at a Ford plant. In Botswana, he will arrive in Africa's fastest-growing economy and draw attention to its spectacular wildlife with a tour through a nature reserve. And, in Uganda, the president hopes to bring international attention to a nation that has turned the tide on the spread of AIDS and one that he hopes will become a model for his own $15 billion, five-year initiative to combat AIDS in Africa.

Along the way, White House stage managers have arranged for a series of soothing images of Mr. Bush, including a stop at a Nigeria hospital that specializes in curbing the spread of HIV from mothers to infants.

In Senegal Tuesday, Mr. Bush delivered a moving speech about the devastating legacy of slavery, both in Africa and in America. His address was delivered before a small audience consisting mostly of Senegal dignitaries on the Atlantic Ocean beach at Goree Island, the infamous point of departure for millions of slaves. "One of the largest migrations of history was also one of the greatest crimes of history," he said.

Mr. Bush likened the journey of the slaves to that told in the Book of Exodus, and said the African captives proved better students of Christianity than the Western men and women who sold them. "By a plan known only to Providence, the stolen sons and daughters of Africa helped to awaken the conscience of America," the president said.

Mr. Bush acknowledged that America's "journey toward justice has not been easy and it is not over." But, unlike his promise that trade and peace will usher a more just future for Africa in the world community, he simply asserted that the U.S.'s course was set on achieving justice. "We know that these challenges can be overcome, because history moves in the direction of justice," he said.

Write to Jeanne Cummings at jeanne.cummings@wsj.com

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