*EPF408 07/10/2003
Bush Promoting Strong Agenda of Trade, Aid and AIDS for Africa
(Powell briefs press as Bush ends visit to southern Africa) (680)

By Jim Fisher-Thompson
Washington File Staff Correspondent

Pretoria -- U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell July 10 summarized President Bush's visit to the first three countries in the five-nation swing through Africa, saying he was "very pleased about the trip to this point," in part because the president's decision to travel was a tangible demonstration that "Africa is a priority in his administration."

Declining to compare the current trip with two earlier visits made by President Clinton, Powell pointed out, "We have put before the people of Africa a solid agenda," he told journalists, that "talks about aid and trade. It talks about investment. It talks about HIV/AIDS."

At the president's earlier stops in places like Goree Island, Powell said, people have seen "a leader who is committed" to helping them overcome political injustice and economic deprivation and "is not just here for show."

Asked about the political ramifications of the trip for African Americans, whom the Republican party has been wooing, Powell said, "I hope that all Americans back home, including African Americans, will see the trip for what it is all about."

Powell emphasized, "The purpose of the trip was not a political exercise, it was not designed to influence the elections of next year. It was designed to deal with real problems facing people in need in Africa. It was designed to reinforce our relationship with those countries that are moving in the right direction [politically and economically], dealing with the crisis of HIV/AIDS." Also, the trip, very importantly, was "to speak to leaders who are trying to resolve regional conflicts here on the continent."

The secretary of state added, "I hope all Americans will see...that America has leadership responsibilities around the world and nowhere is that more important than here in Africa. This is a president who has a broad agenda and he is executing that broad foreign policy agenda. I hope that next year the American people will recognize that, appreciate it and respond accordingly."

Asked about oil as a part of U.S. foreign policy, Powell began by saying, "We have not taken one drop of Iraqi oil for U.S. purposes or coalition purposes. By the same token, the president did not come to Africa on this trip for the purpose of taking anyone's oil or imposing our will on anybody. We are here to visit friends. We are here by invitation and have been welcomed by the governments. And in the three days we have been here, we have not participated in one single discussion with any leader about oil in any way, shape or fashion."

Powell had little new to say about the crisis in Liberia, beyond the fact that President Bush had reaffirmed the need for President Charles Taylor to leave the war-torn nation. The secretary did add he had just been on the telephone with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan about U.S. involvement in the situation. He said the U.S. military assessment team sent to Liberia may have some recommendations to make to the president shortly about how the United States could work with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to bring an end to the civil war.

Noting that "the U.N. has made it clear they have principal responsibility for the humanitarian relief effort and for reconstruction, for nation-building," Powell said, "this is a case, it seems to me, where there is an appropriate division of responsibility and activity" between the U.N. and ECOWAS.

"If there is U.S. participation on the ground" in Liberia, Powell added, "we fully expect and have made it clear to friends in the international community, ECOWAS and the U.N. that we see it as being very limited in duration and scope and really for the purpose of getting ECOWAS in there with sufficient strength to do the long-term" peacekeeping and rebuilding efforts.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

Return to Public File Main Page

Return to Public Table of Contents