By Tabassum Zakaria and Samuel Elijah
COTONOU, Feb 16 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush began a visit to Africa on Saturday with a call for a power sharing agreement in Kenya to end the post-election conflict there that has killed 1,000 people.
Bush, whose five-nation trip does not include Kenya, is sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Nairobi on Monday to back mediation efforts between Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and his opponents by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan.
U.S. officials stressed that Rice's trip was intended to back, not upstage, Annan's efforts in Kenya. But they warned the United States was ready to sanction any individuals who sought to obstruct the peace moves in the East African state.
"Kenya's an issue ... that's why I'm sending Secretary Rice there to help with the Kofi Annan initiative," Bush told reporters after arriving in Benin on the first stop of his six-day tour, his second to the world's poorest continent.
Rice's mission was "all aimed at having a clear message that there be no violence and that there ought to be a power sharing agreement," Bush said after holding talks with Benin President Thomas Boni Yayi in a brief stopover at Cotonou airport.
He later left for Tanzania, the next stop on a tour that will also take him to Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia.
Former U.N. Secretary-General Annan is trying to end turmoil in Kenya over the disputed Dec. 27 election that has also uprooted 300,000 people, plunging East Africa's biggest economy into its most turbulent episode since independence in 1963.
The top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, stressed that Rice's trip to Kenya would back Annan's role.
"Right now, we don't want to supplant Kofi Annan's mediation," she said, briefing reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Tanzania. "President Bush does not need to go to Kenya at this point," Frazer added.
She said she believed that Kenyan President Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga had both understood they had to find a credible lasting solution to the dispute.
"Any individuals ... seen as obstructing the effort for a peace process, a power sharing agreement, the president stated, will be subject to possible further sanctions by the U.S.," said Frazer, the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.
Bush, who was accompanied by his wife Laura, is avoiding Africa's conflict hotspots and visiting five states carefully chosen to show a different face from the poverty-plagued and war-stricken continent normally portrayed by the world's media.
DARFUR "GENOCIDE"
The presidents of Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia are viewed by Washington as a new generation of democratic African leaders and the United States is backing them with health and education support and also some military cooperation.
But the crises in Kenya and Sudan's Darfur still loom large.
Speaking in Cotonou, Bush reiterated U.S. backing for the African Union/United Nations peacekeeping force being deployed in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, where political and ethnic conflict since 2003 has killed around 200,000 people.
"No question, Sudan is a real difficult situation which we have labelled a genocide ... We are sanctioning some, rallying others to provide aid in the hopes there will be a robust U.N. force in Darfur to help relieve the suffering," Bush said.
He added the U.S. was ready to "help facilitate" the movement of the peacekeeping force for Darfur.
Bush said he had also been speaking with President Hu Jintao of China -- the main backer of oil-rich Sudan -- about "the need for us to act collaboratively on Darfur".
Earlier, Bush was presented by Yayi with the Grand Cross of the National Order of Benin, the country's highest award.
Bush praised Yayi's fight against corruption and said the U.S. government was willing to reduce farm subsidies -- West African cotton growers say U.S. subsidies ruin their business -- as long as other states granted market access for U.S. products.
Commenting on Rice's trip to Kenya, a senior U.S. official said that while some issues in the peace process were resolved, the power sharing deal will "take a little bit more time".
Annan has said that considerable progress was made this week, including agreement for an independent review of the polls. He is also seeking constitutional and electoral reforms.
The former U.N. chief will meet President Kibaki and opposition leader Odinga on Monday -- Rice is due in Kenya on that day -- before negotiations resume on Tuesday.
Bush's visit to Africa will showcase U.S. projects backing hospitals, schools and anti-AIDS and anti-malaria initiatives considered a success in a Bush foreign policy scarred by controversy over his handling of Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. (Additional reporting by Deborah Charles; writing by Pascal Fletcher; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
Which kind of 'long-court' is airforce one taking.
From Benin to Tanzania then to Ghana-Rwanda-Liberia.
You sure say they sabi this continent abi dem jus wan burn fuel.
The proper route should be Benin-Ghana-Liberia-Rwanda-Tanzania.
Anyways i hope Condoleeza's visit to Kenya will help stop the violence.
The lives lost are just too much.
This trip of bush to africa doesnt seem like some good thing, he's only going there
to stir trouble like he always does, why cant he just worry about whats happenin
in his country then trying to come to other countrys Claiming to do good, ther
is fighting n tashin hankali in places n to me its like he wants to add to it, like we aint even
facing enuff problems already >:(
Errrm i kinda dint read what you wrote muhsin i just took off from the name of the topic
sowi :)
Trouble is the right word Ameera. He is there to drum up support for his Africomm project and also to secure the petrol from the 'grasping machinations' of china...
Your words are impecable Amira and Husnaa. In my own comprehension on the visit, there would be NOTHING really beneficial to Africans and Africa. I heard him talking in Tanzania about mosquitoe medicated nets. Hahaha...what a shame? Common nets that even I and Gogannaka could produce that for masses, couldn't we Goga?
Have you thought of why he refuses to include Nigeria among his African countries visit list? Think that has relation with Yar'Adua'a denial to let America base her Africom soldiers here. And probably the ongoing shari'a between the president and oppostion parties--Buhari and Atiku. But what do ya think?
Generally speaking, Africa is not among US or rather Bush's priority region. Kai dai bashshi da zuwa Middle East where petrol is available like...water (in Nigeria). There he always threaten them; support US policy and mission or we lauch war on you.
Kai! Allah dai ya kara kiyaye mu daga sharrin mutumin nan, amin.
Bush only wants to maida mutane sakarkaru kamar basu san me ke masu ciwo ba, when he knows quite well what he is intrested in as hajjaj has pointed out below:
Quote from: HUSNAA on February 17, 2008, 10:57:10 PM
He is there to drum up support for his Africomm project and also to secure the petrol from the 'grasping machinations' of china...
I dont know what to say but if our leaders do agree to this poison plan toh they are biting off more than they can chew.
i dislike commenting on international affairs, especially when
here in naija we have standing problems that were not solved
over years.
Amira, the worst thing is that, all these big men that we call
our leaders are seriously benefiting from the policies of the
west, just remember how our brother marigayi Abatcha invested
so much in the west!!! its a pity, so also so many of our people
are investing with the west, thinking that they are far safe when
they invest there than now.
as far back as independence and up till today, i knew a handful
of people here in Maiduguri who owned estates in England, when
i say estate, i mean real estate - to me kenan?
i know its a liberal world, you can invest anywhere as you wish
amma what about patriotism?
so also, bush is out to source for collaborators to invest with the
west, and from all indication he has found a handful for a quick
start up. It is reliably gathered that dignitaries where despatched
from naija to accompany the US president throughout the tour,
this is to reiterate their commitment towards US policies in Africa.
except we go back to the drawing board, we have no option than
to follow the US for now.
keep praying Muhsin.
Dan Borno, kansan wani abu....
Abin da baka da magani akan shi, shi yafi ciwo wallahi everyday you'll witness an ill thing occuring
whether its bate or hidden, thers not that much you could do apart from praying i know that requires patience but things that are happening toh........................
Dan Borno, I am with you on this one. It is follow follow that will our people. I told some folks in Nigeria that my friends and I were planning on going to Nigeria in August to run some kind of technology initiatives and other programs. They told me to make sure we bring 'white' people O! As if white people are gods.
One of the greatest assets of Nigeria are its diasporan citizens in the West. Unfortunately, the Nigerian goverment is not interested in tapping into this resource to hell solve many of the critical problems within the expertise of Nigerian professionals abroad. They rather dance and kiss white people's ass. If only they had any clue how most people in that position view them. I wouldn't be surprised that a Nigerian delegation went to junket around as Bush toured parts of Africa. That's how Obasanjo was always running to America whenever Bush sneezed. The whole thing is embarrassing. We are thinking of putting our money at home for safe keeping and out of reach of yankee's dubious system, they (Nigerian politicians and co) are doing the opposite. When diasporans see that kind of trend, it shakes our confidence in the Nigerian banking system because it suggests that stability is very elusive.
Quote from: Dan-Borno on February 21, 2008, 07:58:03 PM
i dislike commenting on international affairs, especially when
here in naija we have standing problems that were not solved
over years.
keep praying Muhsin.
I have deduced that since in your posts at KanoOnline,
DB. But here we really differ as you might have also been aware of.
Prayer is our tireless act,
DB. And am so sure it'll be answered some day.
Quote from: King on February 21, 2008, 10:00:09 PM
Dan Borno, I am with you on this one. It is follow follow that will our people. I told some folks in Nigeria that my friends and I were planning on going to Nigeria in August to run some kind of technology initiatives and other programs. They told me to make sure we bring 'white' people O! As if white people are gods.
One of the greatest assets of Nigeria are its diasporan citizens in the West. Unfortunately, the Nigerian goverment is not interested in tapping into this resource to hell solve many of the critical problems within the expertise of Nigerian professionals abroad. They rather dance and kiss white people's ass. If only they had any clue how most people in that position view them. I wouldn't be surprised that a Nigerian delegation went to junket around as Bush toured parts of Africa. That's how Obasanjo was always running to America whenever Bush sneezed. The whole thing is embarrassing. We are thinking of putting our money at home for safe keeping and out of reach of yankee's dubious system, they (Nigerian politicians and co) are doing the opposite. When diasporans see that kind of trend, it shakes our confidence in the Nigerian banking system because it suggests that stability is very elusive.
That issue of looking at white people some what out of common sense is been for long irritating me,
King. Its a real pain in ass, wallahi. I wish our Africans would understand how everything is. We are all alike; humans. And no anything apart. God forbid!