1.
Convoy driving on tarmac
2. Wide of plane, convoy in background
3.
US president George W. Bush, wife
Laura and
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice farewelling officials
4.
Bush and wife Laura walking up plane stairs, waving hands before entering plan
5. Wide of US planes, people gathered on tarmac
6.
Close of
US presidential logo; zoom out of plane taxiing on tarmac
7. Wide of plane taxiing on tarmac
8. Close of plane reading: (
English) "
United States of America"
9. Wide of plane taking off
10. Wide of plane in sky
STORYLINE:
US president George W. Bush left
Ghana, flying to formerly war ravaged
Liberia on Thursday before going back to
Washington, as part of his
Africa tour that included visits in
Benin,
Tanzania and
Rwanda.
In a country teeming with resources the world covets,
US President George W. Bush sought to soothe African fears about
American interests on the continent.
He said the US isn't aiming to make Africa into a base for greater military power or a proxy battleground with
China.
The desire for Africa's vast raw materials - oil, gold, diamonds, minerals, crops and more - has a long and often violent and exploitative history.
That's especially true in Ghana, a tropical, sweltering, resource-rich nation on the shores of
West Africa, the first place in sub-Saharan Africa that
Europeans arrived to trade, first in gold, then slaves, and now the site of a new offshore oil discovery.
Bush sought to deal with suspicions about the creation of a new
US Military command dedicated to Africa.
African nations such as
Libya,
Nigeria and
South Africa have expressed fears that the plan signals an unwanted expansion of American power on the continent or is a cover for protecting Africa's oil on behalf of the US.
Ghana's
President,
John Kufuor, raised the issue with Bush during their meetings at
Osu Castle, a centuries-old building that was once a hub of
slave-trading and now is the seat of government in
Accra.
Bush denied rumours of new military bases and instead said the new command - the
US Defence Department created
United States Africa Command last October - was aimed at more effectively reorganising
US military efforts related to Africa under one hierarchy, and to strengthen African nations' peacekeeping, anti-terror, anti-trafficking and other efforts.
Bush added that Ghana's President, John Kufuor, bluntly told him in private that "you're not going to build any bases in Ghana."
On China, Bush made his argument clear: that the
United States is the better and kinder partner, because it aims to improve African lives while nations like China focus on commercial opportunity to the exclusion of almost everything else.
In an indirect swipe at
Beijing, Bush suggested that African leaders set standards such as the employment of African workers or keeping value-added processes on the continent for countries seeking to do business here - and promised the United States would meet them.
But there is no question that American economic interests also matter here.
On energy alone, a fifth of US oil comes from Nigeria.
Ghana's oil discovery last year matters, even if it won't rival that.
Ghana was the first African nation to receive a compact from
Bush's Millennium Challenge Corporation, one worth 547 (m) million
US dollars
over five years to expand markets for crops.
Gahna, a stable, relatively well administered democracy that has largely avoided ethnic clashes and played a busy peacekeeping role on the continent under
Kufuor's leadership.
Ghana also has cut its still-persistent poverty and is known for press freedoms but it is still dependent on foreign aid, including millions each year from the United States.
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- published: 21 Jul 2015
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