Prometheus 6   

US Africa Policies Look Good but Lack Substance, Say Critics

allAfrica.com
NEWS
July 3, 2003
By Charles Cobb Jr.
Washington, DC

Apparently compassionate U.S. initiatives for Africa such as the promise of $15bn to help fight HIV/Aids are "at this moment, fictitious, because they remain unfunded" and President Bush's forthcoming Africa trip is "lacking in substance," says Salih Booker, Executive Director of Africa Action.

"The President may be callously manipulating Africa's suffering to present a veneer of compassion and the American public is being misled," Booker said at a briefing Wednesday on Bush's five-nation tour of Africa scheduled to begin next week.

TransAfrica Forum President Bill Fletcher, the Co-Director of Foreign Policy in Focus, Emira Woods, and Njoki Njoroge Njehu, Director of the U.S. Network for Global Justice's 50 Years is Enough, were also harshly critical of U.S. Africa policy.

"Although the Bush administration continues to promote trade as an engine of growth, U.S. policy continues to promote interests that are antithetical to Africa," said Booker. Furthermore, the U.S. "fails to provide its fair share" of foreign assistance and "the U.S. footprint in Africa is growing" while, at the same time, its "refusal to participate in multilateral peacekeeping efforts are undermining African peacemakers."