Bush arrives in Tanzania with $700 mil in aid
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania -- President Bush, targeting disease and poverty in travels across the African continent, touted a soft-power agenda Sunday in Tanzania where he received a hearty, red carpet welcome by a crowd waving tiny U.S. and Tanzanian flags.
Bush opened his second day in Africa in the seacoast city of Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania, which represents the kind of place Bush is visiting on his six-day trip: a stable democracy that's grateful for U.S. health and economic aid.
Bush, who arrived Saturday night to the delight of thousands ringing the roadside, met Sunday with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete. Bush came with help in hand -- nearly $700 million aid to help Tanzania build up its infrastructure. Bush also was visiting a hospital in the city center, discussing his anti-AIDS initiative and visit families of victims of the 1998 U.S. embassy bombing here.
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Unlike in the United States, where his approval rating hovers near his record lows, Bush is treated here with reverence. Men and women wear clothing bearing his image.
Tanzania, where the economy is growing but many live in sickness and poverty, is the only country on Bush's tour to merit two days of Bush's time. Playing to audiences here and lawmakers back home, he is aiming to showcase U.S. compassion and the results it produces.
Kikwete's prominence is on the rise as the new head of the African Union, and his session with Bush is expected to cover violence and repression in troubled Kenya, Chad and Zimbabwe.
The two met in the president's historic residence, overlooking the Indian Ocean.
The shadow of Kenya, just to the north, loomed large. Both parties in that nation's disputed presidential election -- one that led to bloodshed -- are working on a power-sharing deal. Bush is sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Kenya on Monday to back the effort.
Tanzania, an agriculture-driven country of roughly 40 million people, is trying to broaden its ties to the U.S. across political, economic and military fronts. It is the latest country to reap benefits from the Millennium Challenge Account, one of the initiatives underpinning his trip to Africa. It provides U.S. aid to countries that govern justly, shun corruption, help their people and support economic freedoms.
The nearly $700 million compact, which Bush is signing Sunday, is the largest in the program's history. Much of it will underwrite improvements to the country's transportation.
Yet the timing is awkward, given all the emphasis on good governance.
Just this month, Kikwete dissolved his entire Cabinet over a corruption scandal involving a contract with a nonexistent firm supposedly based in the United States.
Tanzania is also one of the countries targeted by Bush's emergency AIDS relief effort, which has helped provide medicine and care to millions. More than two-thirds of all people infected with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa. The region accounts for more than three quarters of all AIDS-related deaths in 2007.
He began his African agenda in Benin in West Africa. After his time in Tanzania, Bush plans to visit Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia.