Oil, China to top Bush agenda

2008-02-15 18:57

Lagos - Oil, a heightened US military presence on the continent with AFRICOM and ever-tougher competition from China are all issues that will not be far from the surface during George W. Bush's latest Africa tour.

Beyond bilateral issues with the individual countries visited - Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana and Liberia - Bush wants to "demonstrate America's commitment ... to Africa as a whole," White House National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said in a preview of the visit on Thursday.

The visit, which could be delayed to allow for the passing in the US of a controversial wire-tapping bill, is likely to be Bush's last to Africa before he leaves office in January 2009.

His first port of call, Benin, does get US support, notably in the shape of money to fight malaria, but the economy of the tiny cotton-producing country has been ruined by the US policy of subsidising its domestic cotton growers.

Alongside Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad, Benin has been lobbying the World Trade Organisation (WTO) since 2003 to oblige industrialised cotton producers, and the US in particular, to do away with export subsidies and to reduce direct aid to their own cotton growers.

Subsidies for cotton growers

On the eve of Bush's visit, the US appealed a WTO decision, handed down in response to a request from Brazil, condemning US subsidies to cotton growers.

"If George Bush comes here without something concrete to say about our everyday livelihood, he needn't bother. ... US cotton growers get subsidies and so they make a better living than us. What does Mr. Bush make of that?" questioned Beninese cotton grower Ali Assi Mabdou.

Washington also hopes to better its image by highlighting its Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which has since 2000 enabled some 40 countries to have access to the US market until 2015 without paying customs duties.

However in 2007, more than 90% of exports from sub-Saharan Africa to the US were petroleum products.

"We hope that this visit will enable us to attract more US companies who could export the products they manufacture here into the US thanks to AGOA," Ghana's Trade Minister Joe Baidoo-Ansah said.

Oil

The US taking an interest in Africa can also be explained by the fact that in 2015 Washington expects that 25% of the oil it imports will come from Africa, essentially from the Gulf of Guinea.

Oil could also also have something to do with US insistence on selling the idea of a US military high command for Africa - AFRICOM, currently based in Germany.

Confronted by a lack of enthusiasm for the project, Washington has been doing its best to sound reassuring. At the end of January, a US diplomat, Geoffrey Martineau told the Nigerian parliament that the US did not intend either to put military bases in Africa or to invade the oil-rich Niger Delta.

Nigeria is currently the world's eighth exporter of crude oil and the fifth-biggest supplier to the US.

Nigeria has already refused to host AFRICOM and has made known its unwillingness to have it based "anywhere on African soil".

"The subject of AFRICOM will come up but there won't be any announcement. There's still a lot of work to be done," Hadley said at his briefing.

China: Partner or predator?

Last but not least is China, which, eager to acquire oil and other raw materials, has established itself on the African continent over the past several years.

Variously seen as a partner or a predator, Beijing is a serious rival to the US and to Europe.

"Foreign countries need to act in a responsible way when it comes to investing in or acquiring resources in Africa," Hadley said in response to a question on China's increasingly important role on the continent.

- AFP