Bush seeks to boost assistance to Africa
WASHINGTON
US President George W Bush, promising to boost US assistance for Africa despite tight budgets and potential war, said yesterday he would ask Congress to extend trade concessions for the continent.
�We look to the day when prosperity for Africa is built through trade and markets,� Bush said in videotaped remarks to a conference in Mauritius on the African Growth and Opportunity Act - US trade legislation for Africa passed in 2000.
Congressional Democratic sources welcomed Bush�s proposal to extend the duration of trade concessions beyond 2008, but said a separate pledge by Bush to increase development aid by 50 per cent over three years was inadequate, not new, and faced difficulty winning approval in the Republican-controlled Congress.
They said traditional congressional Republican hostility to foreign aid, growing budget deficits and the prospect of a war with Iraq all could threaten African aid goals.
Leading Senate Democrats planned to introduce legislation today aimed at making up what non-governmental aid groups say is a $600 million shortfall in food assistance for Africa. A House Democrat involved in Africa issues said he would seek to expand the trade pact farther than Bush proposed.
Bush had intended to attend the Mauritius conference but cancelled last month to stay at home and deal with the potential war against Iraq and the weak US economy. He said he hoped to visit Africa later this year.
Bush said he would ask Congress to extend the duration of the legislation that grants trade concessions to African countries in exchange for economic reforms beyond its scheduled expiration in 2008. He also reiterated previous commitments to provide food aid to alleviate the effects of drought and assistance to fight Aids.
Bush renewed a pledge to ask Congress to increase development aid by 50 per cent over the next three years, to $15 billion from $10 billion. That target is a global figure, but much of the aid is expected to go to African countries which would have to compete for the aid on the basis of reforms.
The money sought by Bush falls well short of the doubling of Western foreign aid that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for last year.
Rep Tom Lantos of California, the ranking Democrat on the House of Representatives International Relations Committee, said he supported the administration�s initiatives for Africa but the plan fell short.
Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle and Sen Patrick Leahy of Vermont will introduce legislation today to �vastly increase� food aid to Africa, a Democratic leadership aide said.
An official at a non-governmental aid group, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said current US food aid for Africa was below the traditional commitment of half the total foreign commitment for aid and about $600 million more was needed. - Reuters | 
