• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Backgrounder: President Bush Travels to Africa

Council on Foreign Relations

Author: Stephanie Hanson, News Editor

February 13, 2008

Introduction

President George W. Bush travels to Africa in February 2008, his second trip to the continent while in office (the first was in 2003). Notably, the five-country itinerary does not include any of the conflict-ridden states on the continent such as Sudan, Somalia, or the Democratic Republic of Congo. Until its descent into political turmoil following disputed December 2007 elections, Kenya was slated to be included in the trip, according to a February 7 briefing at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Instead, Bush will visit Benin, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, and Liberia, all countries that are considered stable, credible democracies. The trip is an opportunity for the president to showcase his major foreign aid and global health initiatives in Africa. But some experts say he may not be able to avoid addressing the broadening crisis zone in East Africa, where Washington has expended significant diplomatic efforts—particularly in Darfur—but has delivered little concrete progress.

Benin

Situated directly to the west of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, tiny Benin is home to 7.9 million people. After it achieved independence from France, it was governed by military dictators until 1990. A national conference that year introduced a new constitution and ushered in presidential and legislative elections. As a result, Benin was the first African country to successfully transition from a dictatorship to a multiparty system of governance after the end of the Cold War. Some experts say the country’s national conference spurred the spread of democratization throughout West Africa.

Benin has played a positive role in regional peace and security. It assisted with mediation efforts in political crises in Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, and Togo, and its peacekeepers currently serve in Cote d’Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2008 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.