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Remarks by President
Bush and President Kikwete of Tanzania
February 17, 2008
State House
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
10:29 A.M. (L)
Page Two
Cont'd
PRESIDENT BUSH: You better use the mic, I'm
a little old these days. (Laughter.) I'm not
hearing very well.
Q My question goes to you, Mr. President.
Your visit has come rather late, during the
end of your presidency. And I would like to
know, why is it Tanzania and Africa in
general so important now?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thanks, yes. Africa has
actually been important from the start of my
administration. I'll never forget having a
conversation with then my -- my
then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza
Rice, it was early on in the administration
and we were talking about priorities and
matters of emphasis.
And she asked me whether or not I really
cared about Africa and my answer to her then
is the same answer I will give to you now:
Absolutely, it's in our national interests
that America help deal with hopelessness;
and it's in our moral interests that we help
brothers and sisters who hurt. It's been the
policy of the Bush administration since day
one. That's why in the first four years of
my administration I went to Congress and I
asked them to double foreign aid to Africa.
And then as I began the second half of my
administration, I asked them to double it
again. Why? Because it's in our interests to
work on issues such as malaria and AIDS.
It also appalled me very [early] on, sir, in
my administration to realize that an entire
generation of people could be lost to
HIV/AIDS; and that those of us who were
comfortable weren't doing much about it. I'm
a man who believes in certain principles and
I refuse to yield from those principles. And
one such principle is that to whom much is
given, much is required. And a lot of has
been given to the United States of America.
We're a blessed nation. And therefore I felt
all along it was incumbent upon us to help
deal with this pandemic that was -- could
have literally wiped out an entire
generation of Africans and left thousands
and thousands of boys and girls orphaned.
And so this has been a priority of mine. Why
finally getting to Tanzania? I don't have
many excuses, except I've been a pretty busy
guy. (Laughter.) And secondly, it seemed
like a fortuitous time to come -- after all,
the results of our efforts are becoming more
and more tangible and there's no better
place to come than a place where people
achieve results. (Applause.)
Now there's still a lot of conflict here on
this continent, I understand that. I was
asked yesterday, "Well, how come you're not
going to the places of conflict?" Well, one
reason you go to places of success is to
show people what's possible. (Applause.) I
am going tomorrow(*) to a place that had
been in serious conflict, however, and
that's Rwanda. And one of the reasons I'm
going there is to show that after this
horrible situation that occurred, there's
life and there's hope and there's progress.
And one way to make sure that situations
like that don't occur, however, is to deal
with the human condition. And that's what
this trip is all about -- it's heralding
good leadership, it's heralding honest
government and is focusing our help on local
folks' efforts to deal with malaria and
AIDS. So thanks for the question.
Q Thank you. On PEPFAR, there are many
Democrats, as well as some medical experts,
who say that the abstinence provision --
spending such a chunk of the money on
abstinence programs is too inflexible and
should be dropped. Would you consider doing
that?
And then to President Kikwete, I'd like to
ask you about American politics. There seems
to be a lot of excitement here in Africa,
and in your country about Barack Obama. And
I wonder what you think it says about
America, that we might elect a black
President with roots in Africa?
PRESIDENT BUSH: It seemed like there was a
lot of excitement for me, wait a minute.
(Laughter.) Maybe you missed it.
Anyway, look, my attitude toward Congress
is, look, see what works. PEPFAR is working.
It is a balanced program. It is an ABC
program: abstinence, be faithful, and
condoms. It's a program that's been proven
effective. And I understand there's voices
on both ends of the political spectrum
trying to alter the program. I would ask
Congress to listen to leaders on the
continent of Africa, find -- analyze what
works, stop the squabbling and get the
program reauthorized. One of the worst
things that can happen is there's
uncertainty. You got a lot of faith-based
providers and community organizers here
wondering whether or not America will keep
its commitment.
And so I -- yes, I can understand debates,
and those are fine. But they need to end the
debates, adopt a reasonable policy -- I
happen to think the current policy is
reasonable; after all, it's working -- and
get it done.
You want to answer the American political --
(laughter.) See, she didn't ask me it
because she knew I wouldn't answer the
question. (Laughter.)
PRESIDENT KIKWETE: Well, I don't think I can
venture into that territory, either. Of
course, people talk with excitement of Obama
-- well, our excitement is that President
Bush is at the end of his term, and the U.S.
is going to get a new President, whoever
that one is. For us, the most important
thing is, let him be as good friend of
Africa as President Bush has been.
(Applause.)
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you.
PRESIDENT KIKWETE: Of course if I can --
maybe let me just say about PEPFAR. Let me
just make an appeal: Let PEPFAR continue.
This is a passionate appeal from us. It has
been quite useful, as I was saying in my
speech. There would have been so many
orphans to date had it not been for PEPFAR,
the care and treatment -- so many parents
now who have been infected can live. And
some of them can live as many years as
possible, as long as they adhere to the ABCs
of the person infected with HIV living on
ARVs.
So can you imagine if this program is
discontinued or disrupted, there would be so
many people who lose hope, and certainly
there will be death. You create more
orphans. My passionate appeal is for PEPFAR
to continue. Through PEPFAR you know we did
nationwide testing; in six months we have
been able to have 3.4 million people tested,
and through PEPFAR we got 2 million test
kits. Had it not been for PEPFAR, would have
done less than that. So it's for us, really,
for PEPFAR not to continue, it's a recipe
for disaster for us. That's what I can say.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Yes.
Q Thank you. President George Bush, you are
here with President Kikwete, who was
recently elected as the head of African
Union. Can you promise the people of Africa,
how will you support President Kikwete in
next 12 months to make sure that the long
crisis in Darfur, Somalia, and the recent
tribal clashes in Kenya are solved
effectively?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you. We have been
actively engaged in diplomatic efforts on
the continent of Africa for a long period of
time, and very engaged since I've been the
President. You might remember, Liberia was
an issue early on in my presidency. We
engaged both diplomatically, and to a
certain extent, militarily, in that I sent
U.S. Marines off the USS Iwo Jima onto --
into Liberia to help stabilize the
situation. As a matter of fact, I'm going to
Liberia as my last stop on this very
important trip, to support the President,
the first elected woman President on the
continent of Africa, and to remind her that
the U.S.'s help will be constant and
enduring.
And so step one, you can be assured that
we're interested in the affairs of Africa.
All you have to do is look at the -- at what
we've done in this administration.
Secondly, I've always believed that we ought
to support African leaders, and not impose
our views on African leaders. There's a
certain amount of trust that goes with good
foreign policy, and we trust your President
to make the right decisions to help resolve
some of these conflicts, and we'll be active
in the process.
So you mentioned Kenya. As a matter of fact,
we spent a fair amount of time dealing with
Kenya. The President informed me about his
discussions with Kofi Annan, and we support
the Annan missions very strongly. And to
that end, our Secretary of State,
Condoleezza Rice, will be going to Kenya
tomorrow. I find it interesting, I think you
ought to find it illustrative, that prior to
her trip she and I spent time discussing a
mutual strategy with the President; how best
can we help the process, not what we should
do to dictate to the process, but what can
American do to help the process move along?
And so our position -- and by the way, when
it comes to AU efforts in areas where it
requires -- which requires peacekeepers,
we've been very strong about helping to
train and transport, or arrange
transportation for peacekeepers into
troubled areas. And so our record speaks for
itself, and the way we've conducted our
foreign policy with Africa is, one, it's
been a priority, and two, as I say, we come
to the continent not out of guilt, but out
of compassion, and we come to the continent
with confidence that there are leaders here
who are very capable of charting the way
forward to peaceful resolution of conflicts.
It's the old "reporter shuffle" here.
Q Mr. President, do you support Kosovo
declaring independence from Serbia? And
would the United States recognize it as an
independent state? And Mr. President, as
head of the African Union, how do you get
more peacekeepers into Darfur?
PRESIDENT BUSH: First, on Kosovo, our
position is that its status must be resolved
in order for the Balkans to be stable.
Secondly, we have strongly supported the
Ahtisaari plan. Thirdly, we are heartened by
the fact that the Kosovo government has
clearly proclaimed its willingness and its
desire to support Serbian rights in Kosovo.
We also believe it's in Serbia's interests
to be aligned with Europe, and the Serbian
people can know that they have a friend in
America.
Finally, the United States will continue to
work with our allies to do the very best we
can to make sure there's no violence. And so
those are the principles going into the
Kosovo issue.
Q But will the United States recognize it?
PRESIDENT BUSH: I suggest you study the
Ahtisaari plan. Not to be like the, you
know, grumpy guy.
PRESIDENT KIKWETE: Well, how to get -- how
do we get more peacekeepers into Darfur? Of
course what has been delaying getting more
peacekeepers has been the lack of
understanding between the U.N. and the
government of Sudan on the status of forces
agreement. Now that one has been signed, I
think it has cleared the way. There are many
volunteers, and as chair of the African
Union, we certainly seek out more and more
volunteers as they are needed; we use our
good offices to see more and more African
countries contribute. We have volunteered to
contribute one battalion. If there is need
for another one, we will certainly do that.
(Applause.)
END 11:00 A.M. (L)
* The President will travel to Rwanda on
Tuesday, 2/19/08 |
