Bush fighting China in Africa

After years of all but ignoring China, leaving the continent to the Chinese influence, US-president George Bush returned in an effort to win back Africa. Here in a good analysis by Howard French.

Beyond the words and the cash, the very logic of Bush’s itinerary is illuminating. In six days, in addition to Tanzania, he is visiting Benin, Ghana, and Liberia, all of which are small democracies, and post-genocide Rwanda, which although not democratic, has established a reputation for clean, effective government.

The symbolism was strengthened by the fact that none of Bush’s stops are in Africa’s emerging natural resource powerhouses: important yet highly corrupt places like Nigeria, Angola and Congo, to name three of the biggest, which either lack democracy altogether, or have recently suffered erosion in their democratic credentials.