Securing exploration and processing rights to the extensive oil reserves in West Africa and the rest of the continent against Washington’s imperialist rivals is a central aim of the U.S. administration.

Oil imports from Africa, mostly from Nigeria, have risen to 17 percent and are expected to reach 25 percent of total U.S. petroleum imports. According to Reuters, “U.S. oil companies have a firm presence” in the region. Nigeria—the world’s fifth-largest exporter of crude—also heads the 12-member African Petroleum Producers Association. It has extensive off-shore oil reserves in the Gulf of Guinea, along with Gabon and Ivory Coast. Oil imports to the United States from the Gulf of Guinea totaled 25.1 million barrels in April, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Leading up to Bush’s visit to the continent, strikes against increases of up to 50 percent in the price of fuel paralyzed Nigeria. By the time the U.S. president spoke on Goree Island in Senegal about the evils of slavery, Nigerian police had killed 10 strikers in unprovoked assaults. The Nigeria Labor Congress agreed to end a weeklong walkout just days before Bush’s arrival in the country after the government agreed to reduce fuel prices. The union has also demanded a public inquiry into the deaths of the 10 strikers and threatens to resume the strike if needed to obtain justice for their families.

The walkouts began June 30 when the government raised prices in order to eliminate fuel subsidies. The Nigerian government is under pressure by imperialist powers to end the subsidies in order to qualify for relief on its $30 billion foreign debt. Nigeria exports more than two million barrels of crude oil per day. It relies on fuel imports, however, because it does not have the domestic refinery capacity to meet the country’s needs.  
 
Coup in São Tomé and Principe
The week following Bush’s departure, troops on the twin-island nation of São Tomé and Principe overthrew the government of Fradique de Menezes, a wealthy cocoa exporter, while he was on a visit to Nigeria. The former Portuguese colony is located in the oil-rich Gulf of Guinea and recently signed an agreement with Nigeria to share revenue from future oil reserves. São Tomé’s rulers would receive 60 percent of the revenues.

Obasanjo and United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan, along with other heads of state who are members of the African Union, condemned the coup. Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano, who is also chairman of the African Union, flew to Nigeria July 17 to discuss with Obasanjo possible military action to restore the de Menezes government. In response, revolting São Tomé military forces surrounded the Nigerian embassy July 17, according to the Daily Champion of Lagos, Nigeria.

With unexplored oil reserves estimated at billions of barrels in the surrounding waters, Washington views São Tomé as an important source of oil. According to an Associated Press report, an official at the Nigeria-São Tomé Joint Development Authority said that ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch/Shell, Chevron/Texaco and the French-owned TotalFinalElf are among the companies seeking oil rights in the Gulf of Guinea.

Bush also praised the Nigerian president for his role in preparing the groundwork for the removal of Liberian president Charles Taylor and the deployment of troops in that country that will be led by the U.S. military. “We will work with Nigeria and the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) on issues such as Liberia,” Bush said after talks with Obasanjo. “I told the president we’d be active.”

Following his return to the United States, Bush met with Kofi Annan, who has requested that U.S. troops head a “peacekeeping” force of up to 3,000 troops in Liberia. The International Herald Tribune reported that the U.S. president announced “a meeting of minds” on Liberia. Jacques Klein, a U.S. diplomat who accompanied Annan and participated in the meeting with Bush, gave a scenario for the deployment of U.S. troops to the West African nation. Liberian president Charles Taylor would depart the country the day U.S. troops arrive. An interim government headed by Liberia’s current vice president would be installed. Elections would be held in October 2004.

New fighting broke out July 17, however, as the government and rebel forces attempted to maximize territory under their control in advance of the arrival of a West African military technical team, which would verify the positions held by the rival sides.  
 
Expanding U.S. bases across Africa
“We will not allow terrorists to threaten African people or to use Africa as a base to threaten the world,” Bush said in Abuja. As he began his African tour Gen. James Jones, commander of the U.S. European command that’s responsible for African operations, said Washington was trying to negotiate long-term agreements for use of a “family” of military bases across the continent.

Jones said the bases would include substantial facilities holding up to 5,000 troops “that could be used robustly for a significant military presence.” The bases would be augmented with a larger naval presence in the Gulf of Guinea. “The carrier battle groups of the future…they’ll spend half the time going down the west coast of Africa,” Jones told journalists.

Washington has also pressed African governments to cooperate in the “war on terrorism.” This included providing substantial funds to strengthen security and intelligence forces and laws to make it easier to crack down on so-called terrorist groups. Human rights and student organizations in Kenya have demonstrated against an “antiterrorist bill” considered by the government there. Seventy protesters burned the U.S. flag to protest the bill, which they say “is being imposed on Kenya by the United States.” Ng’ang’a Thiong’o, chairman of People Against Torture—one of the 10 groups that organized the protest—said the bill would enable the government to declare any organization terrorist and to arrest and prosecute “persons dressed like terrorists.”  
 
Cool reception in South Africa
Bush received a cool welcome in South Africa. Former South African president Nelson Mandela, who pointedly criticized the U.S.-led war on Iraq and described Bush as a man who “cannot think properly,” was out of the country during Bush’s visit. A protest of 2,000 at the U.S. embassy in Pretoria against Bush’s visit was led by the African National Congress, the governing party. According to the South African newspaper the Sowetan several members of parliament declined South African president Thabo Mbeki’s invitation to attend a state luncheon with Bush.

One week before his arrival in the South African capital, the Bush administration suspended military aid to Pretoria. The South African government is among 35 countries that have refused to sign bilateral agreements with Washington exempting U.S. citizens from prosecution by the new International Criminal Court in The Hague. The governments of Botswana, Uganda, Senegal and Nigeria—the other four nations Bush visited on this tour—have signed such agreements.

A key objective of Bush’s visit to South Africa was to enlist Mbeki’s aid in removing the Zimbabwean government of Robert Mugabe. The South African government has opposed Washington’s efforts to remove Mugabe. Asked about their differences on Zimbabwe, Bush accused reporters of trying to “create tensions which don’t exist.”

Speculation abounded in the media that Bush’s conciliatory remarks were based on assurances from Mbeki that progress was being made in negotiating an agreement by which Mugabe would voluntarily resign from government. The Johannesburg Business Day charged that Mbeki has told Bush that election for a new government in Zimbabwe could be held by next June. At a July 17 press conference Mbeki dismissed the reports as rumors. “It is not true,” Mbeki said. “There was no discussion between President Bush and me about anybody stepping down.”  
 
 
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