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ABUJA: US President George W. Bush warned at the end of his five-day visit in Africa on Saturday he will not allow terrorists to use Africa as a springboard to threaten the world.
Bush, wrapping up his African tour in Nigeria - a key US oil supplier - issued fresh vows to help restore peace to Liberia, promote economic development and inject funds for Africa to fight its AIDS scourge.
"We will not allow terrorists to threaten African people or to use Africa as a base to threaten the world," Bush said in a speech in West Africa's Nigeria on the last stop of his first trip to black Africa as president.
The US president, who visited five African states in a whirlwind five days, has pledged a US$100 million package to help East African nations bolster their security following recent attacks in the region widely blamed on al-Qaida.
Bush praised Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, whose country is the fifth largest crude oil exporter to the United States, for his leadership on issues such as Liberia.
But he reiterated he has made no decision yet on whether to answer growing calls across Africa for him to contribute US troops to a peacekeeping mission to enforce a fragile ceasefire in Liberia's almost non-stop 14 years of civil war.
Obasanjo has played a major role in the peace drive over Liberia and is ready to commit troops to a planned mainly African peacekeeping force.
Bush repeated demands for Liberian President Charles Taylor to step down as a key part of efforts to end the bloodletting. Taylor has accepted a Nigerian offer of asylum but says peacekeepers, including US troops, must be in place first.
Also on Saturday, Bush pledged to help Africa in its "courageous fight" against AIDS and called on the US Congress to fully fund his $15 billion plan to combat the disease.
In his talk with the Nigerian president, Bush focused mainly on the disease and said it has posed "one of the gravest dangers" Africa has ever faced.
He said the need for help is urgent, with almost 30 million people in Africa living with HIV/AIDS including 3 million children under the age of 15.
Bush's pledge came after Republicans in the House of Representatives moved bills backing his request for US$2 billion next year to fight the global pandemic - US$1 billion less than the amount provided for in a plan he signed in May.
A senior administration official said Bush will go "all out" for the full amount he has requested. Some Democrats say that is still not enough.
(Xinhua Nesw Agency July 14, 2003)
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