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CNN Live At Daybreak

Bush in Africa Meeting Mbeki

Aired July 09, 2003 - 06:10   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: ... said -- quote -- "They feel enormously strengthened" by the meeting that President Bush is having with the nation's leaders there throughout the continent of Africa.
In their talks he said, he kind of went over briefly, here are some of the promises that were made and agreed upon. He says that they talked about combating HIV and AIDS, continuing to pledge that promised $15 billion to help in the AIDS crisis throughout Africa. He said he pledges to continue to help in the humanitarian crisis, particularly about hunger. Already 500,000 tons of food aid have been distributed in the past 15 months and now the promise of $1 billion more for food aid in the future.

They also talked about trade, because that's one of the other prominent issues that he is going to be touching upon as he visits with the other three nations that are yet to come. He wants to expand trade in South Africa.

And on the issue of security he says they talked about the ongoing efforts to keep the African nations secure, particularly because of some countries with their unstable governments. And that includes emphasis on Sudan in the midst of a long, ongoing war, as well as in Zimbabwe where President Bush has described the government there as being of a violent misrule.

Our Chris Burns is traveling with the president. This is the fourth U.S. president to travel to sub-Saharan African but the first time for a Republican president.

Chris Burns, who is traveling with the president right now, we have him now.

Hello -- Chris.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.

Well the focus today has been on the crisis in Zimbabwe. That is a country that's on the verge of economic collapse due to what the White House calls the violent misrule by Robert Mugabe. The president would like to see Mugabe leave power, a regime change, and they would like to see Thabo Mbeki, the South Africa President, to exert his regional power in trying to change that situation.

And now there had been an op-ed piece by Secretary of State Colin Powell a few days ago in the "New York Times" urging Mbeki to do more to try to change that regime. However, both leaders today tried to put a good spin on that saying that they didn't want to show that they had any tensions there. President Bush saying we don't -- that there are tensions that don't exist, that the reporters are trying to show that and we don't have that.

It is a sad situation, he said, in Zimbabwe, but he does not question the tactics of President Mbeki in trying to bring about a solution to Zimbabwe. But that is a brewing situation that could cause a true human disaster if that is not solved.

Now that was an interesting exchange at the end of this news conference where a reporter was asking President Bush about reports in -- back in the United States about the fact that the U.S. backed off on allegations of Saddam Hussein seeking nuclear materials in Africa. That's a big issue in Washington right now. And President Bush appearing to sort of dodge the question, saying that the -- that Saddam Hussein was a threat, that the facts will show the truth, that there are attempts to write history but the world is a safer place. So we're not seeing a direct answer to that.

The president having referred to the alleged attempt by Saddam Hussein to buy nuclear materials from Africa during President Bush's State of the Union message earlier this year. So that being an issue Democrats are jumping on back in Washington saying that that is even more reason to bring about an open investigation of the allegations of weapons of mass destruction against Saddam Hussein as a rationale for going to war against Iraq.

On Liberia, the president again pressing the president there, Charles Taylor, to leave power, but still being not specific about any U.S. troop commitment to the peacekeeping there. Only saying that they will -- the U.S. will support the peacekeeping effort there to try to prevent that country from plunging into a bloodbath -- Daryn.

WHITFIELD: And, Chris, how much longer will President Bush be on the ground there in South Africa before he moves on to Botswana, Uganda and ultimately Nigeria?

BURNS: Sorry, Fredricka. Yes, the president will be visiting a Ford Motor plant here to talk about trade. He will be visiting an AIDS -- a medical training facility to talk about his $15 billion AIDS initiative to fight AIDS in both Africa and the Caribbean. So he will be busy there today, also having dinner with businessmen from America and South Africa to promote trade with this economic powerhouse in Africa.

Tomorrow the president goes on to Botswana. That is one of the countries -- that is the country hardest hit by AIDS, a 40 percent AIDS infection rate in that country. Thought it's only 1.5 million people, it's still a very symbolic issue for the president to address -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Chris Burns in Pretoria, thank you very much.

Well you can log on to our Web site for an interactive itinerary of Mr. Bush's visit to Africa. The address is CNN.com. AOL keyword is CNN. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired July 9, 2003 - 06:10   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: ... said -- quote -- "They feel enormously strengthened" by the meeting that President Bush is having with the nation's leaders there throughout the continent of Africa.
In their talks he said, he kind of went over briefly, here are some of the promises that were made and agreed upon. He says that they talked about combating HIV and AIDS, continuing to pledge that promised $15 billion to help in the AIDS crisis throughout Africa. He said he pledges to continue to help in the humanitarian crisis, particularly about hunger. Already 500,000 tons of food aid have been distributed in the past 15 months and now the promise of $1 billion more for food aid in the future.

They also talked about trade, because that's one of the other prominent issues that he is going to be touching upon as he visits with the other three nations that are yet to come. He wants to expand trade in South Africa.

And on the issue of security he says they talked about the ongoing efforts to keep the African nations secure, particularly because of some countries with their unstable governments. And that includes emphasis on Sudan in the midst of a long, ongoing war, as well as in Zimbabwe where President Bush has described the government there as being of a violent misrule.

Our Chris Burns is traveling with the president. This is the fourth U.S. president to travel to sub-Saharan African but the first time for a Republican president.

Chris Burns, who is traveling with the president right now, we have him now.

Hello -- Chris.

CHRIS BURNS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.

Well the focus today has been on the crisis in Zimbabwe. That is a country that's on the verge of economic collapse due to what the White House calls the violent misrule by Robert Mugabe. The president would like to see Mugabe leave power, a regime change, and they would like to see Thabo Mbeki, the South Africa President, to exert his regional power in trying to change that situation.

And now there had been an op-ed piece by Secretary of State Colin Powell a few days ago in the "New York Times" urging Mbeki to do more to try to change that regime. However, both leaders today tried to put a good spin on that saying that they didn't want to show that they had any tensions there. President Bush saying we don't -- that there are tensions that don't exist, that the reporters are trying to show that and we don't have that.

It is a sad situation, he said, in Zimbabwe, but he does not question the tactics of President Mbeki in trying to bring about a solution to Zimbabwe. But that is a brewing situation that could cause a true human disaster if that is not solved.

Now that was an interesting exchange at the end of this news conference where a reporter was asking President Bush about reports in -- back in the United States about the fact that the U.S. backed off on allegations of Saddam Hussein seeking nuclear materials in Africa. That's a big issue in Washington right now. And President Bush appearing to sort of dodge the question, saying that the -- that Saddam Hussein was a threat, that the facts will show the truth, that there are attempts to write history but the world is a safer place. So we're not seeing a direct answer to that.

The president having referred to the alleged attempt by Saddam Hussein to buy nuclear materials from Africa during President Bush's State of the Union message earlier this year. So that being an issue Democrats are jumping on back in Washington saying that that is even more reason to bring about an open investigation of the allegations of weapons of mass destruction against Saddam Hussein as a rationale for going to war against Iraq.

On Liberia, the president again pressing the president there, Charles Taylor, to leave power, but still being not specific about any U.S. troop commitment to the peacekeeping there. Only saying that they will -- the U.S. will support the peacekeeping effort there to try to prevent that country from plunging into a bloodbath -- Daryn.

WHITFIELD: And, Chris, how much longer will President Bush be on the ground there in South Africa before he moves on to Botswana, Uganda and ultimately Nigeria?

BURNS: Sorry, Fredricka. Yes, the president will be visiting a Ford Motor plant here to talk about trade. He will be visiting an AIDS -- a medical training facility to talk about his $15 billion AIDS initiative to fight AIDS in both Africa and the Caribbean. So he will be busy there today, also having dinner with businessmen from America and South Africa to promote trade with this economic powerhouse in Africa.

Tomorrow the president goes on to Botswana. That is one of the countries -- that is the country hardest hit by AIDS, a 40 percent AIDS infection rate in that country. Thought it's only 1.5 million people, it's still a very symbolic issue for the president to address -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Chris Burns in Pretoria, thank you very much.

Well you can log on to our Web site for an interactive itinerary of Mr. Bush's visit to Africa. The address is CNN.com. AOL keyword is CNN. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com