Mbeki urges Bush to help

President George W. Bush on Tuesday vowed to help promote economic growth and democracy in Africa after South African President Thabo Mbeki asked the US to help Africa “turn the corner” and support its efforts to deal with violence, poverty and diseases like HIV/AIDS, agencies reported. “You know the challenges we face in South Africa, Mr. President, and the challenges we face on the African continent,” Mbeki told Bush at the beginning of an Oval Office meeting. “Quite clearly, we need your support and involvement in order to solve these problems.”

“The moment has come for us, as Africans, really to turn the corner.
To deal with all of these problems of violence and conflict and poverty, disease and so on,” he said. After the meeting and a working lunch in which they discussed issues ranging from economic development to political crises in Africa, Bush and Mbeki issued a joint statement committing their countries to promoting economic growth and democracy in the world’s poorest continent.

“Our administration has made a commitment to work with leaders like President Mbeki on the continent of Africa to provide hope for people,” Bush said, complimenting Mbeki on his “imaginative, real leadership” in South Africa. In a joint statement, the two leaders commited themselves to peace and the respect of human rights in Zimbabwe and called for dialogue between Angola’s government and UNITA rebels.