Photo By Charles Dharapak
President Bush peers through 'The Door of No Return' where slaves passed through to board ships taking them abroad.
(AP)
GOREE ISLAND, Senegal (AP) — American slavery was one of history's
greatest crimes, President Bush said Tuesday at the very spot where
hundreds of thousands of Africans were bought and sold like cargo.
Embarking on a five-nation tour of Africa, Bush also edged toward
sending U.S. troops to help end a three-year civil war in Liberia, a
western African nation founded by freed American slaves.
"At this place, liberty and life were stolen and sold," Bush said
during a visit to Senegal's notorious Goree Island, for several
centuries a processing station for African slaves bound in chains for
the Western Hemisphere. "Human beings were delivered and sorted, and
weighed, and branded with the marks of commercial enterprises, and
loaded as cargo on a voyage without return," he said. "One of the
largest migrations of history was also one of the greatest crimes of
history."
Bush was touring the continent to promote his economic development and
AIDS initiatives and to beef up cooperation in stopping the spread of
terrorism. The president, traveling with first lady Laura Bush and
their daughter Barbara left Senegal on Africa's northwest coast and
flew to South Africa, arriving in the capital city of Pretoria shortly
before midnight. He'll make stops later in Botswana, Uganda and Nigeria
— all stable democracies and important U.S. allies in the war on
terrorism.
His first visit as president was vying for attention with continued
tensions in violence-scarred Liberia. After meeting with eight west
African leaders, Bush told reporters that he had promised U.S.
participation to help enforce a temporary cease-fire and to allow for a
peaceful transition in power in that country.
"We're now in the process of determining what that means," he said when asked if such participation meant U.S. troops.
Bush aides suggested his comments signaled there would be some
involvement of U.S. forces — although the size and role of such a unit
remains an open question. Bush reiterated an insistence that the
current Liberian president must step down. "Charles Taylor must leave,"
Bush said. And he said the United Nations would play a role in any
peacekeeping effort.
For his part, Taylor accepted an offer of asylum in Nigeria, but
without giving a timetable. In an interview with The Associated Press,
Taylor said again that he would only leave after a peacekeeping force
is deployed to prevent "chaos and anarchy." Taylor said the United
States "owes" it to the Liberian people to help to end 14 years of
civil war in the nation. Liberia was founded in the mid-1800s by freed
American slaves, and the two nations have had close relations.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Secretary of State Colin
Powell on Monday to discuss Liberia and also spoke to French President
Jacques Chirac, U.N. deputy spokeswoman Hua Jiang said Tuesday at U.N.
headquarters in New York. Annan arrived in Maputo, Mozambique on
Tuesday to attend an African Union summit.
With Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, Bush visited cramped cells at
a former slave house on Goree Island built by the Dutch in 1776. Goree
is a 45-acre island in the Atlantic Ocean several miles off the harbor
of Senegal's capital of Dakar. Overall, as many as 20 million Africans
were enslaved, and up to an estimated one-tenth of them passed through
this one-time slave station.
In his eight-minute speech, the president stopped short of issuing the
blanket apology for slavery that some civil rights advocates had
sought. Still, he called it a "sin" and one of his country's "past
wrongs."
"A republic founded on equality for all became a prison for millions," Bush said.
He also acknowledged that scars from slavery still ripple through American society.
"Many of the issues that still trouble America have roots in the bitter
experience of other times," Bush said. "But however long the journey,
our destination is set: liberty and justice for all."
He noted that it was those who fought slavery — black and white alike — who left behind a better nation.
"The stolen sons and daughters of Africa helped to awaken the
conscience of America," he said. "The very people traded into slavery
helped to set America free. My nation's journey toward justice has not
been easy and it is not over."
Despite painful shared history, Bush said the United States and Africa
must work together to eradicate disease and war, and to encourage
greater business ties. Efforts to forge closer ties with the continent
have been complicated by the U.S.-led war in Iraq, which was unpopular
with Muslims across much of Africa.
Bush went to Goree Island after meeting in Dakar with Wade and the
heads of seven other West African democracies. Topics included trade
counterterrorism, security in the region, trade, hunger and HIV and
AIDS.
The administration has proposed a $15 billion, five-year AIDS
initiative for the 14 hardest-hit countries in the world, 12 of which
are in Africa. Bush also has proposed a $1 billion famine initiative,
including a $200 million emergency famine fund, and a five-year $600
million education initiative.
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