US President George Bush paid homage on Tuesday to African slaves who passed through the port here, calling slavery “one of the greatest crimes of history” that nonetheless stirred America’s commitment to freedom.
“Liberty and life were stolen and sold,” Bush said after touring a centuries-old house that was used as a processing centre for countless thousands of Africans who were herded aboard ships that took them into slavery in America.
“Human beings were delivered, sorted, weighed, branded with marks of commercial enterprises and loaded as cargo on a voyage without return,” Bush said on the first day of his five-day, five-nation Africa visit that includes stops in South Africa, Botswana, Nigeria and Uganda, his first trip to the continent as president.
“One of the largest migrations in history was also one of the greatest crimes of history,” Bush said.
Bush did not apologise for slavery but noted Americans throughout history “clearly saw this sin and called it by name”.
Bush stood with Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, who said African nations need help building their economies so they can overcome slavery’s legacy.
“All Africans are asking for is infrastructure so Africans can work,” he said, specifically requesting “heavy military equipment” to help with farming.
“By walking on this martyred island, part of the heritage of mankind will remain strongly in the hearts for long years to come in Senegal, in the United States,” he said.
Bush went to Goree Island after meeting in the Senegalese capital Dakar with Wade and the heads of seven other West African democracies.
He said he had not yet decided on the United States’s involvement in Liberia. He also repeated his demand that Liberia’s president, Charles Taylor, relinquish power.
Bush said the group had “a good discussion” on Liberia. Among the leaders was
President John Kufuor of Ghana, the head of the 15-country Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), which has been deeply involved in talks over how to stabilise Liberia.
The United Nations and European leaders have sought US troops to enforce an oft-violated June 17 cease-fire between forces loyal to Taylor and rebels fighting for three years to oust him. Bush has urged Taylor to step aside first, with some US officials suggesting Washington would only consider contributing peacekeepers after he is gone.
“We’re now in the process of determining the extent of our participation,” Bush said. “The UN [United Nations] is going to be involved but the US will work with Ecowas.”
The other leaders who attended the meeting were Mathieu Kerekou of Benin, Pedro Pires of Cape Verde, Yahya Jammeh of Gambia, Amadou Toumani Toure of Mali, Mamadou Tandja of Niger and Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of Sierra Leone.
In Dakar, clusters of curious onlookers gathered on dirt roads to watch Bush’s motorcade pass by, many standing with their arms folded across their chests, some clapping and waving.
Few people ventured out and shops and homes were shuttered downtown Dakar as security was tightened during Bush’s visit. Dakar’s main highway was closed off, and people living along the route Bush was taking were told to keep their windows closed.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever seen the city like this,” said Yaya Badji (28) a guard. “All economic activity has stopped.”
On Goree Island, Bush toured a slave house, built by the Dutch in 1776, where Africans were held, weighed, fed and often punished before making the long trans-Atlantic journey into servitude in America’s colonies.
They left through what is known as “The Door of No Return.”
“For 250 years, the captives endured an assault on their culture and their dignity. The spirit of Africans in America did not break,” Bush said. “Yet the spirit of their captors was corrupted. Small men took on the powers and airs of tyrants and masters. Years of unpunished brutality and bullying and rape produced a dullness and hardness of conscience.”
Bush said some have argued that “we should not judge their failures by the standards of a later time. Yet in every time there were men and women who clearly saw this sin and called it by name” .
Despite painful shared history, Bush said the United States and African nations must work together to eradicate disease and war, and to encourage greater business ties.
“We know that these challenges can be overcome because history moves in the direction of justice,” said Bush, who departs late on Tuesday for South Africa.
The leaders of South Africa, Nigeria and Senegal want Western assistance for a plan they have formulated to rescue Africa; Botswana, a prosperous southern African nation, is actively confronting the Aids scourge. Uganda, a thriving east African power, is seen as an important ally in confronting potential terror networks in the region.
Many African leaders see Bush’s visit as a key part of a strategy to combat rising anti-American sentiment and the image of Washington as an international bully.
Bush’s decision to attack Iraq was roundly criticised in Africa, partly because of large Muslim populations in some countries, but also because America sidelined the United Nations. The United Nations is virtually the only stage for the continent to exert international influence. – Sapa-AP
Bush jets into Pretoria tonight
Mbeki and Bush to talk money