[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book II)]
[July 9, 2003]
[Pages 848-853]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's News Conference With President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa in Pretoria, South Africa
July 9, 2003

    President Mbeki. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome. 
I'm very pleased indeed to welcome President Bush and his delegation, 
Mrs. Bush, and young Barbara. We are very pleased indeed, Mr. President, 
that you were able to come. It's very important for us because of the 
importance of the United States to our future and the United States to 
the future of our continent.
    We've had very good discussions with the President, able to cover 
quite a wide field. We're very pleased with the development of the 
bilateral relations, strong economic links, growing all the time. 
Continued attention by the U.S. corporate world on South Africa is very 
critically important for us. AGOA has had a very big impact in terms of 
the development of our economy, and we continue to work on all of these 
matters.
    It also gave us a chance to convey our thanks to the President for 
the support with regards to meeting the African continental challenges. 
That includes questions of peace and security, the NEPAD processes, 
again, very important for the future of our continent. That, of course, 
also gave an opportunity to discuss some of the specific areas of 
conflict around the continent.
    I must say, President, that at the end of these discussions, we, all 
of us, feel enormously strengthened by your very, very firm and clear 
commitment to assist us to meet the challenges that we've got to meet 
domestically and on the African Continent. And therefore, President, 
thank you very much indeed for coming. We--the visit will certainly 
result in strengthened bilateral relations and strengthened cooperation 
to meet these other challenges that we face together.
    But welcome, President.
    President Bush. Mr. President, thanks. Gosh, we're honored to be 
here. Thank you for your wonderful hospitality. Thank Mrs. Mbeki as well for her gracious hospitality. It's a 
pleasure to be in South Africa.
    Your Nation's recent history is a great story of courage and 
persistence in the pursuit of justice. This is a country that threw off 
oppression and is now the force of freedom and stability and a force for 
progress throughout the continent of Africa.
    I appreciate our strong relationship, and it is a vital 
relationship. And Mr. President, I want to thank you very much for 
working hard to make it a vital and strong relationship. We've met quite 
a few times in the recent past, and every time we've met, I've--I feel 
refreshed and appreciate very much your advice and counsel and your 
leadership.
    I appreciate the President's dedication to openness and 
accountability. He is advancing these principles in the New Partnership 
for African Development, the leader in that effort. The President and I 
believe that the partnership can help extend democracy and free markets 
and transparency across the continent of Africa. President Mbeki has 
shown great leadership in this initiative, and our country will support 
the leaders who accept the principles of reform, and we'll

[[Page 849]]

work with them. So thank you, Mr. President.
    South Africa is playing a critical role in promoting regional 
security in Africa, and we discussed the President's leadership, for 
example, in Burundi. South Africa has helped achieve the peaceful 
inauguration of a new President. Or in 
the Congo, South Africa brokered an agreement on the creation of a 
transitional government. And in Zimbabwe, I've encouraged President 
Mbeki and his Government to continue to work for the return of democracy 
in that important country.
    I also discussed with the President the importance of the continued 
cooperation in the global war on terror. The United States and South 
Africa are working together to strengthen this nation's border security 
and law enforcement. And we're devoting $100 million to help countries 
in eastern Africa increase their counterterror efforts. We are 
determined to fight and to join our friends to fight terrorists 
throughout this continent, throughout the world.
    We're also committed to helping African nations achieve peace. In 
Liberia, the United States strongly supports the cease-fire agreement 
signed last month. President Taylor needs to 
leave Liberia so that his country can be spared further grief and 
bloodshed. Yesterday, I talked with President Kufuor of Ghana, who leads ECOWAS. I shared with the 
President our conversation. I assured him the United States will work 
closely with ECOWAS and the United Nations to maintain the cease-fire 
and to enable a peaceful transfer of power.
    We're also pressing forward to help end Africa's long-running civil 
war in Sudan. My Special Envoy, Senator Jack Danforth, is returning to the region. We're making progress there. 
And his message is that there's only one option, and that's going to be 
peace. And his efforts are making good progress.
    The President also discussed our action to combat HIV/AIDS. South 
Africa has recently increased its budget to fight the disease, and we 
noticed and we appreciate that. America is now undertaking a major new 
effort to help governments and private groups combat AIDS. Over the next 
5 years, we will spend $15 billion in the global fight against AIDS. 
People across Africa had the will to fight this disease but often not 
the resources, and the United States of America is willing to put up the 
resources to help in the fight.
    We're committed to helping the people of Africa defeat hunger. We 
provided more than 500,000 metric tons of food aid to southern Africa 
over the past 18 months. This year we'll provide nearly $1 billion to 
address food emergencies. We care when we see people who are hungry. We 
look forward to working with Mr. President to alleviate suffering.
    We're also working to expand trade, which I believe is the key to 
Africa's economic future. The African Growth and Opportunity Act is 
creating jobs and stimulating investment across the continent. Right 
here in South Africa, exports to the United States under AGOA have 
increased by 45 percent in the last year alone--significant progress. 
We're working with five nations of the Southern African Customs Union on 
a free trade agreement to help expand the circle of prosperity even 
wider.
    Mr. President, our countries have many common interests. We also 
share a fundamental commitment to the spread of peace and human rights 
and liberty. By working in close partnership, we're serving both the 
interests of the people of South Africa and the United States.
    I want to thank you for your friendship, appreciate the hospitality. 
It's been a great honor to be in your country.
    President Mbeki. Thank you very much, President.
    I understand that two U.S. journalists and two South African 
journalists will pose some questions.

[[Page 850]]

HIV/AIDS Initiative

    Q. Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to direct the question to both 
Presidents, and it does concern the issue of HIV/AIDS and the $15 
billion grant. Did you manage to reach some kind of understanding or 
consensus on the issue of how South Africa will access that money, on 
what terms South Africa will be able to access that money?
    And President Bush, did you give any undertakings in terms of using 
your influence to ensure that there will be cheaper access--access to 
cheaper drugs and medicines?
    And to President Mbeki, sir, did you----
    President Mbeki. How many questions----
    President Bush. Yes, I was going to say--[laughter].
    Q. This is the last part.
    President Bush. This is the ultimate five-part question. [Laughter]
    Q. Did you give any undertaking in terms of the running out of the 
national treatment plan? Thank you.
    President Mbeki. Well, as the President had indicated, we did indeed 
discuss this. The situation is that we received a request from the U.S. 
Government to say, can we make proposals as to how to access the fund, 
for what purposes--a program, a program that we would present. So we are 
working on that. We want to respond to that request from the United 
States Government as quickly as is possible. We will do that and convey 
it. So it will be out of that process of discussion that will result, 
out of that proposal between the U.S. Government and ourselves, that 
then will come a program, a particular concrete kind of action, with the 
necessary costing when we get to that stage. So that's where we are.
    So the matter will be discussed in that way. And President Bush had 
indicated in our discussions that of course the U.S. Government is 
taking a comprehensive approach to this, which would, therefore, include 
questions of awareness, questions of health infrastructure, questions of 
treatment, and so on. So we will look at the totality of those and--in 
the proposal that we would make.
    President Bush. We just named Tobias to 
be the Ambassador, nominated him to be the Ambassador, and he's--upon 
confirmation--will be working with the countries such as South Africa to 
develop a strategy--is what we need. We need a commonsense strategy to 
make sure that the money is well-spent. And the definition of ``well-
spent'' means lives are saved, which means good treatment programs, good 
prevention programs, good programs to develop health infrastructures in 
remote parts of different countries so that we can actually get 
antiretroviral drugs to those who need help.
    The cost of antiretroviral drugs has dropped substantially. But we 
did talk about the pharmaceutical union in a broader context. As you may 
know, the United States supported a moratorium on the enforcement of 
patent laws concerning those drugs related to diseases that were causing 
pandemics. And we will continue to work with South Africa as well as 
other countries to see if we can't reach a commonsense policy that, on 
the one hand, protects intellectual property rights and, on the other 
hand, makes, you know, lifesaving drugs or treatment drugs for, in some 
cases, lifesaving, in some cases that are proper for treatment, more 
widely available at reasonable costs.
    But one reason I felt emboldened to ask the Congress for a 
substantial amount of new money for the AIDS Initiative was because of 
the cost of antiretrovirals, and it's significantly lower than it was a 
couple of years ago.
    So we're making good progress. And I look forward to working with 
the President on putting together a sound strategy that saves lives. 
That's what our country is interested in. We're interested in dealing 
with this pandemic in a practical way.

[[Page 851]]

    Tom [Tom Raum, Associated Press]. But whatever you do, don't fall 
into that bad habit of asking both of us three or four questions. 
[Laughter] How about keeping it to one.

Liberia/Deployment of U.S. Troops Worldwide

    Q. Mr. President, you have an assessment team in Liberia now to help 
you decide whether to send in U.S. troops as part of a peacekeeping 
effort.
    President Bush. Right.
    Q. U.S. troops are getting shot at increasingly in Iraq every day. 
We have troops in Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Korea. What do you say to 
critics who suggest that our forces may be spread too thinly now to 
engage in further initiatives?
    And to President Mbeki, do you think that the United States should 
play a more active role in peacekeeping, specifically in Liberia?
    President Bush. Well, first, my answer to people is that we won't 
overextend our troops, period.
    Secondly, we have made a commitment that we will work closely with 
the United Nations and ECOWAS to enforce the cease-fire, see to it that 
Mr. Taylor leaves office, so that there can 
be a peaceful transition in Liberia. We've made that commitment. I've 
said it clearly more than one time, like yesterday in Senegal, for 
example. So nothing has changed from about 12 hours ago on that 
question.
    We do have assessment teams there to assess what is necessary to 
help with the transition. And the President brought up the question, and 
he can answer it his own way. But he asked whether or not we'd be 
involved, and I said, ``Yes, we'll be involved.'' And we're now 
determining the extent of our involvement.
    President Mbeki. Yes, certainly, we discussed this question with the 
President many years ago and agreed that it's critically important that 
we as Africans should, indeed, take responsibility for the future of 
peace and stability on the continent. So that is a principal obligation 
that falls on us as Africans.
    So as you would know, the West African states, ECOWAS, have agreed 
to send in troops into Liberia. And they are trying to move that process 
forward as quickly as is possible.
    We appreciate very much the point that was made by the President of 
the commitment of the United States to lend support--the assessment 
teams are there to assess that--to lend support to those processes, 
processes of restoration of peace, making sure people don't starve, 
making sure that there's a restoration of democracy in Liberia.
    So the U.S. will cooperate with the African troops that will go 
there. So it's not--we're not saying that this is a burden that just 
falls on the United States. It really ought to principally fall on us as 
Africans. Of course, we need a lot of support, logistics-wise and so on, 
to do that, but the will is there.
    President Bush. Just one quick followup on that--violating of the 
one-answer policy. [Laughter] I think our money has helped train seven 
battalions of peacekeepers amongst African troops. And it's a sensible 
policy for us to continue that training mission, so that we never do get 
overextended.
    And so one of the things you'll see us do is invigorate this--
reinvigorate the strategy of helping people help themselves by providing 
training opportunities. I think we've trained five Nigerian battalions, 
if I'm not mistaken, one Senegalese. So we've got--but it's in our 
interest that we continue that strategy, Tom, so that we don't ever get 
overextended.
    President Mbeki. Thanks.

Zimbabwe

    Q. During the past week, the two Presidents or the Governments of--
the Government of the U.S. and South Africa have expressed sharp 
differences about the best way to deal with the Zimbabwean question.

[[Page 852]]

    President Bush. Yes.
    Q. And having met this morning, I wonder if the two Presidents have 
found the best approach or have agreed about the best approach to deal 
with Zimbabwe. I see that it has come up. Can we get from the smiles 
that you now have a formula to deal best with Zimbabwe? [Laughter]
    President Mbeki. I didn't know, President, that we'd expressed sharp 
differences.
    President Bush. That's right. [Laughter]
    President Mbeki. No. We are absolutely of one mind, the two 
Governments and President Bush and myself are absolutely of one mind 
about the urgent need to address the political and economic challenges 
of Zimbabwe. It's necessary to resolve this matter as quickly as is 
possible.
    We have said, as you would know, for a long time that the principle 
is rooted--principal responsibility for the resolution of these problems 
rests with the people of Zimbabwe and, therefore, have urged them--both 
the ruling party and the opposition, the Government and the opposition--
to get together and seriously tackle all of these issues.
    I did tell the President that, indeed, the Government--ZANU-PF and 
the MDC are indeed discussing. They are engaged in discussions on all of 
the matters that would be relevant to the resolution of these political 
and economic problems. So that process is going on. We have communicated 
the message to both sides that--indeed, as we agreed with the 
President--that it is very, very important that they should move forward 
with urgency to find a resolution to these questions.
    Of course, again, as the President was saying, that apart from these 
important political issues about democrats and so on, you actually have 
ordinary people who are hungry in an economy which can't cope with them, 
and you can't allow that kind of situation to go on forever. So they are 
discussing.
    We had discussed this matter earlier, sometime back, with the U.S. 
Government that we have to find--we've got to find a way of getting a 
political solution, and we would indeed count very much on such 
economic, financial support as would come from the United States 
afterwards, in order to address the urgent challenges that face 
Zimbabwe.
    So we didn't fight about any of what I've just said. [Laughter]
    President Bush. We were smiling because we were certain a clever 
reporter would try to use the Zimbabwe issue as a way to maybe create 
tensions which don't exist.
    Look, Zimbabwe is an important country for the economic health of 
Africa. A free, peaceful Zimbabwe has got the capacity to deliver a lot 
of goods and services which are needed on this continent in order to 
help relieve suffering. And it's a very sad situation that's taken place 
in that country.
    Look, we share the same objective. The President is the person most 
involved. He represents a mighty country in the neighborhood who's, 
because of his position and his responsibility, is working the issue. 
And I'm not--not any intention of second-guessing his tactics. We share 
the same outcome. And I think it's important for the United States, 
whether it be me or my Secretary of State, to speak out when we see a 
situation where somebody's freedoms have been taken away from them and 
they're suffering. And that's what we're going to continue to do.
    The President is the point man on this important subject. He is 
working it very hard. He's in touch with the parties involved. He is--
he's making--he believes, making good progress. And the United States 
supports him in this effort.
    Last question. Randy [Randall Mikkelsen, Reuters].

Intelligence on Iraq/Zimbabwe

    Q. Yes, Mr. President. Do you regret that your State of the Union 
accusation that Iraq was trying to buy nuclear materials in Africa is 
now fueling charges that you and Prime Minister Blair misled the public?

[[Page 853]]

And then, secondly, following up on Zimbabwe, are you willing to have a 
representative meet with a representative of the Zimbabwe opposition 
leader, who sent a delegation here and complained that he did not think 
Mr. Mbeki could be an honest broker in the process?
    President Bush. Well, I think Mr. Mbeki can be an honest broker, to 
answer the second question.
    The first question is--look, there is no doubt in my mind that 
Saddam Hussein was a threat to the world 
peace. And there's no doubt in my mind the United States, along with 
allies and friends, did the right thing in removing him from power. And 
there's no doubt in my mind, when it's all said and done, the facts will 
show the world the truth. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind. And so 
there's going to be a lot of, you know, attempts to try to rewrite 
history, and I can understand that. But I am absolutely confident in the 
decision I made.
    Q. Do you still believe they were trying to buy nuclear materials in 
Africa?
    President Bush. Right now?
    Q. No, were they? I mean, the statement you made----
    President Bush. One thing is for certain, he's not trying to buy anything right now. If he's alive, 
he's on the run. And that's to the benefit of the Iraqi people. But 
look, I am confident that Saddam Hussein had a weapons of mass 
destruction program. In 1991, I will remind you, we underestimated how 
close he was to having a nuclear weapon. Imagine a world in which this 
tyrant had a nuclear weapon. In 1998, my predecessor raided Iraq based 
upon the very same intelligence. And in 2003, after the world had 
demanded he disarm, we decided to disarm him. And I'm convinced the 
world is a much more peaceful and secure place as a result of the 
actions.
    Thank you all very much.
    President Mbeki. Thanks a lot.

Note: The President's news conference began at 11:47 a.m. at the 
Presidential Guest House. In his remarks, President Bush referred to 
Zanele Dlamini, wife of President Mbeki; President Domitien Ndayizeye of 
Burundi; President Charles Taylor of Liberia; President John Agyekum 
Kufuor of Ghana; former Senator John C. Danforth, Special Envoy for 
Peace in the Sudan; Randall Tobias, nominee to be Global AIDS 
Coordinator, Department of State; and former President Saddam Hussein of 
Iraq. President Mbeki referred to the Zimbabwe African National Union 
Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), political party of President Robert Mugabe of 
Zimbabwe, and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the opposition 
party.