[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book II)]
[July 16, 2008]
[Pages 1030-1031]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Following a Meeting With President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso
July 16, 2008

    President Bush. Mr. President, thank you for coming. I first started 
my conversation with the President by complimenting him on his 
leadership in the United Nations and in the region. You've been a 
constructive force for peace and stability.
    And we talked about Zimbabwe. I made my position abundantly clear 
that, one, we are disappointed with the veto of the U.N. Security 
Council resolution, for which both our nations worked in concert. 
Secondly, we deeply care about the plight of the citizens of Zimbabwe, 
and we hope there's a peaceful resolution soon. I told the President, in 
the meantime, our Government is looking at, you know, sanctions beyond 
that which would have been levied out of the U.N. Security Council.

[[Page 1031]]

    I congratulated the President on the fact that his good nation is a 
recipient of a Millennium Challenge Account program. It's a program 
aimed to help farmers, entrepreneurs, and girls and women. It's the 
right thing to do, Mr. President. This grant would not have been awarded 
without your commitment to fighting corruption, your willingness to 
invest in the health and education of your people, and your adherence to 
marketplace principles. So I congratulate you, sir, on that.
    Finally, I talked to him about issues that are dear to my heart, and 
that are the issues of HIV/AIDS. I congratulated his country for being 
effective at preventing the spread of AIDS. And we talked about malaria.
    It's been my honor to have you here, sir. And I thank you for your 
leadership, and I thank you for your friendship. Hold on, go ahead.
    President Compaore. First of all, the President and I seized this 
opportunity to meet, and the first thing I did was to show gratitude to 
President Bush for the engagement of the United States in favor of our 
country, Burkina Faso, and especially in terms of poverty reduction and 
economic development and all the help.
    But I said to the President, other than Burkina Faso, all the 
continent of Africa is very grateful to initiatives taken by the United 
States administration in terms of debt reduction, public aid to 
development, fight against HIV/AIDS, and building schools in our 
country.
    And we talked about the situation on the whole continent, the need 
for democracy and stability in Africa, and the urgent need for a true 
rule of law in Zimbabwe. We also talked about the need for a political 
solution to the crisis in Darfur, which is weighing very heavily in all 
Africa.
    And again, I congratulate President Bush, Congress, and the American 
people for their commitment for Africa.
    President Bush. Thank you, sir.

Note: The President spoke at 11:18 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. President Compaore spoke in French, and his remarks were 
translated by an interpreter.