From the Concord Monitor, "Africa welcomes Bush with open arms"  -
The Bush administration has made Africa the centerpiece of its aid strategy. Twelve of the 15 countries receiving funding from the five-year, $15 billion President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief are in Africa. Nine African countries are among the 16 drawing grants from Bush's Millennium Challenge Corporation, which provides support to nations that have reached benchmarks from stemming corruption to investing in immunizations.

Since Bush took office, U.S. development aid to Africa has tripled, funding for HIV programs have vaulted from under $1 billion to over $6 billion per year and garment exports from Africa to America, fueled by special trade deals, increased sevenfold, according to U.S. statistics.

"His Africa policy has taken us by surprise. None of us expected this," said Tom Kamara, editor-in-chief of the New Democrat, a leading Liberian daily.

Bush's focus on the continent, analysts said, stems from the realization that it's no longer just a case of Africa needing America, but of America needing Africa.

Today, a fifth of U.S. oil imports come from a single African nation - Nigeria. By the end of the decade, one in five new barrels of oil entering the global market are projected to come from Africa, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

From the Final Call, "Beware of Bush 'help' for Africa" -

Despite overwhelming opposition by African nations, the Pentagon has begun to restructure U.S. forces to bring the new Africa Command on line, with a headquarters on the continent and “lily pads” around the continent. These lily pads allow for “forward basing’’ of U.S. military enabling them to ignore national boundaries and political sensitivities. [...]

The price of oil is at an all time high. The African continent is becoming an attractive investment site for many other growing economies, notably China. Africa’s governments and peoples know the Bush administration and its corporate allies want to ensure U.S. control over the continent’s vast resources