In other news from Africa, President Bush claimed Wednesday the U.S. was not interested in building new military bases in Africa.

President Bush: “We do not contemplate adding new bases. In other words, the purpose of this is not to add military bases. I know there’s rumors in Ghana: all Bush is coming to do is to try to convince you to put a big military base here. That’s baloney or, as we say in Texas, that’s bull!”

Last year, the United States established a new African-based military command center called AFRICOM. The Bush administration has been seeking a site to place the command post, but most African nations have refused to house it. The U.S. already has 1,800 troops stationed in Djibouti, and U.S. forces have also been active in Mali, Ethiopia, Sudan and other African nations in recent years.