KENYA: Few in Africa have high expectations of President Bush's visit, Declan Walsh reports from Nairobi
In Africa, big trips bring big hopes. When Bill Clinton visited five years ago, the buzzword was "renaissance" - the idea that a new era free of war and poverty, was dawning. It was a noble but doomed idea.
Air Force One had barely taken off when a fresh cycle of turmoil started. New wars began, old ones got worse. Dictators entrenched themselves. And HIV/AIDS raged across the continent, consuming millions in its wake.
Tomorrow, America's presidential jet arrives again for another visit from the superpower to the no-powers. This time expectations will be much more mixed.
In Liberia, where the US is considering sending peacekeepers to end years of civil war, pro-American demonstrations have thronged the streets. "George Bush we need you", read the banner one man carried as he ran down the capital Monrovia's battle-pocked streets this week.
And along the route of President Bush's whirlwind five-day tour, dancing troupes and choral singers are lined up to joyously welcome him, and his promises to spend $15 billion on AIDS and offer greater trade opportunities.
But in other corners his welcome is distinctly lukewarm, particularly among those who remember his comment that Africa "doesn't fit into the national strategic interests".
"America has become a dirty word," wrote columnist Gitau Warigi of the Sunday Nation newspaper in Kenya, where the tourist industry is reeling from the impact of harsh US and British travel warnings.
Such critics resent America's focus on the fight against terrorism - particularly since al-Qaeda attacks in northern and eastern Africa - to the detriment of local people.
While the trip may boost President Bush's images as a "compassionate conservative" - and win black votes at home - even US analysts are unsure what his trip will bring to Africa. "Is this for real, or is this tourism?" asked former Reagan administration official Mr Chester Crocker last week.
Others point to the contradictions in his policies. President Bush advocates trade liberalisation as one solution to Africa's woes, yet many African leaders say massive US farm subsidies prevent them from penetrating his home market.
And while his itinerary highlights Africa's success stories - Senegal for democracy, Botswana for spending its money well, Uganda for battling HIV/AIDS - it is the countries he is avoiding that are the key to peace.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, for instance, war has claimed over 3.3 million lives since 1998 yet the US and other western countries have refused to commit troops to its struggling UN peace mission. The results of that negligence were apparent in the northeastern town of Bunia last May, when ill-equipped Uruguayan troops watched helplessly as fighters massacred more than 500 people.
And although not officially on the agenda, a new and powerful focus is perceived to be driving the sudden interest in Africa: oil.
Keen to reduce its dependency on the Middle East, the US is determined to tap the great oil reserves of the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa. African countries will take in an estimated $200 billion in oil revenues over the coming decade.
But the leaders of Africa's existing oil producers - chiefly Nigeria, where President Bush lands on Saturday - have spectacularly squandered billions of euros in earnings.
Campaigners fear this new oil rush could result in more corruption or spark fresh, resource-related wars.
There are also fears that the US will use its $15 billion AIDS gift to force strict intellectual property laws on poor countries to the advantage of western multinationals, particularly pharmaceutical companies. Beryl Leach of Health Action International said: "It could be a back door way of getting concession that favour US interests, and not those of local people."