Bush Urges African Nations to Ratify Anti-Terrorism Pact

WASHINGTON — President Bush encouraged African nations Monday to ratify a 1999 anti-terrorism pact so that they will have extra resources to help fight any future assaults by the Al Qaeda network or other terrorists.

In a speech to an African trade ministers forum at the State Department, Bush thanked the African nations that have supported the U.S.-led effort against terrorism.

Bush said he spoke with President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal about the African summit Wade hosted Oct. 20. Leaders at the gathering issued a declaration against terrorism that stopped short of embracing the Algiers Convention, adopted two years ago in response to the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in which 12 Americans and more than 200 Africans were killed. The attacks were blamed on Al Qaeda.

The convention has been signed by 36 of Africa’s 53 governments, but only three have ratified it. The Dakar declaration calls on the Organization of African Unity to measure the progress of anti-terrorism efforts under the Algiers convention.

Bush called the summit declaration an encouraging sign but said it is critically important for all African nations to ratify the Algiers convention so that they will have “additional judicial, diplomatic and financial tools to root out terrorism.”