"While Africa may be important," Bush said during a campaign debate, "it doesn't fit into the national strategic interests, as far as I can see them."

But as president, Bush has changed his tune, meeting with African heads of state and apparently giving the green light for Powell to strike out on his high-profile visit to the continent. Bush also found $200 million to pledge to a global health fund to fight AIDS -- small compared to U.N. estimates that $7 billion to $10 billion is needed, but more than any other country has offered.

Powell upped the ante with $50 million Sunday to fight AIDS and help some of the 1.7 million Ugandan orphans of parents who have died of AIDS.

Powell also came to help resolve three civil wars. In Mali he discussed with President Alpha Konare the Sierra Leone-Liberia-Guinea conflict and pledged to continue training Malian peacekeeping troops. In Kenya, Powell set up a meeting this week between the top U.S. aid official and the two sides in the Sudan civil war, the mainly Christian Sudan People's Liberation Front and the ambassador to Kenya of the Islamic government in Khartoum. Powell also extended a humanitarian hand by promising 40,000 tons of food to the Islamic north to fight famine. And in Uganda, Powell won a pledge by President Yoweri Museveni Sunday to withdraw most of the 8,000 Ugandan troops in the Congo, where a civil war has drawn in half a dozen nations greedy for diamonds, minerals and chunks of territory.

Throughout Powell's trip, his message was tough love. As a man of color, he has brought a tremendous breath of fresh air to the African continent. He has heightened the expectations that Africans have from their leaders -- whether it be to honestly lead them out of the horrible catastrophe of AIDS or to begin the path of development that was held out as a promise in the 1960s when independence removed colonial rule.

"If you take a look around," he said at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, " the most successful countries are those where the militaries understand their subordinate role under civilians in a democratic society -- where governments do not oppose peaceful opposition ... where journalists exercise their right to free expression ... where big men do not define foreign investment as depositing stolen billions in foreign banks and where ... frequent elections allow people to change their minds every few years as to the manner in which they will be governed.

"Nations making progress towards freedom will find that America is their friend," he added.

This story has been corrected.

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