Just how successful have George W. Bush's Africa policies been? This has been a hot topic in the world press of late, sparked by the U.S. president's trip to the continent.

Many are proclaiming Africa as one of his administration's greatest successes, particularly where HIV/AIDS initiatives are concerned. But there is also a lot of debate about the U.S. government's military policies, and concern that they're a throwback to the colonialist era.

A commentator in Kenya's Business Daily newspaper writes that "America's current engagement with Africa will likely go down as one of the most significant, if largely unheralded, legacies of the Bush presidency".

The paper says that compared with his predecessors, Bush has engaged much more fully with Africa, and many of his policies have the kind of "staying power" that bodes well for sustaining the United States' long-term commitment to the continent.

The paper sees the Bush administration's humanitarian efforts in Africa, particularly the President Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), as especially successful.

Britain's Guardian newspaper likewise writes of the achievements of the Bush administration's work on AIDS treatment and prevention.

"With PEPFAR, Bush's primary contribution will be greatly extending millions of lives even though the programme has been criticised for emphasising abstinence in AIDS education and using religious organisations to deliver care," the paper writes in an article headed 'George Bush: a good man in Africa'.

PEPFAR is responsible for ensuring about 70 percent of Rwandans who need anti-retroviral drugs now receive them, says Dr Agnes Binagwaho, the head of the national AIDS council in Rwanda.

"The impact is huge. The average life expectancy of Rwandans has improved by four years because of PEPFAR," Binagwaho told the Guardian.

The Christian Science Monitor also picks out many of the successes of Bush's AIDS policy, but like the Guardian, points the problems associated with the plan's emphasis on abstinence in preventing future infections.

Nearly a third of PEPFAR's funding for HIV prevention goes to faith-based organisations, who preach a message of ABC, "Abstain, Be faithful, and Condomise", according to the Monitor.

"As far as prevention is concerned, I have not seen any evidence that PEPFAR has made a difference," says Mark Heywood, director of the AIDS Law Project in Johannesburg which helps people suffering discrimination because of the disease.

"Now it may be that prevention itself is difficult. But when the fundamentalism of Bush and company intrude - with restrictions that programmes shouldn't provide encouragement to use condoms or shouldn't provide assistance to sex workers - then the consequences of abstinence-only programs are felt," Heywood says to the Monitor.

Despite these problems however, the impact of the scheme on Africa has been huge, and it is still the largest and most comprehensive programme for HIV patients in history, says the Monitor.

Talk of Bush's African legacy has also caused much debate about AFRICOM - Bush's plan for a U.S. military command for Africa. Set up in February 2007, the mission aims to promote stability in the continent and involves staff and resources from the U.S Defense Department, USAID and the State Department.

These departments are to work hand in hand with soldiers, teachers, doctors and police officers in Africa to promote the U.S. objective of advancing stability in the continent, writes the LA Times. AFRICOM, is in part, just a long-overdue sign that the White House recognises that global poverty, development and democracy all have security implications for the U.S. says the paper.

But this approach has a worryingly familiar ring for many Africans. There are echoes of a time when colonialist powers merged their military, economic and political forces to exploit Africa's people and resources for their own ends, the LA Times says.

"To sceptics, AFRICOM's creation suggests that the scramble for Africa isn't over, it's just entering a new phase, as the U.S. seeks to keep Africa stable - on U.S. terms".

This uncertainty was shown on Bush's recent visit to Tanzania, when hundreds of people gathered outside the U.S. embassy protesting over fears that the U.S. president was looking to make the country the African base for AFRICOM troops, the Al Jazeera news network reports.

George Sydney Abugri a commentator from Ghana, a country which Bush also visited on his five-nation tour of Africa, meanwhile writes that other U.S. initiatives can also be seen to serve American rather than African needs.

Of the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), a development fund set up by the Bush administration in 2002, Abugri writes on the website Modern Ghana that: "The impression had been created that the MCA is an initiative benefiting Africa. In reality only a small number of potential friends of the U.S. who are able to meet certain political and economic criteria, have benefited from the MCA".

The debate about Bush's legacy looks set to reach no conclusion soon.

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