JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: In Washington, President Clinton kicked off a five-day summit on Africa with a clear message for lawmakers: Africa does matter to the United States. CNN's White House correspondent Kelly Wallace reports.</s>KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Clinton, keynoting a Washington summit on Africa, urged Congress to pay for U.N. peacekeepers in war-torn Congo.</s>WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have learned the hard way in the United States over decades and decades that the costliest peace is far cheaper than the cheapest war.</s>WALLACE: Mr. Clinton did not specifically mention the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, but senior administration officials say a U.N. mission, which would not include U.S. troops, could be the best way to prevent Congo's war from escalating to the mass killings seen in Rwanda.</s>CLINTON: We need to think hard about what is at stake here.</s>WALLACE: The president also called upon Congress to provide debt relief to struggling economy's, to pass a bill by next month that encourages trade between the U.S. and Africa, and to approve $100 million to fight the AIDS epidemic. The battle against the disease, the president says, needs to include education and prevention.</s>CLINTON: We shouldn't pretend that we can give injections and work our way out of this.</s>WALLACE: Mr. Clinton was enthusiastically received. He does have critics, but even they say he has done more than any other U.S. president to bring attention to the continent. Some leaders at the summit fear the U.S. approach to Africa will change with a new president.</s>ABUBAKAR ATIKU, NIGERIAN VICE PRESIDENT: An Africa policy cannot be reversed. Whoever comes in has to continue.</s>WALLACE (on camera): In 1998, Mr. Clinton made the most extensive visit to Africa of any sitting U.S. president, and aides say he would like to make another trip before he leaves office. Kelly Wallace, CNN the White House.
Clinton Kicks Off Africa Summit in Washington