By Kwasi Kpodo

ACCRA, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Ghana will welcome U.S. President George W. Bush as a friend but says it wants no part in hosting any increased U.S. military presence on the African continent.

Bush, touring Africa in the final year of his presidency, has been supporting efforts to solve crises in Kenya and Darfur.

But his trip mainly seeks to highlight success stories on a continent often portrayed as a morass of conflict, coups, corruption and famine. He arrives in Ghana later on Tuesday on his fourth stop after Benin, Tanzania and Rwanda.

Despite some bloody army takeovers since independence from Britain in 1957, Ghana is now seen by Washington as a model of stable, democratic rule and is receiving multi-million dollar U.S. aid in health, education and poverty reduction.

"Under President Bush, Africa has got more from U.S. foreign policy than any previous American presidency," Ghanaian Foreign Minister Akwasi Osei-Adjei told Reuters in an interview before Bush's arrival.

He said Bush was leaving a "remarkable legacy" for Ghana.

Under a 2006 deal, Ghana is receiving $547 million in U.S. assistance -- one of the highest grants accorded to an African state -- under a five-year anti-poverty programme that is being managed by the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation.

Bush's support for multi-billion-dollar anti-malaria and anti-AIDS projects in Africa have earned him an unusually warm reception there amid widespread international condemnation of his foreign policy over Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.

But despite the mutual back-slapping, there are some limits to Ghana's willingness to cooperate.

Ghana's armed forces -- respected contributors to international peacekeeping missions in Africa and elsewhere in the world -- benefit from U.S. military training.

But President John Kufuor's government, reflecting a position widely held across Africa, shies away from the idea of hosting any kind of U.S. military facility or base.

"Our sovereignty is something we cherish," Osei-Adjei said, adding Ghana did not intend to accept any part of the newly created U.S. military command for Africa (Africom).

WARINESS OVER AFRICOM

Looking to bolster the U.S. presence in Africa, already a major supplier of crude oil to the American market, the Bush administration created Africom last year as a separate entity.

U.S. officials talked initially of plans to eventually transfer the Africom headquarters to Africa.

But following a wave of African hostility to this idea, the U.S. has since clarified the proposal, saying Africom will not bring any more U.S. troops or bases to the continent. A base for 1,800 U.S. troops already exists in Djibouti.

Africom commanders have instead suggested a loose structure of Africom liaison staff posted across Africa.

On Thursday, Bush visits Liberia -- Africa's first republic formed by freed slaves from America in 1847. It has offered to host Africom, which the U.S. leader says he'll seriously consider.

Despite the warm bilateral ties, Bush, accompanied by his wife Laura, may still face some hostility in Ghana.

Local human rights activists have announced plans to stage public protests against what they call Bush's "inhumane policies in parts of the world", especially Iraq.

Some critics questioned what Ghana really stood to gain from the Bush visit. "It's only a move to redeem his lame duck days," said one Ghanaian opposition parliamentarian, John Mahama. (Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Giles Elgood)

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