The United States (US) and Africa?s relations date back to the founding days of the former but US policy towards Africa has basically been an afterthought. From the periods of colonialism, the slave trade, the Cold War and now, US dealings with Africa has been, as any other nation will do, steered by its national and strategic interest. Until 1958, African affairs were given little prominence. However, under President Eisenhower who authorized the creation of a Bureau of African Affairs in the Department of State; successive US administrations have often blamed each other for paying too little attention to the needs of the African continent. This attitude of the US has been exacerbated by the lack of a coherent policy by African states towards the US. African countries deal with the US individually and negotiate in an unequal terms when their national interest is at stake, creating the opportunity for a continuous unbalanced relationship. Even as the US started to engage Africa constructively, the relationship was not perceived on a reciprocal terms at the first instance. In the words of Phillip Carter, then Acting Assistant Secretary to the Bureau of African Affairs, US engagement with Africa was too often [seen] with the idea of trying to do good for Africa, rather than to do good with Africa.