...to focus on Iraq crisis
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has cancelled a trip to Ghana to attend an annual conference in Accra this week as she has to remain in Washington to focus on the Iraq crisis, the State Department said Monday.

"She found that it is important to be in town here so that she has time for discussion about a number of different issues ... on the broader Middle East, Iraq," department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

Rice was scheduled to leave on Tuesday to attend sixth annual Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) conference in Accra, Ghana on July 18 and 19 and then fly to Lisbon, Portugal to attend a meeting of the four powers pushing for Middle East peace the next day.

She would now leave for Lisbon on Wednesday to attend the meeting of the quartet -- the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia -- on Thursday.

Rice had earlier cancelled plans to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which were both part of what was supposed to be a broader Middle East and Africa tour.

McCormack said Rice spoke to Ghanaian President John Kufuor early Monday to inform him about the trip's cancellation.

"She is going to address the forum via video link," he said.

Asked whether it would be regarded as a snub by African countries as she had only twice visited the continent since taking up her post in 2005, McCormack said, "It is not a diminishment in our interest in seeing Africa progress.

"I don't think there is any question about that," he said.

"Sometimes, when you are the secretary, you have to make tough decisions about how you allocate your time," he added.

The administration of President George W. Bush is under pressure from Congress to refashion its unpopular Iraq strategy as the drumbeat of demands for an early withdrawal of US troops from the insurgency-wracked nation grew louder by the day.