U.S.-Ghanaian relations are warm, as signaled by President Barack Obama's travel in 2009 to Ghana, where he laid out his views on democratization and governance in Africa in his single major Africa-focused policy address. Ghana is the only sub-Saharan African country to which Mr. Obama has thus far traveled while serving as president. Then-President George W. Bush also traveled there, in 2008, and Members of Congress regularly visit Ghana, which is widely seen as a key U.S. partner in West Africa and as an African success story. It has built a relatively robust democracy and a growing economy, although it faces persistent, widespread poverty and a range of profound development challenges. Ghana, which last held national elections in early December 2012 (see below), is considered a model for many of the outcomes that congressional and executive branch policy-makers have long sought to achieve in the region under diverse programs that have drawn substantial congressional engagement. Ghana has received a large U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact and may soon receive a second one. It also participates in three presidential development initiatives, the Global Climate Change (GCC) initiative, Feed the Future (FtF), and the Global Health Initiative (GHI), and hosts U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) regional offices and the USAID-administered West Africa Trade Hub. The Hub activities seek to expand intra-regional and bilateral trade with West African countries, a focus of renewed congressional interest and a key pillar of the Obama Administration's June 2012 U.S. Strategy Toward Sub-Saharan Afric a . Ghana has also drawn U.S. attention because of its recent discovery of sizable oil reserves and its potential contributions to global and U.S. energy security. Energy production may boost national income and development prospects, but may also pose good governance and resource management challenges, as is common in oil-rich developing countries. Ghana has evolved into a U.S. partner in the region, in part, because in recent decades—after two politically tumultuous decades following independence—it developed into a stable country in an often volatile sub-region. Commitment to constitutional governance has become increasingly ingrained, as illustrated by successful inter-party transfers of state power following close recent national elections. Similarly, when President John Atta Mills died in July 2012, state power was transferred to then-Vice President John Dramani Mahama, as constitutionally mandated, within hours. Ghana's regional stability and international peace efforts have dovetailed with those of the United States, which has often sought to support regional solutions to regional political crises and to mitigate the effects of conflict in West Africa by providing large amounts of humanitarian assistance. Ghana's government has helped to mediate several armed civil conflicts in West Africa in recent decades and has hosted refugees fleeing such crises. In late 2012, the last of a residual long-term Liberian refugee population in Ghana was repatriated, but Ghana continues to host refugees from Côte d'Ivoire who fled during or following that country's 2011 civil-military crisis. Such populations are generally peaceful, but can contain politically restive elements, some opposed to their home governments, as was the case with a small number of the Liberian refugees. In recent months, Ghana has detained or deported multiple Ivoirian who, while in Ghana, have allegedly participated in efforts to destabilize the government of Côte d'Ivoire or are accused of crimes during the Ivoirian crisis. Ghana has pledged not to allow such activities and, in coordination with Ivoirian officials, is investigating attacks allegedly carried out from its territory. Still, critics contend that it has taken insufficient action to counter such acts. Ghana is a steady contributor of troops to international peacekeeping operations, both in Africa and elsewhere, and is a recipient of U.S. training and assistance aimed at supporting such deployments. Ghana also faces threats from illicit narcotics trafficking, notably related to a rise in cocaine being transported from South America to Europe via West Africa. Shared interest in countering such trafficking is a growing area of U.S.-Ghanaian cooperation. Ghana is viewed as having achieved substantial progress in its socio-economic development, despite many remaining challenges. In FY2013, it met or greatly exceeded the minimum score on 18 out of 20 Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) policy performance criteria that are prerequisites for MCC compact eligibility. These criteria pertain to three broad eligibility assessment categories: Economic Freedom, Investing in People, and Ruling Justly. Its FY2012 performance had also been strong, especially in the area of governance; it ranked among the top 5% "of all low-income countries on every single Ruling Justly indicator, including control of corruption, government effectiveness and democratic rights." Ghana completed a five-year $547 million MCC compact in February 2012, and is a likely recipient of a second MCC compact. The anticipated compact, for which Ghana had been found eligible to apply in early 2011, is expected to support higher rates of economic growth by increasing access to credit, secure land tenure, and electrical power. These goals were identified as national development priorities under joint Partnership for Growth and MCC analyses. Power sector enhancements are seen by the MCC as offering "an opportunity to advance U.S. interests by addressing problems in the power sector that are a brake on economic growth in one of Africa's most important regional anchors." An economic constraints analysis for the proposed compact was completed in November 2011. Ghana was selected as one of four initial U.S. Partnership for Growth countries globally for several reasons. These include its positive MCC scores and compact completion record; potential synergies between the expected second MCC compact and other U.S. assistance programs; and increases in other types of U.S.-Ghanaian engagement, including private sector business deals. Ghana's most recently elected president, John Atta Mills, died on July 24, 2012, of natural causes. Mills, a former academic and national office holder, was elected in 2008 and took office in early 2009, succeeding former President John Kufuor of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Key Mills policies were rooted in his National Democratic Congress (NDC) party's election platform, A Better Ghana : Investing in People, Jobs and the Economy (2008) and were detailed in various policy statements. They included: good governance and anti-corruption efforts, including passage of a Right to Information Bill, security force capacity building, prioritization of female appointments in government, and greater representative, decentralized governance and accountability; economic growth and investment, notably through what the NDC platform called "activist and enabling state" policies and actions, such as efforts to spur business growth by increasing access to credit, enact business-friendly regulatory and tax reforms, and boost Ghanaian exports and diversified local industrial and agricultural production; investment in people, especially in health, education, and poverty reduction efforts; and investments in infrastructure, including public housing construction, water and sanitation improvements, and reforms, and investments in roads, rails, and the electricity sector. President John Dramani Mahama was elected president in Ghana's December 2012 national elections and is scheduled to be inaugurated on January 7, 2012, despite an NPP legal suit challenging his election. Mahama, former Vice President under Mills, had initially assumed the presidency in July 2012, succeeding Mills hours after his death, in accordance with the constitution. Mahama is a Christian from northern Ghana, and a former non-governmental organization manager, Communications Minister, Member of Parliament (MP), and national NDC party leader who also served on several national functional agencies. Polling during the December 7, 2012, presidential and legislative elections was peaceful, but limited technical challenges and late poll openings hindered voting in some places. Key problems included malfunctions associated with a new biometric voter identification system used by Ghana's Electoral Commission (EC) to register and identify Ghana's 14.03 million voters, 80.2% of whom (11.25 million) cast ballots. In response to these technical delays, voting was extended by a day at hundreds of polling places. The presidential race featured a close contest between the NDC's Mahama and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the NPP. Akufo-Addo served as Foreign Affairs Minister and Justice Minister under Kufuor, is a former MP, and was Mills's rival in the 2008 election. The 2012 election resulted in Mahama's election as president, with nearly 50.8% of votes. Akufo-Addo garnered over 47.7% of votes, while six minor candidates each won a 0.6% or lower vote share. Domestic and international observers reported that, apart from the limited technical problems—primarily those noted above—polling and the vote counting processes were carried out in a transparent, free, and largely proficient manner, and that the process overall was credible and legitimate. The United States recognized the re-election of President Mahama and congratulated him and the Ghanaian people for a "successful election." Despite such findings, following the announcement of the presidential election results, NPP supporters staged boisterous street protests questioning the election results and the neutrality of the Electoral Commission, and the Akufo-Addo campaign and the NPP announced that they would challenge the legitimacy of the vote in court. They did so in a December 28 suit, filed in the Supreme Court, naming President Mahama and the Electoral Commission as respondents. Their suit alleged that there had been "diverse and flagrant violations of the statutory provisions and regulations governing the conduct" of the presidential election "which substantially and materially affected the results of the elections."