I have kept bees in West Africa. In my experience, African bees are a bit more defensive than European bees but they are by no means "killer" bees.
Certainly, there is no more risk (from the bees, anyway) to maintaining a bee hive in Africa than one in the US. In fact, I am frequently amazed at how much less protective gear African bee keepers use.
Also, I find that hive bees tend to be generally less aggressive than their wild cousins and can co-exist just fine with people. It is not at all uncommon for hives to be situated on farms or near houses.
To go from occasionally having an interaction with Elephants, to everyday working your field in close proximity to highly aggressive bees that relatively commonly swarm intruders.. is not a guaranteed win. I don't know enough to evaluate the trade off and I said as much.