The topics he embraced ranged from economic development to food security to the evils of slavery and colonialism.
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Obama’s predecessors have also pushed for good governance and respect for human rights in Africa. At the headquarters of the African Union in the capital of Ethiopia, he spoke to the heads of many African nations, but there were some notable guests absent.
Accompanied by a group of American senators and congressional representatives, the President took a tour of Ethiopian Airlines’ first Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which the airline is calling “Africa First”. A reform vote in 2008 removed term limits, and Biya ran and won the presidential elections in October of that year. “In central Africa, the AU-led mission continues to degrade the Lord’s Resistance Army”, he said.
And then he mentioned, in what seemed an offhand fashion, the one thing that he had to know would rankle his critics back home.
In an apparent swipe at China, without mentioning any country, he said the United States offered a partnership that “can’t simply be about building countries’ infrastructure with foreign labour or extracting Africa’s natural resources”. I can not imagine a greater honor or a more interesting job.
“I am really proud of the work that previous administrations did here in Africa, and I’ve done everything I could to build on those successes,” Obama said during a news conference in Kenya Saturday. Backed by public petitions, parliament voted in July for a referendum to change the constitution and let him run again.
It would be fun if Obama could run again. “For too long, I think that many looked to the outside for salvation and focused on somebody else being at fault for the problems of the continent”. “But I can’t”. There’s still so much I want to get done to keep America moving forward.
Democracy, the U.S. president added, was taking root in numerous countries in Africa – he cited Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Namibia – but it still remained out of reach for numerous people on the continent.
Barack Obama has condemned African leaders who refuse to give up power and urged the continent to end “the cancer of corruption”.
This type of wishful – or fretful – thinking is not unique to this president.
In boasting that he could win another term if the 22nd Amendment did not forbid it, Obama mirrored comments President Bill Clinton has made in the past.
Study author and policy analyst Michael Tasselmyer found that Mr. Clinton stayed overseas longer on those trips – 178 days, compared with 161 for Mr. Obama.
President Obama’s personal story may still be his best asset in the eyes of both the leaders and citizens of East Africa.
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He says he’s fine with leaving office after two terms.
