Senegal: US President Kicks off African Tour
By NewsfromAfric a
Dakar--US President Barack Obama has embarked on his three-nation tour of Africa arriving in the West African state of Senegal on his first stop in the continent, ahead of this week-long visit.
Obama arrived in the Senegalese capital of Dakar on Wednesday night with his family and is due to meet country’s President MackySall later on Thursday. He is also expected to visit Goree Island, a former slave processing spot from where Africans were sent into slavery in the New World.
Mr Obama’s tour of the continent is hoped to boost US economic ties with Africa, as well as promoting good governance, having that all countries he is touring have made remarkable strides towards achieving democracy.
This is his second to visit to the continent since he became president and his first since he was re-elected back to office last year.
Ben Rhodes US deputy national security advisor said the US leader’s choice of countries was planned to enable him tour the continent extensively.
“We purposefully designed the itineraries to be able to reach West Africa, South Africa and East Africa, and in West Africa, to visit Senegal, a French-speaking, Muslim-majority democracy that is an important partner of the United States and also provides a platform for the president to speak to the broader region.”
Senegal has been modelled as West Africa’srevered democracy, a region overawed with military coups, violence and political instability. Last year’s victory of MackySall and smooth post-election transition averted a political crisis that was looming when the when the aging incumbent Abdoulaye Wade decided to run for the 2012 presidential election in an apparent violation of the country’s constitution.
Obama is expected to also visit South Africa, the continent’s economic powerhouse, and later on the final leg of his tour, he will land in Tanzania’s capital, Dar es Salaam.
Obama has snubbed for the second time to set foot in his father’s homeland, Kenya, a country that has long been the darling of the West and is often called East Africa’s “anchor state”.
Earlier last week White House revealed that Obama’s snub to Kenya was informed by the ICC issues surrounding the new government and his administration had a commitment to accountability and justice as a baseline principle.
Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto face trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague for their roles in the ethnic violence that rocked the country after the disputed presidential polls in 2007/8.
Obama’s South African leg of his trip is expected to be overshadowed by the continuing critical condition of formerPresident and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela.
The White House has said it will accept to the wishes of Mr Mandela's family over whether the ailing former leader is well enough to receive a visit from him in hospital.