US President Barack Obama in his planned second
visit to Africa has snubbed Nigeria again.
Obama will head out on his first major African
tour since taking office, traveling to Senegal, South
Africa and Tanzania from June 26 to July 3, the
White House said Monday.
The National Security Council announced the trip
on its Twitter account, without immediately
offering further details.
Obama, born in the United States to an American
mother and a Kenyan father, has so far only been
to one sub-Saharan African country since
becoming president: Ghana, in July 2009.
The trip aims to "reinforce the importance that the
United States places on our deep and growing ties
with countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including
through expanding economic growth, investment,
and trade; strengthening democratic institutions;
and investing in the next generation of African
leaders," press secretary Jay Carney said in a
statement.
Obama will meet with officials, businessmen, and
civil society leaders, including youth, in a trip that
underscores his "commitment to broadening and
deepening cooperation between the United States
and the people of sub-Saharan Africa to advance
regional and global peace and prosperity."
First Lady Michelle Obama will accompany the
president on the trip, the National Security Council
said on its Twitter account.
His wife, however, went on a trip in southern
Africa in June 2011, during which she met former
South African president and anti-apartheid hero
Nelson Mandela.
At the end of March, Obama welcomed at the
White House his recently elected Senegalese
counterpart, Macky Sall, along with the leaders of
Sierra Leone, Malawi and Cape Verde, lauding
them as examples of "the progress that we are
seeing in Africa."
In 2011, Obama received four other African leaders
at the White House, the presidents of Benin,
Guinea, Niger and Ivory Coast. He had promised
them the US would remain a "stalwart partner" to
democracies in Africa.
In June 2012, Obama unveiled a sweeping new
Africa strategy, with the goal of reinforcing
security and democracy on a continent facing the
threat of Al-Qaeda and a Chinese economic
offensive.
The new US blueprint seeks to boost trade,
strengthen peace, security and good governance
and bolster democratic institutions, declaring that
a continent torn by poverty, corruption and discord
could be the world's next big economic success
story.
The administration touted "successes" from
helping to restore democracy in Ivory Coast,
nurturing the new state of South Sudan, backing
stability efforts in Somalia and engaging young
African leaders.
In his speech before Ghana's parliament in 2009,
Obama proclaimed that even though the continent
now needs international aid, "Africa's future is up
to Africans."
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