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| African Union Commission chairperson, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, right, stands with U.S. President Barack Obama as he looks up at the crowd before delivering a speech to the African Union, Tuesday, July 28, 2015, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. On the final day of his African trip, Obama is focusing on economic opportunities and African security. |
ADDIS ABABA,
Ethiopia (AP) -- President Barack Obama arrived in East Africa with
no big American aid packages, no ramped up U.S. military resources for
fighting terror groups and no new initiatives with billions in
government backing.
Instead, he brought a
frank message on democracy, corruption and security that could perhaps
be delivered only by a Western leader viewed in Africa as a local son.
"The
future of Africa is up to Africans," Obama said during a trip to Kenya
and Ethiopia that concluded Tuesday. "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."
The
president's advisers reject the notion that Obama's policy toward
Africa is all talk, pointing to the long-term potential of initiatives
to boost power access and food security for millions on the continent.
They stress the importance of America's first black president, one with a
sprawling family still living in Kenya, capitalizing on his ability to
speak not as a lecturing Westerner, but as someone with a personal stake
in the continent's success.
"He is someone
who is broadly respected by not just the leaders, but the peoples of
these countries, especially young populations who make up an increasing
percentage of these countries," said Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national
security adviser. "So, for that reason, I think people pay close
attention to what he has to say."
"That
doesn't mean that they're going to agree with everything he says, but I
think he can lay out a direction that he thinks the U.S.-African
partnership can go in," Rhodes added.
Indeed,
Obama closed his East Africa swing with a blunt accounting of the risks
facing the fast-growing continent. He compared Africa's large youth
population to the Middle East, warning that without jobs and prospects
for the future, young Africans are more likely to be drawn to terrorism.
He warned of the "cancer of corruption" that runs rampant through some
African governments, a problem he said only the continent's leaders
could solve.
And with high-level African
officials in the audience for his remarks at African Union headquarters,
he launched a blistering and sometimes sarcastic takedown of leaders
who refuse to leave office when their terms end.
"Let
me be honest with you - I just don't understand this," he said, drawing
cheers from many in the crowd.
"I actually think I'm a pretty good
president. I think if I ran, I could win. But I can't."
While
those remarks drew cheers from many in the crowd, some African
activists greeted his comment one day earlier that Ethiopia has a
democratically elected government with scorn and concern. Obama's
remarks came during a news conference with Prime Minister Hailemariam
Desalegn of Ethiopia, whose ruling party won every seat in parliament in
May elections.
Obama's predecessors have also
pushed for good governance and respect for human rights in Africa. But
none had the instant credibility African leaders confer on Obama, whose
visit was heralded as a homecoming.
"It would
have been different of course if he was from a different background,"
said Amadou Sy, director of the Africa Growth Initiative at the
Brookings Institution. "But he's also one of us."
Obama
barely knew his father, who was born and is buried in Kenya. The
younger Obama wouldn't visit the nation of his father's birth until he
was in his 20s, yet his political rise has been cheered enthusiastically
throughout the continent.
Obama's connections
to Africa garnered oversized expectations for what his tenure as U.S.
president would mean for the continent. While he's made four trips to
sub-Saharan Africa since taking office - more than any other U.S.
president - his foreign policy focus has often been on boosting ties
with the Asia-Pacific region and confronting crises in the Middle East.
Obama
also faces frequent comparisons to his predecessor George W. Bush, who
launched a $15 billion initiative for combating HIV/AIDS in Africa.
"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. "This isn't a
beauty contest between presidents."
At the
heart of Obama's approach to Africa is a belief that the U.S. and other
developed nations can no long view the continent simply as a receptacle
for billions in international aid. In an era of budget cuts, the
president has looked to jumpstart programs that rely heavily on private
financing and could eventually be run by African governments or
businesses, including his Feed The Future food security program and
Power Africa electricity initiative.
