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| U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the University of Cape Town Sunday, June 30, 2013, in Cape Town, South Africa. The visit comes as beloved former South African president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela lies very ill in a Johannesburg hospital. In deeply personal remarks Obama called on young Africans to shore up progress on the continent that rests on a "fragile foundation," and summoned them to fulfill Mandela's legacy. "Nelson Mandela showed us that one man's courage can move the world," he said. |
CAPE TOWN, South
Africa (AP) -- Challenging African youth to seize a "moment of great
promise," President Barack Obama declared Sunday that the future of the
young and growing continent still rests in ailing South African leader
Nelson Mandela's vision for equality and opportunity. Seeking to carve
out his own piece of that legacy, Obama unveiled an ambitious initiative
to double electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa, vowing to bring
"light where there is darkness."
The
president's address at the University of Cape Town capped an emotionally
charged day in this picturesque coastal city, including a solemn visit
to the Robben Island prison where Mandela was confined for 18 of his 27
years in captivity. Obama stood stoically with his family in Mandela's
cramped cell and peered across the lime quarry where Mandela toiled each
day, causing the damage to his lungs that led to his latest hospital
stint.
"Nelson Mandela showed us that one
man's courage can move the world," Obama said during his evening speech
at the university. He was flanked by a diverse array of students,
underscoring Mandela's vision for a unified "rainbow nation" for the
country once led by a white racist government.
In
the flagship address of his weeklong trip to Africa, Obama outlined a
U.S. policy toward the continent that focuses on increasing the region's
ability to support itself economically, politically and militarily.
Harkening back to a prominent theme from his 2009 speech in Ghana -
Obama's only other trip to Africa as president - he said Africans must
take much of the responsibility for achieving that goal, although he
pledged American assistance.
"Ultimately I
believe Africans should make up their own minds about what serves
African interests," he said. "We trust your judgment, the judgment of
ordinary people. We believe that when you control your destiny, if you
got a handle on your governments, then governments will promote freedom
and opportunity, because that will serve you."
Obama's
address came nearly 50 years after Robert F. Kennedy delivered his
famous speech at the same university. Kennedy's speech, delivered soon
after Mandela was sentenced to life in prison, called on young people to
launch a fight against injustice, creating ripples of hope that would
"build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression
and resistance."
Much has changed in South
Africa since Kennedy addressed the nation. The apartheid regime crumbled
under intense internal and external pressure. Mandela was elected as
his country's first black president following his release from prison.
And South Africa has rapidly become continent's economic and political
powerhouse.
But Obama said that progress, in
South Africa and elsewhere on the continent, rests on a "fragile
foundation." In order to solidify the gains, Obama called on Africans to
focus on three priorities: expanding opportunity, promoting democracy
and supporting peace.
A cornerstone of Obama's
efforts to expand opportunity is the new "Power Africa" initiative
unveiled ahead of his speech. The venture is supported by $7 billion in
U.S. investment and $9 billion from the private sector, and will seek to
bring electricity to at least 20 million new households and commercial
entities in an initial set of six countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya,
Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania.
The White House
did not set a specific deadline for achieving that goal, but Obama
advisers said it could happen within a decade. However, the first round
of contributions still fall well short of the $300 billion the
International Energy Agency says would be required to achieve universal
electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.
Obama
opened his speech with deeply personal remarks about Mandela, tracing
the anti-apartheid icon's influence on his own political activism to his
young daughters. He said that standing in Mandela's cell alongside
Malia and Sasha made the experience all the more poignant, reflecting on
the distinction he shares with Mandela in being his country's first
black president.
"Seeing them stand within the
walls that once surrounded Nelson Mandela, I knew this was an
experience they would never forget," he said. "I knew they now
appreciated a little bit more that Madiba and other had made for
freedom," Obama added, referring to Mandela by his clan name.
Obama
arrived in Cape Town Sunday from Johannesburg, where he met privately
with members of Mandela's family and spoke with the former president's
wife. In keeping with the family's wishes, Obama did not visit Mandela
in the hospital.
On a sunny winter day in the
Southern Hemisphere, Obama and his family flew by helicopter to Robben
Island, the prison that epitomized the struggle of Mandela and his
contemporaries against apartheid rule. The Obamas were led through the
island by Ahmed Kathrada, an 83-year-old former prisoner who was held
alongside Mandela and had also given Obama a tour of the jail when he
visited as a U.S. senator in 2006.
The Obamas
solemnly peered across the bright white lime quarry where Mandela worked
each day. They spent 20 minutes inside the tiny cell where Mandela
spent nearly two decades of his life, all the while inspiring the
anti-apartheid movement on mainland South Africa.
Before
closing their visit, Obama and wife Michelle stoically entered a prison
courtyard, the president's hand on the small of the first lady's back,
to sign a guestbook.
"On behalf of our family
we're deeply humbled to stand where men of such courage faced down
injustice and refused to yield," Obama wrote. "The world is grateful for
the heroes of Robben Island, who remind us that no shackles or cells
can match the strength of the human spirit."
The
president also stopped Sunday at a health center overseen by Archbishop
Desmond Tutu, a visit aimed at highlighting the impact of a U.S.-funded
program to stop the spread of HIV and AIDS. The President's Emergency
Plan For AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, was started by George W. Bush and
continued by Obama.
Obama praised Tutu's work
in an emotional meeting in which Tutu said Africans are praying that
Obama will be a success and a leader for peace, particularly in the
Middle East. Many of their aides were brought to tears as the two men
embraced in a hug.
The White House said the
U.S. will spend about $4.2 billion on PEPFAR funding this year, money
that has been used to increase the number of people receiving
life-saving anti-retroviral drugs and to prevent mother-to-child
transmission of the virus.
Bush, who has
stayed active on Africa issues since leaving office, was scheduled to be
in Tanzania Monday, the same day Obama arrives in the East African
nation. The White House did not rule out the possibility of a meeting
between the two presidents.
