The US leader says he does not want to be intrusive at a time of concern for Nelson Mandela as he arrives in South Africa.
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President Obama and the First Lady arrive in Johannesburg
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Barack Obama will not press for a much-awaited meeting with the critically ill Nelson Mandela during his visit to South Africa.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route from Dakar,
Senegal, to Johannesburg, the President said: "We'll see what the
situation is when we land.
"I don't need a photo op and the last thing I want to do is to be in
any way obtrusive at a time when the family is concerned with Nelson
Mandela's condition."
Mr Obama added: "I think the main message we'll want to deliver, if not
directly to him, but to his family, is simply profound gratitude for
his leadership."
Mr Obama was expected to meet with US consulate staff after arriving in
Johannesburg on Friday. He wil then meet with South African President
Jacob Zuma on Saturday.
Mr Mandela, South Africa's first black president, was taken to hospital three weeks ago with recurrent lung problems.
He turns 95 next month.
On the eve of Mr Obama's visit, Mr Mandela was said to be in a critical
condition, but had stabilised since a scare forced President Jacob Zuma
to cancel a trip to neighbouring Mozambique.
"He is much better today," said Mr Zuma after seeing Mr Mandela late on Thursday for the second time in less than 24 hours.
Yet South Africans, including Mr Mandela's family, remain braced for the worst.
"I won't lie. It doesn't look good," daughter Makaziwe Mandela said.
She added that "if we speak to him he responds and tries to open his
eyes - he's still there".
"Anything is imminent, but I want to emphasise again that it is only
God who knows when the time to go is," she told local radio.
Mr Obama, who is currently on a three-nation Africa tour, has led a
chorus of support for the man he has dubbed a "hero for the world".
"The President will be speaking to the legacy of Nelson Mandela and
that will be a significant part of our time in South Africa," said
deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes.
"The President will treasure any opportunity he has to celebrate that legacy."
The US President's tour of Africa could yet be upended by sudden developments in Madiba's condition.
The White House says it is in the hands of the Mandela family and the South African authorities on any aspect of the visit.
"We will obviously be very deferential to the developments that take
place and the wishes of the family and the South African government," Mr
Rhodes said.
A visit by Mr Obama to Mr Mandela's former jail cell on Robben Island,
off Cape Town, on Sunday would now take on extra "profundity", he added.
Mr Obama also visited the site in 2006 when he was the senator for Illinois.
Speaking in Senegal on the first leg of his long-awaited Africa trip, Mr Obama described Mandela as "a personal hero".
"I think he is a hero for the world, and if and when he passes from
this place, one thing I think we all know is that his legacy is one that
will linger on throughout the ages," he said.
Mr Obama landed in the Senegalese capital of Dakar on Wednesday night for the first leg of his three-country visit.
On his first day he visited the Senegalese island of Goree, from which Africans were shipped across the Atlantic into slavery.
He is scheduled to travel to Tanzania after leaving South Africa.
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