Four years after his first presidential visit to sub-Saharan Africa, US
President Barack Obama is returning to the continent of his father --
but not to his father's country.
Obama's tour will end in East Africa, but the "native son" -- as
Kenyan's call Obama -- will be visiting Tanzania, not Kenya.
SOUNDBITE 1: Benard Odour (man), Kenyan-Tanzanian business owner
English, 30s): "Some will say a slap in the face, but me, I'll say
that's the right thing because I think that there's a lot of Kenyans who
haven't received justice. And they have nowhere to run, nowhere to turn
to. And I think him doing that, other Kenyans, like me, who have pain,
yeah, who have pain, think that's right. Because if he went there he
could have endorsed their wrong-doing."
That Obama will not see the birthplace of his father is likely due to
its newly elected president, Uhuru Kenyatta, and vice president, William
Ruto, who both face charges at the International Criminal Court in The
Hague for their involvement in the 2007-2008 post-election violence,
which left over 1,000 people dead.
SOUNDBITE 2: Johnnie Carson (man), former US assistant secretary of
State for African affairs (English, 32 sec): "We've watched, and I'm
sure the administration has watched, Kenya go through a difficult period
and Tanzania at this point looks to be a better spot to highlight many
of the important things that I outlined: strengthening democratic
institutions, promoting economic growth through trade and investment and
also highlighting the importance of youth."
Promoting American business interests is a pillar of Obama's tour, and a
part of wider US efforts to counter Beijing's growing influence on this
resource rich continent. Though the US is the single largest
development partner in terms of actual funds for infrastructure, they
recently fell behind China as the continent's biggest trading partner,
which buys and sells about $200 billion dollars a year. Even the
president's visit is three months behind China's, whose president Xi
Jinping visited Tanzania in March on his first foreign trip of the year.
SOUNDBITE 3: Ayub Rioba (man), Lecturer, University of Dar es Salaam
(English, 24s): "It's pure business. America has interest in Tanzania's
natural resources. And as we already know, there is Halliburton. There's
also General Electric. Companies that have already signed an agreement
with our government to tap the gas resources and generate electricity."
Tanzania's untapped natural gas reserves will likely dominate
discussions during Obama's visit to Tanzania, which boasted a 6% growth
rate last year… a country fast emerging as East Africa's new economic
battleground for the U.S. and China.
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