Tanzania the unlikely host to both Barack Obama and George W Bush
Tanzania became the unlikely host for both President Barack Obama and his predecessor, George W Bush today when the US presidential cavalcade descended on the country's capital, Dar-es-Salaam.
U.S. President Barack Obama, right, and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, left, wave as they enter State House, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Photo: AP
By David Blair, Pretoria
2:19PM BST 01 Jul 2013
Having received only one previous visit by an American leader this century, Tanzania found itself hosting two men who are entitled to be addressed as "Mr President".
Mr Obama arrived on the last stop of his tour of Africa. Mr Bush, meanwhile, came to attend a conference on empowering African women organised by the institute he founded after leaving office.
U.S. President Barack Obama dances as a Tanzanian band plays during an official arrival ceremony at Julius Nyerere Airport in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Their wives, Michelle Obama and Laura Bush, are both expected to address the conference on Tuesday.
The White House confirmed that the two presidents would meet on Tuesday, joining together for a wreath-laying ceremony at the site of the 1998 bombing at the US embassy in Dar-es-Salaam that killed 11 people.
Africa is perhaps the only continent with benign memories of Mr Bush's presidency. In particular, he did more than any other Western leader to help Africa curb the Aids epidemic. In 2003, Mr Bush founded the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) with a first endowment of £10 billion.
This paid for two million HIV-positive Africans to receive the life-saving drugs that prevent the onset of full-blown Aids. With this help, most African countries have managed to reduce their HIV infection rates and dramatically cut the number of deaths from Aids.
One study suggested that Mr Bush's initiative had saved about 1.1 million lives by 2009. On the campaign trail, Mr Obama often excoriates his predecessor's record. When it comes to Africa, however, he has always been careful to praise Mr Bush.
On the last full day of his visit to South Africa on Sunday, Mr Obama said: "The United States has really done wonderful work through the PEPFAR programme, started under my predecessor, President Bush."
Mr Obama ruefully noted that Mr Bush managed to secure more money for foreign aid "out of the Republican Congress" than he has been able to achieve. In all, Mr Bush quadrupled US aid for Africa during his presidency. He also made America the biggest single donor to the United Nations Global Fund for Aids, tuberculosis and malaria, providing a third of its first endowment of Pounds 5 billion.
Until this week when he announced a plan to spread electricity through rural Africa, Mr Obama, by contrast, had launched no big initiative to help the continent, despite his ancestral ties. He has also waited until his second term before embarking on this tour.
Teeming crowds and blaring horns nonetheless welcomed Mr Obama to Tanzania, where he found his likeness adorning his route into the city on the last leg of his three-country tour of the African continent.
Hundreds of young people lined the streets wearing t-shirts and sarongs bearing images of Obama, forcing Obama's motorcade to slow at times as it sped along a main thoroughfare that's been permanently renamed "Barack Obama Drive".
Source: Telegraph
Tanzania became the unlikely host for both President Barack Obama and his predecessor, George W Bush today when the US presidential cavalcade descended on the country's capital, Dar-es-Salaam.
By David Blair, Pretoria
2:19PM BST 01 Jul 2013
Having received only one previous visit by an American leader this century, Tanzania found itself hosting two men who are entitled to be addressed as "Mr President".
Mr Obama arrived on the last stop of his tour of Africa. Mr Bush, meanwhile, came to attend a conference on empowering African women organised by the institute he founded after leaving office.
U.S. President Barack Obama dances as a Tanzanian band plays during an official arrival ceremony at Julius Nyerere Airport in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Their wives, Michelle Obama and Laura Bush, are both expected to address the conference on Tuesday.
The White House confirmed that the two presidents would meet on Tuesday, joining together for a wreath-laying ceremony at the site of the 1998 bombing at the US embassy in Dar-es-Salaam that killed 11 people.
Africa is perhaps the only continent with benign memories of Mr Bush's presidency. In particular, he did more than any other Western leader to help Africa curb the Aids epidemic. In 2003, Mr Bush founded the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) with a first endowment of £10 billion.
This paid for two million HIV-positive Africans to receive the life-saving drugs that prevent the onset of full-blown Aids. With this help, most African countries have managed to reduce their HIV infection rates and dramatically cut the number of deaths from Aids.
One study suggested that Mr Bush's initiative had saved about 1.1 million lives by 2009. On the campaign trail, Mr Obama often excoriates his predecessor's record. When it comes to Africa, however, he has always been careful to praise Mr Bush.
On the last full day of his visit to South Africa on Sunday, Mr Obama said: "The United States has really done wonderful work through the PEPFAR programme, started under my predecessor, President Bush."
Mr Obama ruefully noted that Mr Bush managed to secure more money for foreign aid "out of the Republican Congress" than he has been able to achieve. In all, Mr Bush quadrupled US aid for Africa during his presidency. He also made America the biggest single donor to the United Nations Global Fund for Aids, tuberculosis and malaria, providing a third of its first endowment of Pounds 5 billion.
Until this week when he announced a plan to spread electricity through rural Africa, Mr Obama, by contrast, had launched no big initiative to help the continent, despite his ancestral ties. He has also waited until his second term before embarking on this tour.
Teeming crowds and blaring horns nonetheless welcomed Mr Obama to Tanzania, where he found his likeness adorning his route into the city on the last leg of his three-country tour of the African continent.
Hundreds of young people lined the streets wearing t-shirts and sarongs bearing images of Obama, forcing Obama's motorcade to slow at times as it sped along a main thoroughfare that's been permanently renamed "Barack Obama Drive".
Source: Telegraph
