Obama Begins Africa Tour in Senegal

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Obama Begins Africa Tour in Senegal

By ADAM NOSSITER
and ALAN COWELL
June 27, 2013 DAKAR, Senegal -

President Obama plunged into a visit to Africa on Thursday likely to highlight the continent's strivings for democracy
and well-being, but the trip is expected to be overshadowed by the fate of Nelson Mandela in South Africa. The twin narratives - highlighting the achievements of one nation's democratic culture in Senegal even as South Africa frets over the looming post-Mandela era - have set the bookmarks for a voyage planned for months but overtaken by the health of South Africa's 94-year-old former president, whose condition is officially described as "critical" almost three
weeks after he was hospitalized with a lung infection.

Speaking in Dakar on Thursday, President Obama called Mr. Mandela a "hero for the world," news reports said as concern deepened in South Africa about his well-being. Mr. Obama is set to to travel to South Africa on Friday on the second stage of his three-nation foray to the continent. Late Wednesday, even as Mr. Obama arrived here from Washington, President Jacob Zuma of South Africa announced that he was canceling a one-day trip to neighboring
Mozambique because of Mr. Mandela's condition.

Mr. Obama is to fly to South Africa on Friday after meeting with government leaders here.

News reports on Thursday quoted a South African government spokesman as saying Mr. Mandela's condition had "gone down" in a 48-hour period. President Obama's journey will also reach back into earlier times when Africa struggled against slavery and white domination, represented in planned visits to the island shrines of
Gorée Island near Dakar, considered by some a symbol of the slave trade, and Robben Island off Cape Town,
South Africa, where Mr. Mandela, along with other political prisoners, spent much of a 27-year imprisonment that
ended in 1990.

Some of Africa's modern reality, though, has been obscured. In advance of the president's visit, beggars, hawkers, crazily-parked cars and paraplegics have been cleared from Dakar's main avenue, replaced by small American flags fluttering from light poles and police patrols along the Atlantic Ocean. Mr. Obama's main purpose in Senegal
is seen as highlighting Senegal's democratic culture: There has never been a coup d'état here, and last year
an incumbent was turned out by voters. Dakar's newspapers have been grumbling for days about the security
headaches brought on by the president's visit - a matter of pride for government officials but something else for citizens bearing the brunt of closed main avenues and impromptu roundups by the local police. The visit will thus offer a partly sanitized vision of this chaotic African metropolis.

"Obama is stifling us," La Tribune reported on its front page Wednesday. "The Americans are imposing extreme
measures," Le Pop complained. "Dakar, under the hammer," said L'As.

"The Americans take over Senegal," said L'Observateur. Addressing reporters on Thursday at Senegal's downtown presidential palace, Mr. Obama thanked the crowds that had earlier greeted his motorcade and praised Senegal for having "one of the most stable democracies in Africa."

Questioned about African discrimination against gays, in the wake of Wednesday's Supreme Court decision - gays are seen as persecuted in Senegal as elsewhere on the continent - Mr. Obama responded that states should practice equal treatment for all. A day earlier, on the back streets of this bustling West African city, the enthusiasm for Mr. Obama's vist was more muted. There were no American flags, and the posters of Mr. Obama and Macky Sall, the Senegalese president, that were hastily plastered by the government along the oceanfront were nowhere to be seen.

Four years ago newly painted "Obama" barbershops and corner markets were common, here and all over West Africa; today they are far harder to find. Some on Dakar's streets shared in the official pride, but others doubted that
the American they won't see will make a dent in their daily worries. "The Senegalese are fed up, and we are
hungry," said Fatoumata Ndiaye, a housewife, standing with her empty shopping bucket outside a busy open-air fish stall in the Ouakam district. She couldn't afford the fresh fish - albeit covered in flies - that she coveted, but instead would have to settle for the pungent dried version. "We are asking him to help us," Mrs. Ndiaye said, commenting on the visit of the president. "There's no work here." A pepper vendor, Samba Top, who said he was on his feet 12 hours a day and made $1.25 on a good day, walked up: "He's got to help us, and quick," said the 27-year-old father of four, carrying his load of little pepper sacks. Still others warned that it made no sense to wait for a helping hand from the Americans. "I'm not expecting much from him. The Americans elected him to develop America, not Senegal," Amadou Diallo, a building contractor, said outside an open-air pots and pans stand as a young man studied the Koran inside.

But pride - a recognition of this African nation's special status as an unfaltering democracy since independence - was close to the surface on Dakar's streets. Over two years, in 2011 and 2012, the citizens rejected, through street protests and then the ballot box, an elderly president who refused to recognize his constitutional mandate was at an
end. Now the son of that former president, Abdoulaye Wade, has been jailed on corruption charges by Mr.Sall's government. "The government has been saying, he'll give us this, he'll give us that," Mr. Diallo said. "But we are not going to be beggars in front of Obama."

Adam Nossiter reported from Dakar, Senegal, and Alan Cowell from London.

Source: The NY Times

 

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Obama's Trip to Africa: Worth Every Penny - Jonathan Berman - Harvard Business Review - http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/06/obama_in_africa_worth_every_pe.html


[h=1]Obama's Trip to Africa: Worth Every Penny[/h] by Jonathan Berman |

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At the end of this month, President Obama will begin his trip to Africa, visiting South Africa, Senegal (in West Africa) and Tanzania (in East Africa). The trip will be expensive, and The Washington Post has highlighted the large cost at a time of budget tightening. However, even the myopia of the US budget process cannot obscure reality in this case-this is money well spent.
Putting aside security, global health, and other national issues, US commercial interests alone make Africa an important destination for our President. There is a lot at stake.
Africa ranks second-behind emerging Asia-as the fastest growing region of the world. The IMF forecasts that Sub-Saharan Africa will grow at a rate of 5.4% this year, about 50% faster than Latin America, and infinitely more than Europe, which is currently expected to grow not at all or even contract. Also, Africa's growth is not from a small base. Africa today is a $2 trillion economy, roughly the same as Brazil or India (where few would say a presidential visit is wasted). Of course, Africa is not one country-its many individual nations mean the growth, risks and opportunities vary widely. However, few would deny that West Africa, East Africa and South Africa each hold significant growth opportunities for US companies. It's wise of the White House to have the President visit all three, drawing guests from the whole region and not just the host countries.
The following are snapshots of what's happening in these regions as the President prepares to travel:

• In West Africa, the regional dairy and frozen food manufacturer Fan Milk was just acquired (by Dubai-based Abraaj capital) for over $300 million. Abraaj knows Africa well, as few others do, and is betting that even that level of capital investment in one company will yield the 2-3X return on investment private equity it must generate to attract investors to frontier markets like Africa.
• In East Africa, Tanzania (where the President is stopping) and Mozambique (which is next door) have just had the most important natural gas finds of the new century. About $30 billion will be spent developing those gas fields and building associated facilities. Natural resources are not the whole story of Africa's growth - they account for about a quarter - but they drive many opportunities that US firms should be capturing..
• In South Africa, the opportunity is longer term. It has long been the darling of investment on the continent and, since the 1994 election of Nelson Mandela, an inspiration to many. Today, South Africa is facing its most wrenching social and political challenges since the end of Apartheid, including slowed growth and social unrest. With the shortcomings of its post-liberation structure visible, South African businesses, government, and labor are forging a new social compact. The US did the same about 12 years after our own independence, not without pain, and again repeatedly thereafter. It is a wise investment for our president to show solidarity during this time and make clear that he and US businesses see a bright future ahead in South Africa.

So what does Africa mean to the US, specifically to US companies?
Growth. General Electric's CEO Jeff Immelt reports that he may sell more gas turbines in Africa than in the US over the next three years. Eric Schmidt's Google reports more click-throughs in Africa than in Western Europe. Not surprisingly, both men have traveled to Africa this year.
Innovation. Intel Capital is the global investment arm of the Santa Clara-based Intel. They scour the globe for technologies they can invest in and bring into the Intel fold. In the next six months, Intel aims at reaching over 400 African developers and creating 100 new applications locally that will offer users different experiences across mobile phones and tablets running on Intel architecture. Africa is largely mobile-native environment, and multiple US technology companies are now discovering and developing technologies there to bring home and across the world.

Jobs. Africa is growing, needs more of everything, and has the means to pay. In 2011, US exports to Africa were $21.1 billion, up 23% in just one year and up 350% since 2000. According to the US Trade Representative's office, the top export categories were machinery ($4.0 billion, up 15% over the prior year), vehicles and parts ($3.5 billion, up 42%), non-crude oil ($1.8 billion, up 30%); cereals ($1.7 billion, up 31%); and aircraft and parts ($1.5 billion, up 32%). Do you know someone working in one of those sectors? Are they finding growth like that elsewhere in the world?
Critics of the $60-100 million estimated price tag of the trip might have a commercial case if Africa only served as a place to spend US aid money. Instead, the Africa of today is one where US companies can find growth, innovation, and job opportunities for those at home. To the extent the President's visit advances those goals by even a fraction, the commercial benefits alone well outweigh the cost.

 

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Un awaumiza wenzio weye baba ke Ooops kisemo cha Inv ... .... ... .... ...... .... .... .khe khe khe kheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Wacha fujo bana watakuzuia kurudi k i b e r a ... ...

 

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Mungiki Brother hebu check hapa chini ..... ..... ...Bush naye ndani ya Dar .... .. . from Clinton, Bush now Obama kunani Bongo ... .. wakati Manyang'au hata rais moja hajakanyaga pale ... ....

Clinton first drew extensive attention to Africa in 1998 when he made the longest trip ever by a U.S. president, with stops in six countries that had never before been visited by any occupant of the Oval Office.

He is scheduled to come back this summer for what has become an annual visit, with his Clinton Foundation investing in myriad wide-ranging projects in Africa on health, agriculture and climate change.

Bush will be in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania next week at the same time as Obama, although they have no plans to meet.
Instead, Michelle Obama and former First Lady Laura Bush plan to appear together at a summit on empowering African women organised by the George W. Bush Institute, with the former president in attendance.

Bush's trip this week is his third in 19 months to promote his Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon partnership to combat breast and cervical cancer in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.