It was always going to be hard for outgoing US
President Barack Obama to live up to
expectations in Africa.
Born to a Kenyan father who once herded goats,
the first black US president was seen as Africa’s
prodigal son who would understand the continent
in a way white presidents never could.
Nelson Mandela said Obama’s historic victory
was proof everyone should “dare to dream” and
Africans gave the new president a hero’s
welcome.
Six months after taking office in 2009, Obama
travelled to Ghana to lay the foundations for future
policies that emphasised responsibility and trade.
“Africa’s future is up to Africans,” he said in a
speech in the country’s capital of Accra.
“Africa doesn’t need strongmen, it needs strong
institutions,” he added, referring to the countless
leaders who cling to power and enrich
themselves in countries where poverty is
rampant.
The speech electrified the crowd but the thrill
wore off. The trip was his last visit to Africa in his
first term.
He took a different approach in his second term,
launching his signature Africa initiative in 2013
after a visit to Robben Island, the apartheid-era
prison outside Cape Town that held Mandela for
more than 20 years.
His Power Africa programme to double access to
power in sub-Saharan Africa was designed to
bring governments and the private sector
together.
“That’s a big part of his legacy, to change that
perception that Africa is not the dark continent, it
is rising and there is opportunity there,” US-
Africa specialist Scott Firsing told AFP.
“Obama changed aid to trade,” added Firsing,
from the University of North Carolina.
– Growing terror threat –
Obama, who has said that one of his greatest
achievements in office was “taking out” Al-Qaeda
leader Osama bin Laden, also took the fight
against rising Islamist extremism to Africa.
He ordered an expanded military presence
against Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)
in Mali, Boko Haram in Nigeria and the Shabaab
in Somalia.
Drone bases were set up in Niger, which borders
both Mali and Nigeria, and northern Cameroon,
while there were targeted strikes in Somalia.
“Frankly the US military didn’t have much cause
to focus on Africa, but now, unfortunately, there is
cause to be there,” said the former head of US
Africa Command, retired general Carter Ham.
The breakdown in Libya following the death of
strongman Moamer Kadhafi in 2011 saw
weapons and radicalised fighters spread across
Africa.
“There clearly was a follow-on effect that was
detrimental,” said Ham, who led the initial military
intervention against Kadhafi.
Tackling the threat was a priority for Obama, he
said, adding: “I think he was genuinely concerned
for stability and security in Africa.
“If left unaddressed it was only a matter of time
before those organisations would fulfil their stated
intention of attacking the West.”
Shabaab gunmen confirmed those fears in 2013
when they killed at least 67 people at Nairobi’s
Westgate mall, a favourite shopping destination
for Westerners.
– ‘Transcendental awareness’ –
Obama’s tenure has by no means been perfect.
His administration faced heavy criticism for
supporting countries such as Ethiopia with poor
human rights records.
Sometimes he misjudged the mood. Senegal
cheered in 2013 when its president Macky Sall
rebuffed Obama for hitting out at discrimination
against gays.
And detractors say Power Africa is also falling
short of its goals.
Obama is generally seen as having advanced US
interests in Africa and deepened relationships,
not least by continuing his predecessors’ flagship
projects.
George W. Bush’s President’s Emergency Plan
for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is credited with having
given life-saving treatment to millions of people.
Bill Clinton’s African Growth and Opportunity Act
(AGOA) has boosted trade with sub-Saharan
Africa.
Bur arguably Obama’s most enduring legacy is
his example.
“Having a leader like him has an important
psychological effect on Africans,” said Mzukisi
Qobo, associate professor of politics at the
University of Johannesburg in South Africa.
“Despite his weaknesses and shortcomings,
there is a sense of pride in seeing someone like
Obama.
“He seemed to have a more transcendental
awareness of the challenges of the world rather
than looking at it through a white Western lens.”
In Accra in 2009, Obama declared he had “the
blood of Africa” within him.
Last month, Ghanaians remembered his words
when president John Dramani Mahama lost an
election to opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo.
The vote was hotly contested but generally
peaceful. Mahama conceded and the transition
was smooth, just as in Nigeria, when
Muhammadu Buhari beat incumbent Goodluck
Jonathan in 2015.
“I remember Obama’s famous speech ‘we don’t
need strongmen’,” said 28-year-old Daniel Apau
Ofori as he celebrated outside Akufo-Addo’s
house.
“It had an impact. This has been the most free
and fair election.”
Source: vanguardngr
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