[includes AllAfrica video, world media coverage] Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Africa is back on the world media map for more than poverty and wars: US President Barack Obama’s speech Saturday 11 July in Accra, Ghana, sparked widespread interest, nowhere more than in Africa itself.
Obama praised Ghana for its tradition of democracy and called on other African nations to follow its lead. He also called for them to fight corruption. He noted that while development and health issues take more of the continent’s energy and resources than it can afford, the US wants to build stronger relations, including trade ties, because “Africa has extraordinary promise.” AllAfrica published an interview with Obama before his speech, and the two taken together give a picture of how the US expects to be working with the region.
The US Mission in Geneva, acknowledging that this major policy speech would be greeted with interest, has made it available online in its entirety since shortly after it was given, as well as a transcript of the AllAfrica interview (video below).
Speech coverage and comment from around the world: AfricaUncensored, Al Jazeera, AllAfrica, BBC, Christian Science Monitor, CNN, Ghana News Agency, The Globe & Mail, Canada, Huffington Post (William Bradley), New York Times, Telegraph, UK, Times of India, Xinhua
Video interview with Obama, from AllAfrica
This work by genevalunch.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported.
News story, GenevaLunch, 13 July 2009.
Filed under: International organizations
Tags: Africa, Barack Obama, Ghana, media coverage, speech, Switzerland, US Mission in Geneva, US policy
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July 13th, 2009 at 8:25 am
I think it is better to listen to what Africans themselves think of Obama’s speech
http://africauncensored.com/obama-speech-on-Africa.html
July 13th, 2009 at 8:27 am
I think you didn’t read far enough
That’s why we included it.
July 13th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
Obama did not say a lie. Afriauncensored’s post looks like a speech delivered by the likes of Mugabe, focusing on what he did not say about Mid-East instead of focusing on the important message of “change”. It’s time to stop blaming others of what we did to ou own nations. I don’t an American or an European politician driving an $120 k car and living in a $2 million crib in Luanda (Angola) while over 50% of Angolans don’t have a decent place to call home.
Thanks Obama, we, the youth of Africa apreciate your passionate speech. I felt emotion, unlike what you did for Mid-East when you were all diplomacy, so, kinda fake and I understand why you did that way.
Thanks a lot.