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On November 9, 2009, TV5, the international French TV channel, featured a panel of journalists on the theme of "Barack Obama, and a new vision of the United States in Africa". The Africa's correspondant of the French national newspaper Le Figaro gave a surprising comment : "despite what one can think of George W. Bush's policies, we have to admit that he helped Africa enormously. He had a real plan and vision for this continent. This is not the case anymore with Obama. Obama as no vision for Africa. His speeches are only words." Even the Sudanese journalist agreed :...

We already knew that Barack Obama's brother Malik was a Luo activist and a militant Muslim who argued that the black man must "liberate himself from the poisoning influences of European culture." Malik Obama, older brother to Barack Obama, holds an undated picture of Barak, left, and himself, middle, and an unidentified friend in his shop in eastern Kenya. (Karel Prinsloo, AP) Now there's this:Audio found (Here) of speaker in Kenya on the election of Kenyan (Obama) being elected in the US as President. Starting around the 2:00 minute marker, the speaker discusses ethnicity problems towards the Luo tribe in...

Following my article last week on whether Barack Obama deserved to get the Nobel Peace Prize, my inbox was inundated with emails from American readers seeking to know whether I have proof that Obama was really born in Kenya. If he was born in Kenya, they theorise, he is therefore not entitled to claim American citizenship and the presidency of the United States. I could not help laughing at those emails, most displaying a naivete' and lack of understanding of this sentence from last week’s article: "It seems Barack Hussein Obama, President of the United States of America (via a...

VATICAN CITY (AP) - African bishops attending a Vatican meeting are speaking about the election of Barack Obama in divine terms—putting them very much at odds with many of their U.S. counterparts. Archbishop Gabriel Charles Palmer-Buckle of Accra, Ghana said Wednesday that there was "a divine plan behind" Obama's election. "It's like the biblical story repeating itself," he told reporters, citing the Old Testament figure Joseph, who after being sold into slavery in Egypt ends up becoming a top official. "We believe God has his own plans. God directs history," he said of the U.S. election. "We pray that it...

But, more broadly, Bell fears that the United States does not "have the right strategy" on Darfur, and he warns that the "status quo plays in favor of the government" of Sudan's President Omar Bashir. The group wants Obama to take action and renew pressure on the regime by coming up with a peace initiative, which would include countries with sway in the region such as Egypt and China, and could eventually lead to a tentative peace deal. Since his nomination, Gration has made some risky moves, indicating some openness towards Bashir -- who is the subject of an International...

GOP lawmakers are calling on the Obama administration to cancel $400,000 in economic aid to foundations run by Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi following his rambling diatribe at the United Nations this week and the hero's welcome he gave to the Lockerbie bomber last month. The State Department notified lawmakers earlier this month of its intent to disburse $2.5 million in economic aid to Libya, including $400,000 for Qaddafi's foundations. Of the $400,000 half will go to a foundation run by the leader's son, Saif, and the other half to one run by his daughter, Aisha. Florida Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtien, the...

After getting complaints from Congress─and an inquiry from NEWSWEEK─the State Department backed away Thursday from awarding foreign-aid funds to two foundations headed by the children of Libyan dictator Muammar Kaddafi.

Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga arrived in the United States of America on Saturday night to news of cancellation of a luncheon with US President Barack Obama which had earlier been scheduled for later this week. The news followed a round of confusion over whether he would attend the luncheon, hosted by the White House for selected leaders from sub-Saharan Africa on the sidelines of the 64th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York. New York-based Kenyan ambassador to the UN Zachary Muburi-Muita told the Nation on Saturday night that the State Department contacted him on Friday to...

Barack Obama's broken promise to African villageDavid Cohen, Evening Standard 25.07.08 It is an extraordinary sight to walk into a basic two-room house under a mango tree in rural east Africa and discover what is essentially a shrine to Barack Obama. The small brick house with no running water, a tin roof and roving chickens, goats and cows is owned by Sarah Obama, Barack's 86-year-old step-grandmother. Inside, the walls are decorated with a 2008 Obama election sticker, an old "Barack Obama for Senate" poster on which he has written "Mama Sarah Habai [how are you?]", a 2005 calendar that says...

KOGELO, Kenya, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Kenyan relatives and philanthropic organizations seeking President Obama's financial help mostly get financial advice, extended family members say. Requests for assistance have grown since Obama's election, the Boston Globe reported Sunday. In Kogelo, where Obama's father was raised, as well as in other areas of Kenya, politicians are expected to provide financial help to their tribe and family.

The White House Monday said President Barack Obama had no plans to meet Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi at the United Nations next month, but declined to rule out a chance encounter. Even a passing greeting between Obama and Kadhafi would be a politically tense moment, as a backlash mounts in the United States at the hero's welcome granted by Libya to freed Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi. Obama is due to attend his first United Nations General Assembly meeting in September and Kadhafi is also expected to address the session, fueling speculation they could meet in the next step...

We're all now familiar with this viral exchange between Secretary Clinton and a questioner in Africa

Hillary Clinton snapped. It was unfortunate, because she is our secretary of state, and she blew a fuse while abroad; but it's only human to unload now and again, and it was all a misunderstanding, in any case. What I find dispiriting is how the media's treatment of situations like this has a decided partisan bias. Unless you were on vacation and avoiding all media, you probably know the story. During her seven-nation tour of Africa, the former first lady lashed out at a student in Kinshasa, Congo, who apparently asked her a question about her husband's views on China...

A close aide to Hillary Clinton has dismissed as "psychobabble" the fuss over the US secretary of state's barbed response to a questioner asking for her famous husband's opinion instead of her own. Clinton ignored questions about the episode as she wound down a marathon African trip on Thursday. Clinton had reacted strongly earlier this week when a Congolese student in Kinshasa asked her for the opinion of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, about an international economic issue. "Wait. You want me to tell you what my husband thinks?" a wide-eyed Clinton asked on Tuesday in response. "My husband...

Usually it’s Bill who loses it, but Hillary has swallowed a lot of aggravation in the last nine months. The fascinating thing about Bill and Hillary’s relationship is the way they perform their emotional correctives in public. Because Bill got so thoroughly smacked around last year for mouthing off on the campaign trail at the wrong moments and causing Hillary vote-losing blowback, he has been as good as gold ever since—the very model of a discreet, dignified former president. How appropriately stony-faced he looked the other day, sitting next to looney-tunes Kim Jong Il before the handover of the two...

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made another controversial comment at an African town hall. While discussing the importance of free and fair elections, she uses the 2000 Presidential election and its ensuing recount, and the fact that then-candidate George W. Bush was the brother of then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, as an example in telling Nigerians, "We have our problems, too."

In Congo, Hillary Clinton Suggests Government Ownership of Industry Would be a Good Thing Wednesday, August 12, 2009 By Adam Brickley (CNSNews.com) - In a television interview Monday in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested that it would be a good thing for the government to take an ownership interest in industry.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – At a housing project for the homeless she once visited as first lady, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton basked in the cheers and serenade from an adoring crowd Saturday and pronounced U.S.-South African ties on the mend after years of strain. Clinton was in her element as she worked rope lines at the project on the outskirts of Cape Town that she had toured by herself in 1997 and then again in 1998, with her husband, President Bill Clinton, in tow to see the progress.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is currently in the midst of a whirlwind tour of Africa that takes her through seven nations in eleven days. "Africa?" you may be thinking. "Isn't that the continent where progress on numerous social, economic, and political ailments has been frustratingly elusive? That must be quite a difficult, depressing trip for her." If that is indeed what you were thinking, you couldn't be more ignorant. Because Hillary has proven herself to be a special kind of secretary of State, one whose diplomacy utilizes gregariousness and levity as much as carrots and sticks. Accordingly, during a...

Though overshadowed by hubby Bill’s rescue mission to Pyongyang, Hillary Clinton is in Africa speaking some useful truths. The Secretary of State’s seven-country jaunt began yesterday in Kenya, where she took aim at political corruption and graft. A disputed 2007 election resulted in a power sharing deal between President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, but not before related violence claimed more than 1,000 lives. “The absence of strong, effective democratic institutions has permitted ongoing corruption, impunity, politically motivated violence, human-rights abuses and a lack of respect for the rule of law,” Mrs. Clinton said at a press conference....

"We don't need lectures on how to govern ourselves. Lecturing us on issues that deal with governance and transparency is in bad taste," Mr Odinga said. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state said that she, and President Barack Obama, "are convinced that the leaders of this nation have the capacity" to reconcile Kenya's dangerous divisions. More than 1,300 people died and 300,000 were forced from their homes as Kenya erupted into politically-charged clashes after the disputed December 2007 presidential elections. Despite strong pressure from western powers, Kenya's government has refused to allow an international tribunal, insisting on using existing...

« Previous PostNext Post »If Kenyan BC that I provided would not be genuine, Hillary would not be rushing to Kenya, would she? You are in: Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs > Bureau of Public Affairs > Bureau of Public Affairs: Press Relations Office > Daily Appointments Schedule > 2009 > Daily Appointment Schedule: August 2009 Daily Appointments Schedule for August 3, 2009 Washington, DC August 3, 2009 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesman Daily Appointments Schedule Monday, August 3, 2009 10:00 a.m. Secretary Clinton holds a Secure Video Conference on Iran. (CLOSED PRESS...

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized Kenya on Wednesday for rampant graft and corruption as she made the case that business and trade across Africa cannot grow without good governance and solid democracy. Speaking to a conference in President Barack Obama’s ancestral homeland, Clinton said, "True economic progress in Africa will depend on responsible governments that reject corruption, enforce the rule of law and deliver results for their people." "This is not just about good governance — it’s also about good business," she told African leaders. Her audience included Kenya’s president and prime minister, who were rivals in...

From the US Secretary of State's web site. Daily Appointments Schedule for August 3, 2009 Washington, DC August 3, 2009 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesman Daily Appointments Schedule Monday, August 3, 2009 10:00 a.m. Secretary Clinton holds a Secure Video Conference on Iran. (CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE) 11:15 a.m. Secretary Clinton holds a bilateral meeting with His Excellency Nasser Judeh, Foreign Minister of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. (CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE) 11:45 a.m. Secretary Clinton holds a joint press availability with His Excellency Nasser Judeh, Foreign Minister of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. (OPEN PRESS COVERAGE) Pre-set...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton left Monday for a seven-nation trip to Africa, pressing for more anti-corruption efforts but seeking to boost trade as China's influence rises on the continent. Her trip comes less than a month after President Barack Obama visited Ghana and told African leaders that Western aid must be matched by good governance and greater attempts to end war, disease and corruption. U.S. officials said Clinton's 11-day visit was intended to reinforce that message but also aimed at showing that the Obama administration sees Africa as a foreign policy priority despite other challenges,...

It's there at the end of the appointment schedule for today, "PM depart Andrews Air Force Base en route to Nairobi, Kenya "

U.S Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to leave Washington Monday on a seven-nation Africa visit. The five day trip will take her to Kenya, South Africa, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Liberia, and Cape Verde. Clinton is expected to spotlight President Barack Obama's commitment to making Africa a priority in U.S. foreign policy. Her visit is the earliest in any U.S. administration that both the President and the Secretary of State have visited Africa. Professor Okey Onyejekwe, director of governance at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa told VOA that Clinton's Africa visit will...

(AP) — WASHINGTON - On a seven-nation tour of Africa this week, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will pledge more U.S. assistance, including military aid, to Somalia's shaky government as it fights for survival against Islamist extremists. U.S. officials say the Obama administration plans to go ahead with additional weapons supplies to double an initial provision of 40 tons of arms. The U.S. also has begun a low-profile mission to help train Somali security forces in neighboring Djibouti, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivities surrounding U.S. involvement in the program.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to travel to Africa next week on a seven-nation tour aimed at highlighting the Obama administration's commitment to the continent. Clinton is to begin her trip on Aug. 5 in Kenya, the State Department said Monday. She will lead a forum on development as part of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, legislation passed during the Bush administration that was intended to spur trade between the U.S. and African nations.

Another issue raised by President Barack Obama during his July 11 speech at Accra is the “relative” notion of democracy. In contrast with the previous administration’s call for a US-backing for the “spread of democracy,” Obama underlined that “America will not seek to impose any system of government on any other nation. The essential truth of democracy is that each nation determines its own destiny.” In fact, the difference between the previous and the current US approach is not about the “role,” as no one in Washington’s government has had any project to “impose” democracy, or specific institutions. The George...

Over the past months, the narrative of Washington's "new direction" in world affairs blurred the clarity of the confrontation with the terror forces worldwide. Are we at conflict with a global threat? The administration, insisting on treating the issue locally, claimed otherwise. But during President Barack Obama’s July 11 speech in Accra, he said that "when there's a genocide in Darfur or terrorists in Somalia, these are not simply African problems — they are global security challenges, and they demand a global response." This zigzag between local and global risk is confusing not only to the public but to strategists...

"North Korea Entering a New Phase: 'We Are Not Interested in the U.S. Anymore'" By Amii Abe Introduction Six days before the DPRK conducted their recent second nuclear test, an official of the DPRK government strongly declared, "We are expanding. We will conduct nuclear tests and missile tests again, and sell our nuclear arms to other countries to achieve equal power with the U.S." As long as we understand North Korea's perspective, their provocative actions are not surprising. Rather, all of them are foreseeable. The government of the DPRK has already reached a new stage in their foreign policy strategy,...

ning Friday, July 10, 2009. Although Mr Obama has made foreign policy pronouncements for some parts of the world since assuming office in January, this year, he is yet to make one for Africa, and his visit to the country, which the White House describes as “one of our most trusted partners in sub-Saharan Africa”, is expected to be used as a platform to unveil his foreign policy for Africa. “It is expected that President Obama will make a major foreign policy statement on Africa”, Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, told the Daily Graphic. For Ghana, Obama's...

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ______________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release July 11, 2009 REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT TO THE GHANAIAN PARLIAMENT Accra International Conference Center Accra, Ghana 12:40 P.M. GMT THE PRESIDENT: (Trumpet plays.) I like this. Thank you. Thank you. I think Congress needs one of those horns. (Laughter.) That sounds pretty good. Sounds like Louis Armstrong back there. (Laughter.) Good afternoon, everybody. It is a great honor for me to be in Accra and to speak to the representatives of the people of Ghana. (Applause.) I...

For a Monday morning snort-sntart, check out the video via Newsbusters of African journalist Nkepile Mabuse fact-checking anchor Don Lemon over the weekend. Aptly named. Lemon certainly looked like he had swallowed something sour after Mabuse rejected his obsequious suggestion that President Obama’s warm welcome was somehow “unprecedented.” Golden moment: Mabuse: “It’s not unprecedented. When President Bush was here, you will remember, in February, there were people who were drumming, there were dances, and President Bush joined some of them.”

Barack Obama, creating history on his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as US president, said visiting the slave fortress of Cape Coast Castle yesterday reminded him of the capacity of human beings to commit great evil. [snip] Obama was also brutally honest about corruption and dictatorship. "No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves or the police can be bought off by drug traffickers. No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20% off the top... That is not democracy. That is tyranny even if you sprinkle an...

Future attorneys are taught in law school to never ask a witness a question they don't already know the answer to. On Saturday, CNN's Don Lemon learned this lesson the hard way. Well after President Obama finished his speech in Ghana, Lemon was speaking live to correspondent Nkepile Mabuse who was reporting on location. When Lemon asked whether the warm reception Obama received upon his arrival Friday was unprecedented, Mabuse caught him quite off guard with her response. Pay particular attention to Lemon's body language when Mabuse says, "It's not unprecedented. When President Bush was here, you will remember, in...

We all remember the famous scene from 1977's Star Wars. Sir Alec Guinness waives his hand to the storm trooper and says, "These aren't the 'droids you're looking for, they can move along."  Barack Obama is trying to apply the same technique to the American people in regards to whether the non-stimulus stimulus bill worked or not. The polls show the American people might finally have become immune to the Obama Jedi ways. Back in February, when the Obama economic team did the full-court press for why we had to have the stimulus now, they said without the "stimulus" bill,...

Barack Obama, the reggae song In Ghana, they sing his praises but see him as a sign of the end times for America. This has caused a controversy. Blakk Rasta, a reggae artist in Ghana, created a stir with his song about Obama on the eve of the president’s visit there, which was kept low-key — unlike President Bush’s trip to Ghana last year where he spoke to 10,000 people at Independence Square. Perhaps this sample will cause consternation among the NARAL diehards: "Barack beware! Barack beware! Barack beware! / before dem turn ya name into Barack Osama / In...

CAPE COAST, Ghana – For a new president, there inevitably comes that moment: the first time he hears a foreign crowd hoarsely chanting his name, or sees thousands of well-wishers surging forward, or realizes youngsters are running pell-mell beside his motorcade, desperate for a glimpse of his face. For Barack Obama, the moment came here — in the teeming streets near a West African castle where traders once shipped human chattel to a life of toil in the New World. After a week of difficult summitry in Russia and Italy, trying to get balky allies to follow his lead, the...

CAPE COAST, Ghana — President Obama traveled in his father’s often-troubled home continent on Saturday, where he symbolized a new political era but brought a message of tough love: American aid must be matched by Africa’s responsibility for its own problems. “We must start from the simple premise that Africa’s future is up to Africans,” Mr. Obama said in an address televised across the continent. For all its previous sins, he said, “the West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants.” “These things can...

Watch the CNN anchor 'twitch' when the Ghana reporter tells him something he didn't want to hear. Video is about 1 min. long. (http://www.breitbart.tv/cnn-reporter-reminds-anchor-that-obamas-ghana-reception-is-not-unprecedented/)

"We fought alongside the West for freedom and to preserve its values and culture, but Westerners responded by destroying ours. Can we begin to make up for this with a bit of reparation for the millions of slaves that represented our youth and who labored to create the wealth of the 'free world'?" Ghana - Ghana Web - Original Article (English) Hello brother and sister Obama. Welcome to Ghana. We're especially proud that you chose the land of the philosopher and innovator extraordinaire, Dr. Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah. I hope you know that due to his efforts, even U.S. Blacks have...

Wikipedia just can't seem to make up its mind about where President Barack Obama was born. The free, online encyclopedia this afternoon displayed at least two countries the commander in chief may have been born in – the United States and Kenya. WND documented how the entry for the "Early life and career of Barack Obama" changed numerous times. At 4:45 p.m. Eastern, Wikipedia said: "Barack Obama, the current President of the United States, was born on August 4, 1961 in either Honolulu, in the state of Hawaii[1], or Mombasa, Kenya, to Barack Obama, Sr. (1936–1982) (born in Nyang’oma Kogelo,...

ACCRA (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama told Africans on Saturday that Western aid must be matched by good governance and urged them to take greater responsibility for stamping out war, corruption and disease plaguing the continent. Obama delivered the message on his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa since taking office in January as the first black U.S. president. He chose stable, democratic Ghana because he believes it can serve as a model for the rest of Africa. Fresh from a G8 summit where leaders agreed to spend $20 billion to improve food security in poor countries, Obama spoke of...

MORE than 5000 Africans have sent text messages to US President Barack Obama ahead of his much anticipated speech in Ghana overnight during his first visit to the continent since taking office. Macon Phillips, director of new media at the White House, said the initiative was part of an ongoing effort to make Mr Obama's speech and activities in Africa as accessible as possible to those living on the continent. The American government invited people to send questions via text, Facebook and Twitter from July 3. Three journalists, from Senegal, Kenya and South Africa, will select questions for Mr Obama...

On a historic visit to Africa, the president delivers a rallying cry for an end to war and corruption Barack Obama, creating history on his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as US president, said visiting the slave fortress of Cape Coast Castle yesterday reminded him of the capacity of human beings to commit great evil.

July 12, 2009 Obamas tour slavers’ fort in ‘painful’ Ghana visit Jonathan Clayton in Cape Coast, Ghana AMERICA’S first lady, Michelle Obama, fought back tears yesterday as she toured a former Dutch slaving fort similar to the one in which it is believed her ancestors were held before being shipped to work on plantations in the deep south of the United States. On the second day of President Barack Obama’s historic trip to sub-Saharan Africa, the first family flew from the capital, Accra, for a tour of the restored 17th-century Cape Castle, previously one of the biggest slave outposts on...

ACCRA, Ghana – The lucky ones saw him waving from behind the bulletproof glass of his passing vehicle for a few fleeting seconds. The others, like the rest of the world, just watched President Barack Obama's visit on TV. Despite the huge excitement and anticipation surrounding Obama's first trip to sub-Saharan Africa as president, only relatively small crowds came out to meet him in Ghana's capital. The absence of any big public event outdoors, heavy security that blocked roads, and uncertainty over which routes Obama might take combined to keep large crowds away.

ACCRA, Ghana – An American president who has "the blood of Africa within me" praised and scolded the continent of his ancestors Saturday, asserting forces of tyranny and corruption must yield if Africa is to achieve its promise. "Yes you can," Barack Obama declared, brushing off his campaign slogan and adapting it for his foreign audience. Speaking to the Ghanaian Parliament, he called upon African societies to seize opportunities for peace, democracy and prosperity. "This is a new moment of promise," he said. "To realize that promise, we must first recognize a fundamental truth that you have given life to...