Sunday 30 June 2013

[wanabidii] Obama Hits Tanzania: AHF Says "No Retreat on AIDS"

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PRESS RELEASE

 

Obama Hits Tanzania: AHF Says “No Retreat on AIDS” 

 

Obama cut over $200 million from global AIDS programs - the first president to ever cut AIDS funding

 

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, July 1, 2013/ -- As President Obama finishes his Africa visit with a stop in Tanzania, AIDS advocates continue to urge him to honor the US’ commitment to PEPFAR, the respected and lifesaving global AIDS program.

 

Desmond Tutu’s “Keep the Promise on AIDS” Video Message to Obama: http://youtu.be/fhQu4w9l2vk   

 

Logo AIDS Healthcare Foundation: http://www.photos.apo-opa.com/index.php?level=picture&id=571

 

Photo "Obama No Retreat ad Tanzania": http://www.apo-mail.org/Obama-No-Retreat-Tanzania.pdf

 

U.S. President Barack Obama finishes his official visit to Africa—with a stop in Tanzania starting Monday. Advocates, patients and doctors from AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) (http://www.aidshealth.org) and advocates from the African Council of AIDS Service Organizations (AfriCASO) (http://www.africaso.net) will continue to urge Mr. Obama to honor the US’ commitment to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) (http://www.pepfar.gov), the landmark U.S. global AIDS program which has saved millions of lives worldwide. Obama cut over $200 million from global AIDS programs, including PEPFAR - the first U.S. president to ever cut AIDS funding.

 

Throughout his three-country Africa trip, the advocates held press conferences and placed newspaper advocacy ads (http://www.aidshealth.org/no-retreat-on-aids-docs) urging ‘President Obama: No Retreat on AIDS.’ In conjunction with President Obama’s arrival in each country, newspaper ads ran in Senegal (L'Observateur - June 26 and Le Soleil - June 27); South Africa (Cape Argus - June 30) and in Tanzania (East-African - June 30 and Daily News - July 1) (http://www.aidshealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Obama-No-Retreat-Tanzania.pdf). Each “No Retreat” ad used the colors of the flag of each respective country as a backdrop behind an iconic silhouette image of Obama walking away.

 

In Washington, DC, AHF also placed the ‘No Retreat on AIDS’ ad in ten bus shelter ad panels in locations surrounding the White House.

 

 

Desmond Tutu’s “Keep the Promise on AIDS” Video Message to Obama

 

At the press conferences in Senegal and in Pretoria and Cape Town in South Africa, the AIDS patients and advocates also played a video message from Archbishop Desmond Tutu (http://youtu.be/fhQu4w9l2vk), recorded last summer for the ‘Keep the Promise on AIDS’ Rally & March which took place the opening day of the 2012 International AIDS Conference in Washington, DC. In his video message, Archbishop Tutu talks about the humanitarian lifesaving efforts of the US through PEPFAR. He also gently then chides President Obama to ‘Keep the Promise on AIDS.’

 

Distributed by the African Press Organization on behalf of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF).

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONTACTS:

  

SOUTH AFRICA

Zamakhosi Mdlalose                                                

Advocacy & PR Manager                                      

AIDS Healthcare Foundation-South Africa                                                                                              

Umlazi, Durban

Tel:  +27 (0) 31 906 0452

Cell:  +27 72 886 0202

zamakhosi.mdlalose@aidshealth.org          

 

SOUTH AFRICA                                            

Dionne Collett

Take Note Reputation Management

Tel +27 31 564 8338

Cell +27 82 378 2025

dionne@take-note.co.za            

 

USA

Ged Kenslea                                                   

Senior Director, Communications                                       

AIDS Healthcare Foundation                                            

Los Angeles, CA                                                       

+1.323.308.1833 [work]                    

+1.323.791.5526 [cell]                      

gedk@aidshealth.org   

 

About AHF

AHF currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 200,000 individuals in 28 countries worldwide. http://www.aidshealth.org, Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter & Instagram: @AIDSHealthcare (http://www.twitter.com/AIDSHealthcare)

 

SOURCE 

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF)

 

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Re: [wanabidii] Obama refusal to visit Kenya will have consequences

Reading between the lines, it needs not to be told that Kenyans are frustrated.

We have not in our deserved senses add a word to their frustrations.

If one can claim all lions in Tanzania to be Kenyan, what else do you need to prove the same?

Balile
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on the Tigo Tanzania Network

From: RICHARD MGAMBA <rmgamba2000@yahoo.com>
Sender: wanabidii@googlegroups.com
Date: Sat, 29 Jun 2013 16:23:23 -0700 (PDT)
To: wanabidii@googlegroups.com<wanabidii@googlegroups.com>
ReplyTo: wanabidii@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [wanabidii] Obama refusal to visit Kenya will have consequences

Muhingo na wengine,
 
Tatizo la Afrika ni uongozi bora na makini. Kizazi cha Musa, the Moses Generation, kilikuwa na jukumu la kuikomboa Afrika toka kwa wana- wa Misri, na kutufikisha jangwani. Sasa tunahitaji kizazi cha Joshua, ili tuvuke na kuingia katika nchi ya ahadi.
Now China anakuja anakupa fedha za misaada lakini hajali kama kwako kuna demokrasia, siasa safi wala taasisi imara. In the short-run China anakuwa shujaa kama ilivyotokea DRC alipotoa dola bilioni tisa kujenga miundo mbinu, lakini yeye akavuna madini na kupata zaidi ya dola bilioni 40 bila kulipa kodi, huku akiacha DRC ikiwa katika hali ya taabani kwa maana ya uongozi na taasisi zake.
 
Marekani hata kama akiwa shetani, lakini anakusaidia kujenga vijana makini siyo tu katika siasa bali pia katika kuongoza biashara na makampuni yetu. Anatoa scholarship kwa vijana hawa kwenda katika vyuo vikuu maarufu vya wa-marekani ili wabadilishane ujuzi na uzoefu wa kutosha na kasha warudi hapa kutumika. Sasa kama hii kwako nin hatari, basi inabidi hata scholarship za kwenda kusoma huko tusitishe, lakini kumbuka Duniani hapa leo hata hao wachina wanakimbilia kwenda kusoma huko huko kwa Obama katika vyuo vyake ili kupata ujuzi na uzoefu wa kibiashara na utawala.
 
 Lakini pia kuna kitu mnasahau: The biggest investor in China is USA. The biggest buyer of US treasury bills or bonds is China. The North Korea you have just mentioned is a failed state and even its threat to use nuclear against South Korea was just a ploy to draw international attention. That's why today, the very same North Korea wants to resume talks with USA and international communities about nuclear programme because it can't afford any isolation again.
 
 When North Korea was busy investing in weapon of mass destruction, South Korea opted to invest in human resources, innovation, good governance and strong institution. Four decades later, Samsung, Hyundai, LG and many more are global giants competing even in USA, while North Korea is anguishing in deep crisis relying on handouts from China. Globally North Korea has built more reputable brands than even China.
 
 It was the same situation with Malaysia when Dr Mahathir Mohammed decided to do what he did. I think this is what President Obama was speaking about in South Africa. Surprisingly naïve as we are, because most of us are still in cold war era mentality, we just sees evils in everything America tells Africa. Yes America is not a nation of angels and so do we, but at the end of the day, they are not forcing us to follow their advice. It's our choice as a country or a continent. But believe me, Obama is telling you the truth that will save your future.

From: ELISA MUHINGO <elisamuhingo@yahoo.com>
To: wanabidii@googlegroups.com
Sent: Saturday, June 29, 2013 9:29 PM
Subject: Re: [wanabidii] Obama refusal to visit Kenya will have consequences
Rais Bush alitembelea nchi fulani ya liafrica na kuahidi missada. Waandishi wa habari wakamuuliza swali kuwa kama misaada hii ikikoma mradi huu utaendeleaje? Bush akakwepa kulijibu. Mwenyeji wake akasema misaada hii ikikoma mradi hautaendelea. Nilitaka kujificha. Nikataka kubadili jibu kimiujiza ikashindikana.
Sasa ukimwambia kiongozi huyu kuwa tutangulie kukataa misaada si unajiambia mwenyewe?
Marekani iliisaidia China kwa kuitenga. Korea kaskazini vile vile  Juzi Korea imekohoa Bwana mdogo akagwaya. Huenda tunahitaji msaada kama huo.
naogopa sasa vijana 500 Young African Leaders watakaokuwa wanakwenda US kufundwa kuna malengo gani?--- On Sat, 6/29/13, alexander chipalazya <chipalazya@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: alexander chipalazya <chipalazya@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [wanabidii] Obama refusal to visit Kenya will have consequences
To: "wanabidii@googlegroups.com" <wanabidii@googlegroups.com>
Date: Saturday, June 29, 2013, 10:42 AM

Step ya kwanza kabisa ni kukataa hii kitu kinaitwa misaada, maana kimetulemaza sana akili. Na kama nilazima kupata hiyo misaada ni muhimu kuanisha ni aina gani ya misaada tunayoitaka kama taifa kwa sasa. Niabu kubwa kusikia kua mhisani katoa msaada wa kujenga vyoo kwenye shule zetu, chakula, au chandarua. 

Hapa majuzi nimemsikia Mheshimiwa Kikwete akiomba msaada wa kujengewa Chuo cha michezo alipokua huko UK. Hivi ni kweli kama taifa hatuna uwezo wa kujenga chuo cha michezo? 

Angeomba experts ningemwelewa kidogo, hata hivyo kama taifa hatuwezi kushidwa kuwalipa hao waataalamu. Chamsingi kama tunaona kuna haja ya hicho shuo cha michezo tunapaswa kujenga wenyewe, tunaanza kwa ku-outsource experts kama hatuna huku tukiendelea kuandaa wa kwetu.  

From: ELISA MUHINGO <elisamuhingo@yahoo.com>
To: wanabidii@googlegroups.com
Sent: Saturday, June 29, 2013 7:00 PM
Subject: Re: [wanabidii] Obama refusal to visit Kenya will have consequences
Alexander.
Mneno mazuri kama haya sijui nani anaelewa sasa. kazi yetu ni kuanzia katika Chaguzi. Baada ya hapo kutegemeana nani kachaguliwa na ana sera gani tunaanza kupanga kujenga nchi.
Tunahitaji kujiuliza ni nchi gani ilisaidiwa na Marekani kati ya nchi zinazoendelea.
Nilikuwa natafakari nchi za OPEC zilifanyajde na sisi tunaweza kufanyaje kuamua kuunganisha nchi zinazochimba dhahabu, etc. Lakini ladba kama hakuna ubaya kujiambia la sivyo kuyasema lazima kujua anaambiwa nani? Kama alivyowahi kuambiwa nini na lini--- On Sat, 6/29/13, alexander chipalazya <chipalazya@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: alexander chipalazya <chipalazya@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [wanabidii] Obama refusal to visit Kenya will have consequences
To: "wanabidii@googlegroups.com" <wanabidii@googlegroups.com>
Date: Saturday, June 29, 2013, 9:51 AM

Waafrika tunajidanganya sana, tunafikiri haya mataifa makubwa yanataka tuendelee au tuwe na mafanikio kiuchumi, kitechnologia nk. 

Hata aje Rais mwenye hadhi gani nchini kwako (Kama sasa Obama), kama hatutajipanga na kutambua kua wajibu wakujiondoa kwenye umasikini ni juu ya taifa husika haitasaidia, tutaendelea kubaki nyuma. Mbaya zaidi kama hujajipanga vema kukabiliana na hizo nchi Tajiri (Marekani na China) nihatari sana kutembelewa nazo, maana hatuna equal bargaining power katika mambo mengi tunayoingia nao mikataba. 
Alexander 
From: ELISA MUHINGO <elisamuhingo@yahoo.com>
To: wanabidii@googlegroups.com
Sent: Saturday, June 29, 2013 6:33 PM
Subject: Re: [wanabidii] Obama refusal to visit Kenya will have consequences
From what I have been reading yjere is a big difference between Obama' visit and US President visit. It might be true that this isnt a thank giving visit by Obama. Personaly I wish he visited Kenya as well. One commentator from the US said Mr Obama cant be prevented from visiting Kenya. If he is over with presidency he will be free. These are American Politics

--- On Sat, 6/29/13, Samwel Amos Wangwe <samwangwe@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Samwel Amos Wangwe <samwangwe@gmail.com>
Subject: [wanabidii] Obama refusal to visit Kenya will have consequences
To: "wanabidii" <wanabidii@googlegroups.com>
Date: Saturday, June 29, 2013, 5:47 AM

By KWAMCHETSI MAKOKHA
US President Barack Obama is no friend of Kenya. Consider that when no other country ever declared a public holiday to celebrate his election victory in 2008, Kenya did. The Senegalese had no idea and the Tanzanians and South Africans were green with envy.
Consider also that when President Obama needed good genes to get into Harvard Law School, a Kenyan contributed 50 per cent. When Mr Obama needed pictures of himself carrying cassava to the market to get through a bruising campaign, Kenya obliged.
In fact, Kenya provided the story of his African ancestry — complete with the heroic role his grandfather played in the Mau Mau struggle for independence. He even visited the country as a junior senator for Illinois, and was welcomed with open arms.
Now that he is President, Kenya is not good enough to visit.
The excuse for his refusal is laughable. Fears of being photographed at State House in the company of the country's two leaders who face crimes against humanity charges at the International Criminal Court have apparently forced him to skirt his father's homeland as if it were a leper colony.
Did the country not conduct peaceful elections this year that the Supreme Court passed as the cleanest in the country's history? He has permitted a little domestic quarrel about power to prevent him from taking a mere photograph with the legitimate leadership of Kenya just because of claims that 1,133 people died and 600,000 others were displaced as a result of their combined genius.
Has Kenya not recovered from the violence that nearly tore the country apart in 2008, passing a modern and progressive Constitution?
Only this year, Mr Obama pretended to care for Kenya by promising that those willing to walk the path of progress would "continue to have a strong friend and partner in the United States of America".
Instead of holding up Kenya as a beacon of democracy and prosperity that has survived 50 years of independence, Mr Obama has gone looking for examples in Senegal, Tanzania and South Africa. He should know that Kenya wrote the encyclopaedia of African democracy.
It is incongruous that Mr Obama would want to discuss good governance with toddlers in African democracy. Anyone who needs a manual on how to run elections needs to look no further than Kenya.
Anyone who is keen on creating a youthful leadership on the backbone of integrity need not look further than Nairobi. Mr Obama wanted to discuss political parties? Kenya has over 50. It can teach Africans not just about democracy, it can also instruct them on justice.
For all its exemplary political conduct, what does Kenya get? Bad press and a presidential snub! Other than having Nelson Mandela, South Africa has nothing on Kenya. The lions in Tanzania are all Kenyan.
Mr Obama seems to be oblivious of the numerous sacrifices many Kenyans have quietly made to bring him to where he is. Numerous Kenyans, working as immigrants, have lifted the American economy from the ignominy of the world economic crisis.
Kenya has allowed thousands of Americans to work as spies, marines, teachers, researchers and what-not just to cover Mr Obama's vulnerability in failing to create jobs at home. His truancy in dodging the call of his ancestral home invites punishment commensurate with his mischief.
Mr Obama should think long and hard about the effect of Kenya demanding the repatriation of all its resources stolen to benefit America – starting with six pints of his blood, 16 of his teeth and 50 per cent of his brain. The rest should follow in due course.Choices have consequences.
--
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Read More :- "Re: [wanabidii] Obama refusal to visit Kenya will have consequences"

[wanabidii] WHITE HOUSE NOTEBOOK: Tutu welcomes Obama 'home'



-------------------FYI-----------------
 
 


Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
 
 
 
 
WHITE HOUSE NOTEBOOK: Tutu welcomes Obama 'home'
 
 
NEDRA PICKLER 2 hours agoBarack Obama
 
 
U.S. President Barack Obama, left, hugs Bishop Desmond Tutu during a visit to the Demond Tutu HIV Foundation Youth Center on Sunday, June 30, 2013, in Cape Town, South Africa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Retired archbishop Desmond Tutu locked eyes with President Barack Obama on Sunday in an emotional moment between two men who have been pioneers for racial progress a world apart.
Tutu greeted Obama with a "welcome home" to the continent where his father was born, and pleaded with the U.S. president to be a leader for peace, especially in the Middle East, who can make all Africans proud.
Obama was visiting the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation Youth Centre, an after-school program in a community where many young people are infected with the virus that causes AIDS. Obama praised Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who helped bring an end to South Africa's racist apartheid rule, as "an unrelenting champion of justice and human dignity."
Tutu then spoke of Obama's re-election last fall as America's first African-American president. "You don't know what you did for our psyche," Tutu said. "You won, and we won."
"Your success is our success. Your failure, whether you like it or not, is our failure," Tutu said, reaching out to touch Obama's arm. Obama chuckled and threw up his arms as if acknowledging his fate.
U.S. President Barack Obama, right, with Anglican Bishop …
"We want you to be known as having brought peace to the world, especially to have brought an end to the anguish of all in the Middle East," Tutu said. "We pray that you will be known as having brought peace in all of these places where there is strife. You have brought peace and no need for the Guantanamo Bay detention center" in Cuba, where the U.S. has detained dozens of suspected terrorists.
In a diplomatic tour full of scripted formality, the 81-year-old archbishop spoke so slowly and passionately that many in the room who work at the center or the White House were moved to tears. "We are proud of you. You belong to us," Tutu concluded.
Obama also may have appreciated such affirming words at a time when he seems to be under constant criticism at home. Obama rose and helped Tutu to his feet, and the two heartily embraced, with the click of media cameras the only sound in the room.
___
Obama gave lessons in stage performance to an aspiring teenage rapper after meeting 15-year-old Aviwe Mtongana, who was making music on a Tutu center computer.
U.S. President Barack Obama, left, talks with Bishop …
The boy identified himself as a rapper and Obama urged the boy, also known as Katmeister, to "give me a little sample."
Mtongana initially demurred, then pushed back his chair and stood up. A grinning Obama said Mtongana must need to "loosen up," and the president demonstrated stretching out his arms like a boxer preparing for a fight.
Mtongana let loose a brief rhyme. "Hell on Earth, what you gonna do? Watching TV, you watching Scooby-Doo. Saying the punch line, he's not cool," he began.
"Heading to the goal with something failing, now you face the hardest living," Mtongana continued. "Getting out there is not pimping, the real way is through rapping."
Obama declared the performance "outstanding," but offered a word of advice.
U.S. President Barack Obama looks of a project prepared …
"You've got to drop the mic," he said, holding his arm out to the side and opening his fist as though he were dropping a microphone on the ground.
___
Obama prematurely aged his daughter Malia by a few days.
He said in a speech at the University of Cape Town that she is "now 15." But the fact of the matter is Malia doesn't turn 15 until Thursday. She was born on the Fourth of July.
Malia might have appreciated the premature aging, since most teens cannot wait to grow up.
U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the University …
___
Before the speech, Obama and his family toured the Robben Island prison where Nelson Mandela spent nearly 20 years as a political prisoner before he was released and elected South Africa's first black president.
Obama spent more than 20 minutes inside the tiny cell that housed Mandela for 18 years.
After his family left, Obama remained alone inside the cell that now is a monument to Mandela, a man Obama says is a "personal hero." The president gazed out of a large window with thick white bars. He picked up and examined a small, metal bowl that sat on a small, wooden table before turning his attention to a thin mat with pillows and a brown blanket, on which Mandela would have slept.
Obama visited Robben Island in 2006, when he was a U.S. senator, but the tour was a first for his wife, Michelle, and daughters, Malia and Sasha.
U.S. President Barack Obama looks out from Section …
"There was something different about bringing my children," Obama said, opening his speech at the university. He said they now appreciate more the sacrifices that Mandela and others had made for freedom. "I knew this was an experience they would never forget," Obama said.
___
Before leaving the island, Obama signed the prison's guest book with a message likely to be seen by the countless visitors who will follow him.
The large book sat open on a simple wooden desk, in a courtyard rimmed by a high concrete wall topped with barbed wire. U.S. Secret Service agents made use of an old guard tower, staffing it with sharpshooters who scanned the horizon with binoculars. The prison was closed to the public for Obama's visit.
Obama, casually dressed in a blue shirt with rolled-up sleeves and khaki slacks, leaned over the desk and wrote for several minutes with first lady Michelle Obama at his side. She signed her name, too.
U.S. President Barack Obama, right, and first lady …
"On behalf of our family, we're deeply humbled to stand where men of such courage faced down injustice and refused to yield," the president wrote. "The world is grateful for the heroes of Robben Island, who remind us that no shackles or cells can match the strength of the human spirit."
Obama copied his message from a piece of typewritten paper an aide had set down on the book before the president came into the courtyard. He wrote slowly in cursive, apparently not wanting to make a mistake. He left behind the black marker he used to write the message, as well as the note he worked from.

Obama Visits Mandela's Robben Island Cell

RETRANSMISSION TO CORRECT SPELLING OF PRESIDENT'S FIRST NAME - U.S. President Barack Obama walks from Section B, prison cell No. 5, on Robben Island, South Africa, Sunday, June 30, 2013. This was former South African president Nelson Mandela's cell, where he spent 18-years of his 27-year prison term on the island locked up by the former apartheid government. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
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RETRANSMISSION TO CORRECT SPELLING OF PRESIDENT'S FIRST NAME - U.S. President Barack Obama walks from Section B, prison cell No. 5, on Robben Island, South Africa, Sunday, June 30, 2013. This was former South African president Nelson Mandela's cell, where he spent 18-years of his 27-year prison term on the island locked up by the former apartheid government. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
CAPE TOWN, South Africa - With the world's eyes on the ailing Nelson Mandela, President Obama today walked in the footsteps of the man he's called his personal hero.
Touring the prison on Robben Island, Obama stood alone in the stark "7B" cell where Mandela was imprisoned for 18 of his 27 years in captivity and stared out at the blue sky through the barred window.
Obama visited the island before, in 2006 when he was a senator, but today he returned for the first time as president and brought along his family.
"For me to be able to bring my daughters there and teach them the history of that place and this country, and help them to understand not only how those lessons apply to their own lives but also to their responsibilities in the future as citizens of the world, that's a great privilege and a great honor," Obama said Saturday.
The first family viewed the quarry where Mandela and his fellow prisoners were forced to do grueling labor, endlessly breaking large stones into smaller ones, and the courtyard provided for their recreation. They walked through the tiny, barren cells, which were barely wide enough for the prisoners to lie down.
The president, first lady, daughters Sasha and Malia, first grandmother Marian Robinson and the president's niece Leslie Robinson were guided through the prison by a former inmate. Like Mandela, Ahmed Kathrada was imprisoned for 18 years for his anti-apartheid activities.
The president was overheard chiming in with his own history lessons.
"One thing you guys might not be aware of is that the idea of political nonviolence first took root here in South Africa because Mahatma Gandhi was a lawyer here in South Africa. Here is where he did his first political [activism]. When he went back to India the principles ultimately led to Indian independence, and what Gandhi did inspired Martin Luther King," he told his family.
Before departing, the president and first lady signed the visitors log.
"On behalf of our family we're deeply humbled to stand where men of such courage faced down injustice and refused to yield. The world is grateful for the heroes of Robben Island, who remind us that no shackles or cells can match the strength of the human spirit," the president wrote.
Barack Obama - Visited Robben Island and spoke at the UCT today
Published on Jun 30, 2013

US President Barack Obama, on his three nation African Tour, has kicked off the second leg of his visit to South Africa.
The US President has just finished speaking at UCT... Earlier today he visited Robben Island, and met Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.
He was welcomed at Cape Town international airport, by South Africa's ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool.

Published on Jun 30, 2013

US President Barack Obama and his family tour the Robben Island prison where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years of his 27-year prison sentence.


US President Barack Obama and his family have visited South Africa's bleak former prison of Robben Island to pay tribute to ex-inmate Nelson Mandela, now critically ill in hospital.

Obama was expected to later cite the legacy of Mandela, who was imprisoned on the windswept island for most of the 27 years he spent in jail before becoming the country's first black president, in a speech at the University of Cape Town.

Current South African President Jacob Zuma was also held at the notorious jail off Cape Town's coast under the apartheid regime, which ended in 1994 with Mandela's election victory.

In sunny weather, the US president flew by helicopter with his family to the island, which is surrounded by the frigid, shark-infested waters of the South Atlantic.

His party drove a short distance to the former prison's lime quarry, where Mandela and other prisoners toiled for years.

Their guide, 83-year-old former inmate and anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, spoke about his time there with Mandela and other African National Congress prisoners.

Obama told his daughters the idea of non-violent resistance, an important tactic in the US civil rights movement, had taken root in South Africa where its chief proponent Mahatma Gandhi worked as a lawyer before returning to India.

HERO

On Robben Island, Obama also again visited Mandela's cell, repeating a previous visit he made as a US senator in 2006.

After touring the former prison, Obama and his wife Michelle signed a guest book in which Obama wrote: "On behalf of our family we're deeply humbled to stand where men of such courage faced down injustice and refused to yield.

"The world is grateful for the heroes of Robben Island, who remind us that no shackles or cells can match the strength of the human spirit."

The 94-year-old Mandela's struggle with a lung infection has been a sombre backdrop to Obama's eight-day Africa trip. South Africa says his condition is "critical but stable".

Obama met Mandela's relatives in Johannesburg on Saturday to deliver a message of support instead of directly visiting the frail former president at the hospital where he has spent the last three weeks.

The US leader describes Mandela as a "personal hero", and has reminded audiences in Africa that his first political activism was to urge his US college to divest itself of South African investments to protest against apartheid.

In his speech at the university, Obama was expected to look back to an address US Senator Robert Kennedy gave in Cape Town in 1966 comparing the struggle to overcome apartheid with the US civil rights movement.

Some protesters gathered outside the University of Cape Town ahead of Obama's speech, holding placards attacking US foreign policy reading "Obama mass killer" and "End drone wars now".

Obamas tour Mandela's island jail
Published on Jun 30, 2013

US President Barack Obama and his family tour the Robben Island prison where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years of his 27-year prison sentence.


US President Barack Obama and his family have visited South Africa's bleak former prison of Robben Island to pay tribute to ex-inmate Nelson Mandela, now critically ill in hospital.

Obama was expected to later cite the legacy of Mandela, who was imprisoned on the windswept island for most of the 27 years he spent in jail before becoming the country's first black president, in a speech at the University of Cape Town.

Current South African President Jacob Zuma was also held at the notorious jail off Cape Town's coast under the apartheid regime, which ended in 1994 with Mandela's election victory.

In sunny weather, the US president flew by helicopter with his family to the island, which is surrounded by the frigid, shark-infested waters of the South Atlantic.

His party drove a short distance to the former prison's lime quarry, where Mandela and other prisoners toiled for years.

Their guide, 83-year-old former inmate and anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, spoke about his time there with Mandela and other African National Congress prisoners.

Obama told his daughters the idea of non-violent resistance, an important tactic in the US civil rights movement, had taken root in South Africa where its chief proponent Mahatma Gandhi worked as a lawyer before returning to India.

HERO

On Robben Island, Obama also again visited Mandela's cell, repeating a previous visit he made as a US senator in 2006.

After touring the former prison, Obama and his wife Michelle signed a guest book in which Obama wrote: "On behalf of our family we're deeply humbled to stand where men of such courage faced down injustice and refused to yield.

"The world is grateful for the heroes of Robben Island, who remind us that no shackles or cells can match the strength of the human spirit."

The 94-year-old Mandela's struggle with a lung infection has been a sombre backdrop to Obama's eight-day Africa trip. South Africa says his condition is "critical but stable".

Obama met Mandela's relatives in Johannesburg on Saturday to deliver a message of support instead of directly visiting the frail former president at the hospital where he has spent the last three weeks.

The US leader describes Mandela as a "personal hero", and has reminded audiences in Africa that his first political activism was to urge his US college to divest itself of South African investments to protest against apartheid.

In his speech at the university, Obama was expected to look back to an address US Senator Robert Kennedy gave in Cape Town in 1966 comparing the struggle to overcome apartheid with the US civil rights movement.

Some protesters gathered outside the University of Cape Town ahead of Obama's speech, holding placards attacking US foreign policy reading "Obama mass killer" and "End drone wars now".

Obama warns Africa's 'tyrant' leaders

By Stephen Collinson | AFP – 4 hours ago

US President Barack Obama warned Sunday that Africa could only fulfil its rising potential with leaders who serve their people, not tyrants who enrich themselves.

In a strident call for democratic change and good governance, Obama used the political legacy of ailing Nelson Mandela and South Africa's emergence from grim years of apartheid as proof that freedom will ultimately prevail.
"In too many countries, the actions of thugs and warlords and human traffickers hold back the promise of Africa," Obama said at a speech at Cape Town University.
"America cannot put a stop to these tragedies alone, and you don't expect us to. That is a job for Africans. But we can help you and we will help you," he said, announcing major new US programs to boost electricity and health care.
"History shows us that progress is only possible where governments exist to serve their people and not the other way around," said Obama, in a line that drew loud and prolonged cheers from his audience of more than 1,000 people.
The speech was delivered from the same spot where American political icon Robert Kennedy delivered his famous "ripple of hope" speech in 1966, which called on students to decry the "racial inequality of apartheid".
Obama's goal was to inspire a new generation of Africans with the belief that they could ignite political change and the potential of their continent.
He slammed leaders who "steal or kill or disenfranchise voters," saying that the ultimate lesson of South Africa was that such brutal tactics will not work.
"So long as parts of Africa continue to be ravaged by war and mayhem, opportunity and democracy cannot take root," said Obama.
"Across the continent, there are places where still, fear often prevails," Obama said, warning of "senseless terrorism" from Mali to Mogadishu.
"From Congo to Sudan, conflicts fester," Obama said, hitting out at those who argue that American calls for democracy and freedom are "intrusive" or "meddling".
He also condemned the rule of Robert Mugabe in neighbouring Zimbabwe, where he said the "promise of liberation gave way to the corruption of power and the collapse of the economy".
Like the rest of Obama's trip to South Africa, the speech was rich in emotion when he mentioned his hero Mandela, who lies critically ill in a Pretoria hospital.
"You have shown us how a prisoner can become president," Obama said.
South Africa has made massive strides in delivering electricity, housing and water since the fall of apartheid in 1994.
But the progress has failed to dent anger over rampant poverty and joblessness, with one in four workers unemployed.
Judging by the rousing reception, Obama's words spoke to the frustrations felt by many in the room.
"I think all South Africans are fed up with individuals abusing state resources, putting money into their pockets, instead of serving the people," said Yibanathi Jezile who is in his final year of high school.
President Jacob Zuma's administration is under increasing fire for its largesse -- from an expensive security upgrade to his private home to irregularities in the granting of deals to do business with the state.
"For a lot of us, I think that was just a bit of an amen moment. It's about time now that our government serves us as a democratic state," said Al Postman, 25.
With poverty and unemployment still a problem, "it has to mean that money is going elsewhere", he said. "Where is the money going to? That's the big question."

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
June 30, 2013

FACT SHEET: Power Africa

Today the President announced Power Africa, a new initiative to double access to power in sub-Saharan Africa. More than two-thirds of the population of sub-Saharan Africa is without electricity, and more than 85 percent of those living in rural areas lack access. Power Africa will build on Africa's enormous power potential, including new discoveries of vast reserves of oil and gas, and the potential to develop clean geothermal, hydro, wind and solar energy. It will help countries develop newly-discovered resources responsibly, build out power generation and transmission, and expand the reach of mini-grid and off-grid solutions.

According to the International Energy Agency, sub-Saharan Africa will require more than $300 billion in investment to achieve universal electricity access by 2030. Only with greater private sector investment can the promise of Power Africa be realized. With an initial set of six partner countries in its first phase, Power Africa will add more than 10,000 megawatts of cleaner, more efficient electricity generation capacity. It will increase electricity access by at least 20 million new households and commercial entities with on-grid, mini-grid, and off-grid solutions. And it will enhance energy resource management capabilities, allowing partner countries to meet their critical energy needs and achieve greater energy security.

Power Africa is Rooted in Partnership

The United States and its partners will work with an initial set of Power Africa partner countries, including Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, and Tanzania. These countries have set ambitious goals in electric power generation and are making the utility and energy sector reforms to pave the way for investment and growth. Power Africa will also partner with Uganda and Mozambique on responsible oil and gas resources management.

Power Africa will bring to bear a wide range of U.S. government tools to support investment in Africa's energy sector. From policy and regulatory best practices, to pre-feasibility support and capacity building, to long-term financing, insurance, guarantees, credit enhancements and technical assistance Power Africa will provide coordinated support to help African partners expand their generation capacity and access.

The United States will commit more than $7 billion in financial support over the next five years to this effort, including:

  • The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will provide $285 million in technical assistance, grants and risk mitigation to advance private sector energy transactions and help governments adopt and implement the policy, regulatory, and other reforms necessary to attract private sector investment in the energy and power sectors.
  • The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) will commit up to $1.5 billion in financing and insurance to energy projects in sub-Saharan Africa.
  • The U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) will make available up to $5 billion in support of U.S. exports for the development of power projects across sub-Saharan Africa.
  • The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) will invest up to $1 billion in African power systems through its country compacts to increase access and the reliability and sustainability of electricity supply through investments in energy infrastructure, policy and regulatory reforms and institutional capacity building.
  • OPIC and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) will provide up to $20 million in project preparation, feasibility and technical assistance grants to develop renewable energy projects. These efforts will be coordinated through the U.S. - Africa Clean Energy Finance Initiative (US-ACEF) and supported by the recently launched U.S. - Africa Clean Energy Development and Finance Center (CEDFC) in Johannesburg, South Africa.
  • The U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) will launch a $2 million Off-Grid Energy Challenge to provide grants of up to $100,000 to African-owned and operated enterprises to develop or expand the use of proven technologies for off-grid electricity benefitting rural and marginal populations.
  • In 2014, OPIC and USAID will jointly host an African energy and infrastructure investment conference. The conference will bring investors, developers, and companies together with U.S. and African government officials to demonstrate the opportunities for investment and the tools and resources available from the U.S. government and other partners to support investment.

Power Africa will also leverage private sector investments, beginning with more than $9 billion in initial commitments from private sector partners to support the development of more than 8,000 megawatts of new electricity generation in sub-Saharan Africa. Examples of commitments to-date include:

  • General Electric commits to help bring online 5,000 megawatts of new, affordable energy through provision of its technologies, expertise and capital in Tanzania and Ghana.
  • Heirs Holdings commits to $2.5 billion of investment and financing in energy, generating an additional 2,000 megawatts of electricity capacity over next five years.
  • Symbion Power aims to catalyze $1.8 billion in investment to support 1,500 megawatts of new energy projects in Power Africa countries over the next five years.
  • Aldwych International commits to developing 400 MW of clean, wind power in Kenya and Tanzania – which will represent the first large-scale wind projects in each of these countries, and an associated investment of $1.1 billion.
  • Harith General Partners commits to $70 million in investment for clean, wind energy in Kenya and $500 million across the African power sector via a new fund.
  • Husk Power Systems will seek to complete installation of 200 decentralized biomass-based mini power plants in Tanzania – providing affordable lighting for 60,000 households.
  • The African Finance Corporation intends to invest $250 million in the power sectors of Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria, catalyzing $1 billion in investment in sub-Saharan Africa energy projects.

Power Africa Will Help Attract Investment in Africa's Energy Sector

Power Africa directly addresses constraints to investment in order to accelerate progress. Instead of taking years or even decades to create an enabling environment for energy sector investment, Power Africa takes a transaction-centered approach that provides incentives to host governments, the private sector, and donors. These incentives galvanize collaboration, producing near-term results and driving forward systemic reforms that pave the way to future investment. To achieve these ambitions, Power Africa includes:

  • An interagency Transactions Solutions Team to provide the catalysts needed to bring power and transmission projects to fruition by leveraging financing, insurance, technical assistance, and grant tools from across the U.S. government and our private sector partners.
  • Field-based Transaction Advisors, who have already begun their work in each of the partner countries, to help governments prioritize, coordinate, and expedite the implementation of power projects, while simultaneously building the capacity of existing host government ministries to deliver results.

Power Africa Will Build Capacity for Project Delivery and Energy Sector Reform

Building host-government capacity to develop, approve, finance and ultimately bring power projects on line is critical to the success of the initiative. To support this need, Power Africa will work with host governments to launch or further develop "delivery units" charged with driving progress on specific projects. These delivery units will help increase technical skills and accelerate energy sector regulatory, market structure and enabling environment reforms.

In Tanzania for example, Power Africa will support the "Big Results Now!" program, which is establishing new delivery units within government ministries. In Nigeria, Power Africa will provide staffing support, capacity building and technical assistance to an existing delivery unit. Establishment of a delivery unit in Ghana will be closely coordinated with the MCC's Compact slated for signature in 2014.

Transparent Natural Resource Management

The recent discoveries of oil and gas in sub-Saharan Africa will play a critical role in defining the region's prospects for economic growth and stability, as well as contributing to broader near-term global energy security. Yet existing infrastructure in the region is inadequate to ensure that both on- and off-shore resources provide on-shore benefits and can be accessed to meet the region's electricity generation needs.

Although many countries have legal and regulatory structures in place governing the use of natural resources, these are often inadequate. They fail to comply with international standards of good governance, or do not provide for the transparent and responsible financial management of these resources.

Power Africa will work in collaboration with partner countries to ensure the path forward on oil and gas development maximizes the benefits to the people of Africa, while also ensuring that development proceeds in a timely, financially sound, inclusive, transparent and environmentally sustainable manner.

Looking to Africa's future, Obama to cite Mandela, civil rights

By Mark Felsenthal | Reuters – Sat, Jun 29, 2013

By Mark Felsenthal

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will challenge Africans to renew efforts to expand economic growth and democratic government in a speech Sunday, invoking the legacies of Nelson Mandela and the U.S. civil rights movement in overcoming obstacles to achieve change.
"There's been progress that nobody could have imagined in terms of a freer, more equal democratic society here in South Africa, and in many parts of the continent," deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters travelling with the president.
But despite those changes, millions still live in extreme poverty, some African governments suppress democratic rights, and there are still children dying of preventable diseases, Rhodes said.
"It's not as if the work was completed here in South Africa or anywhere else in the world simply with the current status quo," he said.
The president is setting the stage for the key address of his eight-day Africa trip by travelling to Robben Island, where Mandela was jailed for 18 of his 27 years in prison, and by delivering the speech at the University of Cape Town, where Robert F. Kennedy gave the anti-apartheid movement heart with his 1966 "Day of Affirmation" speech.
Obama has sought to make his visit, which many Africans felt was long overdue, an extended showcase for U.S-African trade and commercial ties. But those themes have been to some extent overshadowed by concerns over the fast failing health of the 94-year old Mandela.
The U.S. president, who has been greeted by cheering crowds, but also by protesters in some places, has talked about the importance of stable institutions and Africa's economic potential at every stop. Even so, much of the focus on his visit to South Africa has centred on whether he would encounter Mandela, who is in critical condition in hospital due to a lung infection.
Obama observed the wishes of Mandela's family on Saturday, visiting with them but not Mandela himself. He offered the family words of comfort and praised the retired statesman as one of history's greatest figures.
Mandela was elected president of a multiracial South Africa in 1994, four years after being released from prison. Kennedy's 1966 speech called on young people to continue to press for freedom from oppression, whether it came from apartheid or the denial of civil rights to U.S. blacks, and said each person who stood up against injustice sent forth "a tiny ripple of hope."
Obama is to say that despite the huge changes that ensued since Kennedy gave that speech and over Mandela's lifetime, Africa has big challenges ahead. He talk to his young audience of their responsibility as a new generation to improve economic growth, democratic institutions, and social stability, Rhodes said.
The president winds up his Africa journey with a stop in Tanzania on Monday and Tuesday.
(Editing by Eric Walsh)
 
 
 

 
 

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