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Obama Arrives in Tanzania After South Africa Visit Obama Calls for New Partnership With Africa
(about 4 hours later)
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — President Obama arrived on the east coast of Africa on Monday, greeted by a sea of ecstatic Tanzanians, who poured out of their houses and businesses along the main streets of this city to welcome the first American president with family roots in Africa. DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — After receiving the most ecstatic welcome of his weeklong trip to Africa, President Obama on Monday called for a new partnership with the continent, one that would help sustain its recent run of tremendous economic growth while broadening the rewards to as many people as possible.
Mr. Obama’s first visit to Tanzania, on the edge of the Indian Ocean, began with a meeting at the country’s State House with President Jakaya Kikwete. The visit followed stops in South Africa and Senegal. “We are looking at a new model that’s based not just on aid and assistance but trade and partnership,” Mr. Obama said at a news conference with President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania. “Ultimately the goal here is for Africa to build Africa for Africans. Our job is to be a partner in that process.”
From the moment Mr. Obama stepped off Air Force One, it was clear the reaction here was going to be bigger and more emotional. Mr. Obama, who arrived in Tanzania on Monday to cheering throngs much larger and louder than those he saw on his first two stops, Senegal and South Africa, acknowledged how drastically the continent had changed since his visit to Ghana four years ago. Then pictured as a desperate charity case, Africa is now seen more and more as a booming young market for the future.
Mr. Obama was greeted by the military band for the Tanzania People’s Defense Force, which played the United States national anthem twice. Cannons, pointed away from Mr. Obama and Mr. Kikwete, repeatedly punctuated the songs with huge blasts in the air. A yellow banner with Mr. Obama’s picture said, “President Obama, Welcome to Tanzania,” in Swahili. “This is my final leg of my visit to Africa,” Mr. Obama said at an event with business leaders Monday night. “At every stop one of my main messages has been that, even as this continent faces great challenges, this is also a moment of great promise for Africa.”
But it was the drive from the airport to the state house that was striking. People lined nearly every inch of the streets as the motorcade made the 20-minute journey. The crowds, a dozen rows deep in some places, roared with approval as Mr. Obama passed. Economic growth for sub-Saharan Africa was a vigorous 5.1 percent last year, according to the International Monetary Fund, which predicts growth of 5.4 percent this year and 5.7 percent next year. Trade between the United States and Africa has more than doubled over the past decade.
Speaking to some 150 business leaders from the United States and Africa in Dar es Salaam on Monday night, Mr. Obama announced that Penny Pritzker, his new commerce secretary, would lead what he called a “major trade initiative” to Africa in her first year.
Mr. Obama hoped that the trip would emphasize economic partnership between the United States and Africa, but concerns about the failing health of former President Nelson Mandela of South Africa have dominated the news media’s attention.
Mr. Obama sounded ready Monday to refocus on the vitally important issues affecting people here, in particular emphasizing the need to bring electricity to the two-thirds of Africans without regular access to power.
Mr. Obama has unveiled an ambitious program to double access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa, investing $7 billion in financial support for an initiative called “Power Africa.” Tanzania is one of the initial six participating countries, where the government hopes to add 10,000 megawatts of generation capacity and reach 20 million households that lack electricity right now.
The military band for the Tanzania People’s Defense Force greeted Mr. Obama by playing the United States national anthem twice. Cannons, pointed away from Mr. Obama and Mr. Kikwete, repeatedly punctuated the songs with huge blasts in the air. A yellow banner with Mr. Obama’s picture said, “President Obama, Welcome to Tanzania,” in Swahili.
A sea of ecstatic Tanzanians welcomed Mr. Obama, the first American president with family roots in Africa. They lined nearly every inch of the streets as his motorcade made the 20-minute journey to the Tanzanian state house. The crowds, a dozen rows deep in some places, roared with approval as Mr. Obama passed.
One man dressed in an American flag shirt pumped his fists into the air exuberantly as the president drove by.One man dressed in an American flag shirt pumped his fists into the air exuberantly as the president drove by.
Tanzania is the final stop of Mr. Obama’s weeklong African visit. While he is here, the president is expected to announce new efforts to increase trade and investment in the eastern region of Africa, as well as a plan to help double access to reliable electricity in the continent. Ten men crowded around a single handset at Yasir Ahmed Hardware, taking a break from building wooden doors and metal grates to watch Mr. Obama’s arrival. “All we need Obama to help us with is a consistent, reliable supply of electricity,” said Alex Adrian, 32, a carpenter.
Mr. Obama will also announce a new push to prevent wildlife trafficking, in which sophisticated poaching syndicates kill elephants and rhinoceroses and sell their tusks and horns in contravention of international conventions. Mr. Obama will commit $10 million to help combat the problem and will detail a member of his Fish and Wildlife Service to the continent. The men at the workshop, which employs 35 workers, said that the power goes out for several hours two to three times a week. The men said they made roughly $12 to $18 a day, but when the power went down they could not work, meaning they and their families had to skip meals. At home the workers said they did not have electricity and used kerosene lamps in the evening.
“It’s decimating the populations of some of Africa’s iconic animals, including rhinoceros and elephants as well,” Mr. Obama said that for two-thirds of sub-Saharan Africans to lack power was “unacceptable in 2013.”
said Grant Harris, the senior director for Africa on the National Security Council. “One thing we have been doing so far is raising the global profile of how bad this issue is,” “We can’t have a seven-year time frame for building a power plant,” Mr. Obama said. “We have to move. Things have to go faster.”
Mr. Harris said, adding that the United States would continue “a massive diplomatic campaign” to make other countries more aware of the issue. Asked whether the United States is doing enough for Tanzania, Mr. Kikwete offered high praise, but joked that he would not say that Americans were doing enough. “The U.S. is doing a lot, but if I say the U.S. has done enough, the president won’t listen to my new requests,” he said, prompting laughter from the audience and Mr. Obama. “But so far, so good.”
Without a more aggressive push on Africa, the United States also risks falling even further behind China in the fast-growing region. China has expanded its role significantly over that time while the United States has seemed distracted by its military ventures both here and elsewhere.
China’s new president, Xi Jinping, visited Dar es Salaam in March on his first tour abroad as the country’s leader. Trade between the United States and Tanzania last year totaled $360.2 million in 2012, compared with $2.47 billion between China and Tanzania.
Mr. Obama also announced a new push to prevent wildlife trafficking, in which sophisticated poaching syndicates kill elephants and rhinoceroses and sell their tusks and horns in contravention of international conventions. Mr. Obama committed $10 million to help combat the problem and will detail a member of the federal Fish and Wildlife Service to the continent.
“It’s decimating the populations of some of Africa’s iconic animals, including rhinoceros and elephants as well,” said Grant Harris, the senior director for Africa on the National Security Council. “One thing we have been doing so far is raising the global profile of how bad this issue is,” Mr. Harris said, adding that the United States would continue “a massive diplomatic campaign” to make other countries more aware of the issue.
White House officials also said Monday that Mr. Obama would be joined by his predecessor, George W. Bush, at a wreath-laying event Tuesday morning at the site of the 1998 coordinated bombings of United States Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. Ten people were killed at the embassy in Dar es Salaam.White House officials also said Monday that Mr. Obama would be joined by his predecessor, George W. Bush, at a wreath-laying event Tuesday morning at the site of the 1998 coordinated bombings of United States Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya. Ten people were killed at the embassy in Dar es Salaam.