The US yesterday called on Africans to take the lead in stamping out corruption and crime, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warning that bad governance was holding the continent back.
Clinton launched a wide-ranging Africa tour with a keynote speech in Kenya, whose favorite son — US President Barack Obama — underscored the message in a surprise video.
“Only Africans can unlock Africa’s potential,” Obama said, returning to a theme of good governance he made on his first presidential visit to the continent last month in Ghana.
PHOTO: AFP
“To all Africans who are pursuing a future of hope and opportunity, know this: You have a partner and a friend in the United States,” said Obama, whose father was born in Kenya.
Clinton, addressing a forum of some 40 nations that enjoy preferential access to the US market, said the US sought to be a “partner, not patron” of the continent.
Clinton said that the US was committed to supporting Africa, including by boosting investment and stepping up aid to agriculture to fight hunger.
But she warned that “leaders have to lead.”
“True economic progress in Africa will depend on responsible governments that reject corruption, enforce the rule of law and deliver results for their people,” Clinton said.
“This is not just about good governance — it’s also about good business,” said Clinton, who arrived in the region on Tuesday.
The 11-day trip, which comes just three weeks after Obama visited the continent, is Clinton’s longest since she became the top US diplomat six months ago and her first to sub-Saharan Africa.
Clinton, accompanied by Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, said she sought not to lecture but to share with Africa the “benefits of the mistakes” from the US.
“Creating a favorable investment climate also requires countries to translate politics into governing,” she told the forum, which was attended by Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Her remark was a thinly veiled reference to Kenya, a top Washington ally on the continent but the target of criticism over its failure to implement a power-sharing deal that ended a cycle of deadly electoral violence last year.
After her speech, Clinton was to head into a rare joint meeting with the two leaders. An aide said she would press them to fully implement the deal, which includes the creation of a special tribunal.
Kibaki and Odinga, in separate speeches to the gathering, acknowledged the problems in African economies but appealed to the US to step up investment.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS