Saying he too has the blood of Africa within him, President Obama does not see the African people as living a world apart, but as a fundamental part of an interconnected world.

"I've come here to Ghana for a simple reason: the 21st century will be shaped by what happens not just in Rome or Moscow or Washington, but by what happens in Accra as well," Obama said in a July 11 speech before the Ghanaian Parliament in his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as president.

"I have the blood of Africa within me, and my family's own story encompasses both the tragedies and triumphs of the larger African story."

The 21-hour visit to Ghana, the speech by Obama and his reception by Africans were all the more poignant because he is America's first African-American president, whose father came from Kenya, where the president still has family. Obama's grandfather was a cook for the British in Kenya, and his father grew up in a tiny village where he herded goats.

The July 11 speech in Accra capped off a journey that began in Moscow July 6, followed by the Group of Eight Summit in L'Aquila, Italy, July 8–10, a visit with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on July 10, and then his visit to Ghana before returning to Washington.

Obama began the day with a breakfast meeting with Ghanaian President John Atta Mills at the Christiansborg Castle in Accra. The president and first lady Michelle Obama also attended a brief event on maternal health at La General Hospital before the speech to the parliament.

Ghana was chosen by the White House for Obama's first address to the African people in part because of its progress in democratic governance, the president said in a recent interview with AllAfrica.com, which provides comprehensive African news to the continent.

Ghana was the first sub-Saharan nation to gain independence. It has experienced colonial rule under the British, a period of military rule and finally democratic rule. Previously Presidents Clinton and Bush had visited the nation of 23 million.

REALIZING THE POTENTIAL

Obama said that despite the progress across Africa that has been made in the latter half of the 20th century and the early 21st, much of Africa's promise has not been fulfilled.

"Disease and conflict have ravaged parts of the African continent. In many places, the hope of my father's generation gave way to cynicism, even despair," the president said before a special session of the Ghanaian Parliament at the Accra International Conference Center.

Good governance is the key to development, Obama said. "That's the change that can unlock Africa's potential. And that is a responsibility that can only be met by Africans."

For the United States and the West, Obama said, the commitment to Africa must be greater than annual allocations of foreign aid; it involves partnerships to build the capacity for transformational change. The president outlined four areas critical to the future of Africa: democratic governance, economic opportunity, strengthening public health, and the peaceful resolution of conflict.

The president said foreign aid from the West is not an end in itself. "The purpose of foreign assistance must be creating the conditions where it's no longer needed."
Governments that respect the will of their people tend to be more prosperous, more stable and more successful, Obama said. But no country is going to create wealth for its people if its leaders exploit the economy for personal gain.

"In the 21st century, capable, reliable and transparent institutions are the key to success — strong parliaments, honest police forces, independent judges, independent press, a vibrant private sector, a civil society. Those are the things that give life to democracy, because that is what matters in people's everyday lives," Obama said.
Africa is rich in natural resources, and the African people have shown the capacity and commitment to create their own opportunities, the president said. But he cautioned that old habits are the most difficult to break.

"Dependence on commodities, or a single export, has a tendency to concentrate wealth in the hands of the few, and leaves people too vulnerable to [economic] downturns," he said.

Obama said Africa has boundless natural gifts to generate its own power while exporting profitable, clean energy abroad.

Strengthening public health is critical, Obama said. Africans have struggled with AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, but also other diseases such as polio and often-neglected tropical diseases. The president said public health programs must also promote wellness and improve the care of mothers and children.

Finally, Obama said that conflict has become too much a part of life in Africa, and peaceful solutions have to be embraced.

"It is still far too easy for those without conscience to manipulate whole communities into fighting among faiths and tribes. These conflicts are a millstone around Africa's neck," he said.

Obama said that it is never justifiable to target innocents in the name of an ideology. "It is the death sentence of a society to force children to kill in wars," he said.

Africans are standing up to this inhumanity, he said.

"Freedom is your inheritance. Now it is your responsibility to build upon freedom's foundation," the president said.

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A transcript of President Obama's speech is posted on the U.S. Africa Command Website.