海角大神

Barack Obama landed tonight in Senegal on the first leg of a three-nation Africa tour made both emotional and symbolic by the ailing health of Nelson Mandela, Africa's paramount moral leader for much of the 20th century, who is described as in critical condition at a hospital in Pretoria.聽

The White House is scheduled to visit South Africa Friday, after a visit in Dakar that will include a meeting with Macky Sall, the Senegalese president -- and the trip will then include a brief and private Obama family visit to Slave House, the oceanside portal from which captured Africans were onloaded to ships run by slave traders.聽

Next week the White House entourage will visit Tanzania.聽

Yet for now the Mandela-Obama dynamic is capturing the most attention: Whether the first black American president can or will possibly meet with the first black and democratically elected president of formerly white-ruled South Africa is highly unclear, and Obama's aides suggest their plans are forming day-by-day.聽

The South African leg is resonant with some historical echoes. As we reported yesterday:聽

In June 1966, at the University of Cape Town in apartheid聽South Africa,听Bobby Kennedy聽gave a speech that eulogized the power of the individual to overcome even the most powerful tyranny.

鈥淓ach time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice,鈥� Senator Kennedy told the students, 鈥渉e sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and 鈥� those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

On Sunday, Obama, a man who has made "hope" his watchword, and whose father was聽Kenyan, will give a speech at聽the same South African university.聽

The speech is eagerly awaited. When Mr. Obama won the 2008 election, Africans erupted into near-unanimous joy that an American of African heritage would for the first time be president of the聽United States. Perhaps, many hoped, he would help build "ripples" into "currents" to tackle Africa's entrenched challenges.

鈥淕uys went nuts,鈥� says Octopizzo, a rising hip-hop artist from the slums of Kenya鈥檚 capital Nairobi. 鈥淗e was seen as a real hero for Africa, because he changed the way people looked at themselves. People used to set themselves standards, goals, and try to pass them. Obama made us build higher standards and set higher goals, and inspired us to reach them.鈥�

But now, five years later, there is disappointment at a lack of substantive new continent-wide assistance programs from the man some in Africa once called a messiah.

Obama鈥檚 predecessor, George W. Bush, launched the multi-billion-dollar President鈥檚 Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, credited with averting 1.1 million deaths from AIDS in Africa. Obama effectively cut its funding in 2009.

President Bill Clinton was hugely popular among ordinary Africans. He was more so with the African business community for initiating the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which cut or scrapped duty for goods from the continent exported to the US.

So far, however, there have been no such major initiatives from Obama, the son of a Kenyan economist who grew up a poor goatherd. In the meantime, China, Turkey, Brazil, and other emerging nations are sweeping across Africa, gaining influence and lucrative contracts.

鈥淚n some parts of the continent, his gloss has not come off, but in many places, it has,鈥� says Steven Friedman, a South African academic specializing in democracy studies.

鈥淭here鈥檚 no great mystery to it 鈥� he is the first African-American president, whose father was a Kenyan, and perhaps that raised expectations. In fact, it likely made him more reluctant than his predecessors to be some great savior for Africa.

鈥淗e鈥檚 had major problems at home, but he鈥檚 also had to go out of his way to demonstrate that he鈥檚 the American president, not the African president, and as a result he鈥檚 not done terribly much here.鈥�

Obama has barely visited, in fact, spending only 22 hours in sub-Saharan Africa during a fly-by through Ghana in 2009.

Tomorrow's trip that will include Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania, may either be his only major visit here as president, or the start of a more regular second-term involvement.聽

White House officials argue that there have been major engagements with the continent since 2008.

Obama has held meetings with African leaders focused on food security and nutrition. America鈥檚 military has been involved in conflicts in Somalia, Mali, Libya, the Central African Republic, and聽Uganda. The US remains the world鈥檚 largest contributor of humanitarian aid to Africa.

Nonetheless, Obama鈥檚 team is acutely conscious of the anticipation ahead of the tour.

鈥淔rankly, there鈥檚 been great disappointment that the president hasn鈥檛 traveled to Africa until this point, other than a brief stop in Ghana,鈥� Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser, told reporters in a recent White House briefing. 鈥淎frica is a critically important region of the world. We have huge interests there. We need to be present in Africa."

The stated aims of the visit, to Africa鈥檚 west, its south, and its east, are to boost US trade and investment, encourage democracy, advance food security and health, and inspire young people.

For Charles Dokubo, research professor at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs in Lagos, what is expected from Obama鈥檚 visit are 鈥渁ctions, not promises.鈥�

"If he wants to make any difference in Africa, truly we want to see actions that that improve the social provisioning for Africa鈥檚 people, not promises," Mr. Dokubo says. "Until Obama brings about something that makes that happen, he is like any other president.鈥�

That misses the point of Obama鈥檚 power in Africa, says Rosebell Kagumire, a respected Ugandan rights activist and blogger.

鈥淥bama will always be a role model, especially for our young people who very much look up to him in a place where we鈥檙e very short of good role models,鈥� she says. 鈥淗e understands the continent and has more links to here than any other US president before him, and his approach is very different from that of a traditional donor who comes with promises to fix everything for us."

Ms. Kagumire continues: 鈥淥bama is almost hands-off, which has been criticized as doing nothing. But in fact it allows us the space to search for our own solutions. He鈥檒l support Africa then, when it鈥檚 necessary and when it鈥檚 still in US interests. But he鈥檚 right that it鈥檚 up to Africans, not outsiders, to fix our problems.鈥�