11 June 2009
Obama’s Cairo Speech Resonates with Africans, State’s Carson Says
Assistant secretary of state cites four themes of interest to Africans
Washington — There was widespread interest across sub-Saharan Africa in President Obama’s speech June 4 from Cairo to Muslims worldwide because many of the speech themes resonated directly with Africans who look forward to participating in a “new dialogue” with the United States, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson said June 5.
Carson was among a group of U.S. officials who briefed reporters in Washington on reaction to the speech in their region of responsibility.
Offering input from his region, Africa, Carson told reporters, “There was widespread interest throughout sub-Saharan Africa about the president’s speech not only because of the president’s father having been a Kenyan but also because one-third of the 800 million people who live in sub-Saharan Africa today are of Muslim religion and faith — one-third.”
Some 11 of the 48 states in sub-Saharan Africa have Muslim majority populations and three of the largest nations in Africa have substantial Muslim populations, Carson told reporters. Nigeria, with a population of 150 million people, has a Muslim population of some 70 million people, “which makes that population substantially larger than any Arab state in the Middle East,” Carson said.
Ethiopia, with a population of roughly 70 million people, has a Muslim population of roughly 33 million, comparable to that of large nations in the Arab world, he added.
SPEECH’S THEMES RESONATED IN AFRICA
Carson told reporters there was a “very positive reaction” to the president’s message and themes expressed in the speech. Four themes in particular resonated “very, very strongly throughout Africa,” Carson said. “One is the call and respect for democracy. Many African countries are increasingly embracing democratic reform and respect for rule of law. This theme resonates with civil society and throughout Africa where democracy is taking deeper root.
“The president’s talk about respect and rights and empowerment for women also resonates throughout the continent,” he added, “where African women are also trying to take their rightful role as responsible citizens in the development of their own countries, becoming more active in both the political and economic life.”
President Obama’s message about economic opportunity is also important throughout Africa, Carson said. “Africa remains one of the poorest continents in the world and the need for more investment in that part of the world, particularly to jump-start the economy, is important. His comments on economic empowerment, economic opportunity resonated around the continent.”
The fourth theme, one increasingly important to Africa, is combating violent extremism, Carson said. “Although we associate this with many other parts of the world, Africa has also experienced violent extremism. We have seen it in the destruction of our embassies in Nairobi [Kenya] and Dar es Salaam [Tanzania] in August of 1998, the al-Qaida terrorist attack against Israeli interests in Kenya in November of 2002, and we saw it on May 31 just several days ago when al-Qaida in the Islamic lands of the Maghreb executed a British national who had been held hostage for some six months. Africans are also fighting against this extremism.”
President Obama’s speech was “applauded, respected. News coverage and media attention to this from South Africa up to Ethiopia and across to Abuja and Lagos was very intense and very interested,” Carson said. “Africans are also interested in seeing how they could take advantage of some of the programs the president outlined, particularly the expansion of educational exchange programs with Muslims around the world, particularly in Africa.”
Africans “were interested in seeing how they could benefit from the support for technological development and, of course, they were particularly interested when the president said that he was going to initiate centers for scientific excellence, including in Africa.”
Carson said Africans already have “enormous respect” for President Obama, and the United States is held in high regard on the continent. Obama’s speech, he added, “will encourage all of those who support and are fighting for greater democratization across the continent.”
“We hope his words will inspire those who are seeking to promote economic development and greater opportunity. We hope his words will encourage greater opportunity and respect for women’s rights and opportunities across the country. And we hope his words will also be heard by those in several parts of the continent who are engaged in conflict and who need to seek peaceful solutions to the answers to the problems that they face. His words and the trust that they inspire, we hope, will lead and serve as a catalyst to others to follow them, not just listen to them, act on them, not just applaud them.”
A transcript of the June 5 briefing is available on the State Department’s Web site.
A transcript of Obama's speech in Cairo is available on America.gov.
