Obama pledges to defend democracy in Africa
PHOTO | POOL | WIN MCNAMEE (L-R) US President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and US Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) applaud during the presidential inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol January 21, 2013 in Washington, DC.
WASHINGTON
President Barack Obama pledged in his inauguration address on Monday that the United States will support democracy in Africa.
"America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe," Mr Obama told the throng gathered at the US Capitol building to hear the address marking the start of his second term.
"We will support democracy from Asia to Africa; from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom," Mr Obama declared.
The first African American president, whose father was a Kenyan, emphasised his commitment to promoting democracy around the world by quoting the words of Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jnr.
"Our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on earth," Mr Obama recalled Dr King as having said.
The president's inauguration address was delivered on the same day that Dr King's birthday is celebrated as a bank holiday in the United States.
