Africa a steep climb for the Obama presidency

But Obama’s political thinkers have to sponsor a better way out of Africa’s democratic crisis than the power-sharing arrangement now in vogue, which has rewarded killers, obliterated the opposition, fed corruption and put genuine democracy into cold storage.

His message of unity strikes at the heart of Samuel Huntington’s “clash of civilisations”, the ideological ammunition of the Bush-era militarism and war-mongering, which has pushed world security to the cliff-edge and nearly brought Wall Street down.

America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a third one looming over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, have strained Washington’s relations with Africa.

The continent is in the eye of the storm of the US-led global war on terrorism. Kenya, hit by terrorists in 1998 and 2002, is even a softer target under Obama, whose presidency is determined to hunt down Osama bin Laden.

As the first American president with non-American relatives living in the remote corners of Africa, Obama’s Kenyan family is a soft target for revenge attacks. Urgent security measures to protect this extraordinary rural family comes as an additional economic burden to Kenya.

Obama’s African heritage equips him with the requisite cultural sensitivity to confront the continent’s challenges. In the hyped politics of “African renaissance”, he is a credible member of the venerated African diaspora, widely seen as a key ingredient in Africa’s economic recovery.

The African Union’s Economic, Social and cultural Council has defined the diaspora as Africa’s “sixth region.”

As a black American president, Obama now ranks as the most powerful member of this diaspora. More than any other US president before him, Obama has the extraordinary opportunity to assertively engage with Africa’s most complex and sensitive crises like in Zimbabwe and Sudan safely below the radar of racial sensitivities.

Thabo Mbeki’s mantra

As an “African’” he can invoke former South African President Thabo Mbeki’s mantra of “African solutions to African problems”. Like former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, Obama has the “cultural licence” to attend AU high-level meetings and summits, which his non-black predecessors could not.

Obama’s “soft power” approach to global issues has the potential of endearing him to African critics of the Bush-era militarism. “The true strength of our nation”, Obama has declared, “comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.”

Dr Kagwanja is the president of the Africa Policy Institute Pretoria/Nairobi; www.africa.org, and fellow at the University of Pretoria; www.africapi.org .