Photo: The Guardian
US President Barack Obama is in the nation of Ethiopia, on the second leg of his African tour – being the first serving US leader to visit the country.
He is due to hold and generate talks with government officials and discuss the civil war in South Sudan with regional leaders. President Obama will also be the first US president to address the 54-member African Union at its headquarters in Addis Ababa on Tuesday. Obama flew to Ethiopia after a two-day visit to Kenya. It is said that there he discussed trade and security, at the same time also ‘called for greater human rights’ and warned of the dangers of corruption.
The US president was greeted at Addis Ababa’s international airport by Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn. On Monday, Mr Obama is due to discuss ways to bring South Sudan’s 19-month-old civil war to an end. Compared to the Kenyan leg of his tour, President Obama’s arrival in Ethiopia signals a more sombre mood.
Ethiopia is a close ally of the US in fighting militant Islamists. Thousands of Ethiopian troops are in Somalia, where the capital Mogadishu was the scene of a terrific blast on Sunday.
But despite strong security ties, Mr Obama is expected to raise concerns about what critics say is the erosion of democratic freedoms in Ethiopia. Recent elections in which the ruling party secured all of the parliamentary seats, and a further clampdown on the media and the jailing of bloggers, are among the issues on which the US president is expected to express alarm.
Tags: Barack Obama Ethiopia US
