African leaders on Wednesday hailed the prospect of the first black United States president entering the White House, with Nelson Mandela saluting Barack Obama for living the dream of change.
South Africa’s first black leader, the icon of the anti-apartheid movement, said Obama’s victory over John McCain on Tuesday had ”demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place”.
”We are sure you will ultimately achieve your dream [of] making the United States of America a full partner in a community of nations committed to peace and prosperity for all,” said the 90-year-old Mandela.
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, one of the first leaders to react to Democratic candidate Obama’s victory, said it was a ”momentous” occasion for Kenya, where Obama’s father was born.
”This is a momentous day not only in the history of the United States of America, but also for us in Kenya,” Kibaki said.
He said the victory of the 47-year-old Obama ”is our own victory because of his roots here in Kenya. As a country, we are full of pride for his success.”
”We the Kenyan people are immensely proud of your Kenyan roots. Your victory is not only an inspiration to millions of people all over the world, but it has special resonance with us here in Kenya,” Kibaki said in a message to Obama.
Kibaki declared Thursday a public holiday for Kenyans to ”celebrate the historic achievement by Senator Obama and our country.”
In West Africa’s powerhouse, President Umaru Yar’Adua said Nigeria had lessons to learn from Obama’s election.
”The election of Barack Obama … has finally broken the greatest barrier of prejudice in human history. I believe for us in Nigeria, we have a lesson to draw from this historic event,” he said.
Yar’Adua urged Nigerians to conduct themselves as citizens of Nigeria, not as members of one tribe or region, saying the event in the US ”created a totally and completely new era”.
A hitherto sceptical Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure said that the US has ”given a lesson in maturity and in democracy” to other countries by electing Obama.
Congo leader Denis Sassou Nguesso described the election of Obama as a ”moving, historic moment”, 45 years after civil rights icon Martin Luther King laid out his ”dream” of racial equality,.
”We see how visionaries like Martin Luther King saw coming events. His dream has come true,” Nguesso told Radio France International (RFI).
In Chad, the leader of the national assembly, Nassour Guelindoksia, said Obama’s victory should serve as a beacon to other countries.
”It’s an example to follow, especially by Africans, as Americans show that democracy knows no colour, religion or origin,” Guelindoksia told lawmakers.
However a leading analyst warned that Africa should not necessarily expect Obama’s victory to result in more aid from the United States.
”We should be drawing … [inspirational] lessons from Obama’s victory rather than that, now the he has the US, the coffers will open and billions of dollars will come … it doesn’t work like that,” said Ousmane Sene, a professor in literature and American civilisation from Senegal’s University of Cheikh Anta Dipo.
Braving a heavy downpour and deafening thunderbolts overnight, Obama’s friends and relatives in a Kenyan village, where his late father was born, swung twigs and chairs in the air, cheering at hearing he results. — AFP
