Obama: 'Africa not separate from world affairs'

ACCRA, Ghana — President Barack Obama said Saturday that his visit to Ghana was designed to illustrate that "Africa is not separate from world affairs."

Obama said events in Africa do not lose their effects at the continent's borders and said Africa is a fully integrated part of the global economy.

"What happens here has an impact everywhere," Obama said during a meeting with Ghanaian President John Atta Mills.

Obama scheduled a 21-hour visit to the West African nation to highlight that country's democratic tradition and engagement with the West. During his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa since taking office, Obama sought to lift up the continent of his ancestors — while keeping its emotions in check.

Greeted by a rush of excitement on his arrival here, the United States' first black president planned a speech to Ghana's Parliament on Saturday outlining his hope for a future Africa prospering in democracy. He was also visiting a hospital and a one-time slave trading post, joined by his wife, Michelle, a great-great granddaughter of slaves.

But his speech was also pitched as a sobering account of Africa's enduring afflictions: hunger, disease, corruption, ethnic strife and strongman rule.

No big public event was planned — in part for fear it could cause a celebratory stampede, as a 1998 stop by President Bill Clinton almost did.

"All Ghanaians want to see you," Mills said, underscoring the U.S. first family's popularity that gave them Page One billing in many of the nation's newspapers.

People lined the streets Saturday morning, many waving at every vehicle of Obama's motorcade as it headed toward a meeting at Osu Castle, the storied coastline presidential state house. One woman emerged from a coffee shop to wave a tiny U.S. flag while others sold posters and T-shirts with Obama's picture. Many billboards lined the roads, including one that showed the president and his wife with the greeting, "Ghana loves you."

While the people of Ghana may be in a frenzy over Obama's visit, the president started his day with typical calm. Wearing a gray T-shirt and gym pants, he walked through the lobby of his hotel virtually unnoticed at 7:30 a.m. local time on his way to the downstairs gym for a morning workout.

A short time later, his motorcade left the hotel, passed under hovering military helicopters and arrived for a delayed welcome ceremony. Mills greeted his counterpart and then the pair went inside for one-on-one meetings.

Selecting Ghana as the starting point of his black Africa travels, the president sought to highlight a continental success story.

"We think that Ghana can be an extraordinary model for success throughout the continent," Obama told Atta before joining about 350 people for an outdoor breakfast at the castle.