Obama delivers frank words about Africa's problems

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia

- President Obama arrived in East Africa with no big American aid packages, no ramped up U.S. military resources for fighting terror groups and no new initiatives with billions in government backing.

Instead, he brought a frank message on democracy, corruption and security that could perhaps be delivered only by a Western leader viewed in Africa as a local son.

"The future of Africa is up to Africans," Obama said during a trip to Kenya and Ethiopia that concluded yesterday. "For too long, I think that many looked to the outside for salvation and focused on somebody else being at fault for the problems of the continent."

The president's advisers reject the notion that Obama's policy toward Africa is all talk, pointing to the long-term potential of initiatives to boost power access and food security for millions on the continent. They stress the importance of America's first black president, one with a sprawling family still living in Kenya, capitalizing on his ability to speak not as a lecturing Westerner, but as someone with a personal stake in the continent's success.

"He is someone who is broadly respected by not just the leaders, but the peoples of these countries, especially young populations who make up an increasing percentage of these countries," said Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser. "So, for that reason, I think people pay close attention to what he has to say."

"That doesn't mean that they're going to agree with everything he says, but I think he can lay out a direction that he thinks the U.S.-African partnership can go in," Rhodes added.

Indeed, Obama closed his East Africa swing with a blunt accounting of the risks facing the fast-growing continent. He compared Africa's large youth population to the Middle East, warning that without jobs and prospects for the future, young Africans are more likely to be drawn to terrorism. He warned of the "cancer of corruption" that runs rampant through some African governments, a problem he said only the continent's leaders could solve.

And with high-level African officials in the audience for his remarks at African Union headquarters, he launched a blistering and sometimes sarcastic takedown of leaders who refuse to leave office when their terms end.