Obama Warns African Leaders Against Holding on to Power

United States President Barack Obama has cautioned African leaders against holding on to power, saying that the continent will not advance if the trend continues.

Obama, who was speaking at the African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, the first time a sitting US president would ever address the body, chided African leaders for their refusal to step down from power, saying nobody should be president for life.

Calling on the AU to ensure that leaders respect their constitutions and step down when their term ends, Obama specifically mentioned Burundi, whose president, Pierre Nkurunziza, has controversially been re-elected for a third term.
“I’ll be frank with you, it can’t just be America that’s talking about these things. Fellow African countries have to talk about these things.

Just as other countries championed your break from colonialism, our nations must all raise our voices when universal rights are being denied.  For if we truly believe that Africans are equal in dignity, then Africans have an equal right to freedoms that are universal — that’s a principle we all have to defend. And it's not just a Western idea; it's a human idea.

“I have to also say that Africa’s democratic progress is also at risk when leaders refuse to step aside when their terms end. Now, let me be honest with you — I do not understand this.  I am in my second term.  It has been an extraordinary privilege for me to serve as President of the United States.

“I cannot imagine a greater honour or a more interesting job.  I love my work.  But under our constitution, I cannot run again.  I can't run again.  I actually think I’m a pretty good President — I think if I ran I could win.  But I can't.
“So there’s a lot that I'd like to do to keep America moving, but the law is the law. And no one person is above the law. Not even the President.  And I'll be honest with you — I’m looking forward to life after being President.

“I won't have such a big security detail all the time. It means I can go take a walk. I can spend time with my family. I can find other ways to serve. I can visit Africa more often. The point is, I don't understand why people want to stay so long. Especially when they’ve got a lot of money.

“When a leader tries to change the rules in the middle of the game just to stay in office, it risks instability and strife — as we’ve seen in Burundi.  And this is often just a first step down a perilous path.  And sometimes you’ll hear leaders say, well, I'm the only person who can hold this nation together. If that's true, then that leader has failed to truly build their nation,” Obama said.

He said democracy was about more than just holding elections. “When journalists are put behind bars for doing their jobs or activists are threatened as governments crack down on civil society then you may have democracy in name, but not in substance.”
He also called for an end to the “cancer of corruption”, saying it was the key to unlocking Africa's economic potential. The money could be used to create jobs and build schools and hospitals, Obama said.

The rapid economic growth in Africa is changing “old stereotypes” of a continent hit by war and poverty, he said. But unemployment needed to be urgently tackled on a continent whose one billion people will double in a few decades, he said.
“We need only look to the Middle East and North Africa to see that large numbers of young people with no jobs and stifled voices can fuel instability and disorder,” he added.

Recalling his speech in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi at the weekend, Obama condemned the repression of women, saying the “single best indicator of whether a nation will succeed is how it treats its women”.

His address to the AU marked the end of his five-day visit to Africa. The trip focused heavily on trade and security, but he also found time in Kenya to meet relatives of his father, including his half-sister Auma.

“Even with Africa’s impressive progress, we must acknowledge that many of these gains rest on a fragile foundation.  Alongside new wealth, hundreds of millions of Africans still endure extreme poverty.  Alongside high-tech hubs of innovation, many Africans are crowded into shantytowns without power or running water — a level of poverty that’s an assault on human dignity,” Obama added.

He pointed out that Africa remains youngest and fastest-growing continent, saying the population in the coming decades would double to some two billion people, and many of them will be young, under 18.

Obama explained that Africa's young generation “could bring tremendous opportunities as these young Africans harness new technologies and ignite new growth and reforms.  Economists will tell you that countries, regions, continents grow faster with younger populations.

“It’s a demographic edge and advantage — but only if those young people are being trained. We need only to look at the Middle East and North Africa to see that large numbers of young people with no jobs and stifled voices can fuel instability and disorder,” he said.

He advised African leaders that most urgent task facing Africa today and for decades ahead is to create opportunities for this next generation, warning however that this would be an enormous undertaking.
“Africa will need to generate millions more jobs than it’s doing right now. And time is of the essence. The choices made today will shape the trajectory of Africa, and therefore, the world for decades to come.

“And as your partner and your friend, allow me to suggest several ways that we can meet this challenge together.”
While harping on the need for urgent reform, he pointed out that an enabling environment must be created for investment, saying: “Governments that take additional reforms to make doing business easier will have an eager partner in the United States.”

On foreign aids, he suggested: “You don't have to just look overseas for growth, you can look internally. And our work to help Africa modernise customs and border crossings started with the East African Community; now we’re expanding our efforts across the continent, because it shouldn’t be harder for African countries to trade with each other than it is for you to trade with Europe and America.”

He pointed out that US trade with the region was with just three countries: South Africa, Nigeria and Angola, observing that much of that was in the form of energy.

“I want Africans and Americans doing more business together in more sectors, in more countries.  So we’re increasing trade missions to places like Tanzania, Ethiopia and Mozambique. We’re working to help more Africans get their goods to the market.
“Next year, we’ll host another US-Africa Business Forum to mobilise billions of dollars in new trade and investment — so we’re buying more of each other’s products and all growing together.

“When more countries invest responsibly in Africa, it creates more jobs and prosperity for us all. So I want to encourage everybody to do business with Africa, and African countries should want to do business with every country. But economic relationships can’t simply be about building countries’ infrastructure with foreign labour or extracting Africa’s natural resources. Real economic partnerships have to be a good deal for Africa - they have to create jobs and capacity for Africans,” he said.