Africa’s future is in young hands, says Obama

SOWETO – US President Barack Obama told
Africa’s youth Saturday that the future of
the continent was in their hands and urged
them to use Nelson Mandela as a model
for political leadership.
Obama got a rowdy welcome as he used a
town hall style meeting in South Africa to
announce a new fellowship that will initially
take 500 young African leaders to the
United States every year for academic and
leadership training.
As Obama spoke at a university in the
sprawling township of Soweto where
opposition to apartheid sprung into life,
police nearby fired stun grenades to
disperse hundreds of people critical of his
anti-terror policies.
The US leader, on the second leg of an
African tour, spoke at a University of
Johannesburg not far from the simple
homes in Soweto where Mandela, now 94
and in a critical condition in hospital, spent
several years of his life.
“The future of this continent is in your
hands,” Obama said.
He urged young people in Soweto and
those watching the town hall meeting in
Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda to take
inspiration from Mandela’s refusal to be
cowed by 27 years in jail.
“Think about 27 years in prison. Think
about hardships and the struggles and
being away from family and friends,”
Obama said.
“There were dark moments that tested his
faith in humanity, but he refused to give
up.
“In your lives there will be times to test
your faith.”
Obama was greeted with wild enthusiasm
by the crowd in Soweto, who sang South
African protest songs before he arrived and
chanted his “Yes We Can” campaign slogan
when he took the stage.
However, protesters set fire to US flags and
portraits of Obama and at least three bangs
from stun grenades were heard as armed
police tried to move demonstrators away
from the university.
“The message is clear. We want him to
honour the promises he made  when he
became president, including things like the
closing of Guantanamo Bay,” 30-year-old
Firoz Osman told AFP.(AFP)