Africa is on the move: Obama

US President Barack Obama said in Kenya on Saturday that African entrepreneurs could help counter violent ideologies and make the continent a hub for global growth, helping create opportunities in Africa that offset any threat from terrorism. Obama was speaking during the first US presidential visit to Kenya, which is his father’s homeland and the biggest economy in east Africa but has also suffered from a spate of attacks by Somali Islamist militant group al Shabaab. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta called the US a "very strong supporter of Kenya" and said his country needed help to tackle security threats. "No single country can deal with this problem," he said in talks with Obama. "We need to partner." The US president urged Kenya to hold "visible" trials to tackle corruption, which he said could be the "biggest impediment" to further growth. After talks in Nairobi, Obama and his Kenyan counterpart said they were "united against terrorism" and efforts to deal with it. But the two leaders differed sharply in their positions on gay rights. While Obama spoke strongly against discrimination, Kenyatta said Kenya did not share the same values. Obama also praised Africa's economic and business potential in a speech on the first full day of his visit to Kenya. "Africa is on the move... People are being lifted out of poverty, incomes are up (and) the middle class is growing," he told a business summit. He also visited a memorial for those killed in the 1998 US embassy bombing. The trip which started on Friday has been described as a "homecoming" by Kenyan media. It is Obama's first visit as president to the country where his father was born. Obama also dined with Kenyan family after arriving in father's homeland. The US president dined with his step grandmother, his sister and other extended family members after arriving in Nairobi on Friday. Obama's plane, Air Force One, landed in the evening in the Kenyan capital, where he will co-host a conference on boosting entrepreneurs in Africa before travelling on to Ethiopia. After being greeted by President Uhuru Kenyatta and other top Kenyan officials, Obama was whisked through the capital. Hours before Obama's arrival, police blocked major roads and emptied streets of traffic in the usually congested capital as part of a huge security operation. In the darkness, excited Kenyans lined parts of the route to his hotel, cheering as Obama's motorcade passed by. Once at his hotel, the president sat down with the woman he calls "Granny," also called "Mama Sarah," who helped raise his now deceased father as a child. Obama's half sister Auma Obama and a few dozen other extended family members related were also present. Wearing a suit and tie, he chatted amiably with the large family seated at long tables at a restaurant inside the hotel where he is staying, according to BBC and Reuters.

-mbz