President Barack Obama’s Africa trip is going on full steam ahead. He is there for seven days visiting three Sub-Saharan African countries: Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania. President Obama is slated to visit a slave house in Senegal and the Door of No Return, which is said to be one of the final stops in Africa for blacks who began the Middle Passage into slavery. He is also expected to participate in a State Visit in South Africa with President Zuma. While in South Africa the White House is hoping the President will be able to meet with the first Black President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. The 94 year-old is in critical condition. White House sources contend as the world prays for Nelson Mandela, there is hope his legacy will promote a new crop of African leadership particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.
PJ Crowley, former Assistant Secretary of State for the Obama Administration says, “For modern South Africa, Mandela is [Abraham] Lincoln, leading the country through a critical transition. No one else could have done what he did.” Crowley is speaking of Mandela moving South Africa from Apartheid.
