Africa seeks more robust focus in Obama's 2nd term

US President Barack Obama is expected to carry out a more positive and fresh approach toward Africa in his second term, as he will be free of concerns centered on his African roots, according to experts and commentators.

African people remain less excited about this general election compared with Obama's first presidential election victory four years ago, when Kenya, ancestral home of the first black president of the United States, declared a public holiday.

Obama's African heritage inspired high expectations of an updated African policy from the White House and a fresh focus on the continent, but his victory was followed by an insipid, prosaic policy toward Africa, experts said.

"He didn't lose his Democratic Party focus on Africa, but he didn't do anything extra, either," Adams Oloo, head of the political science department at the University of Nairobi, was quoted as saying by The Eastern African. "I see a more robust focus on the continent . . . but he has to be cautious not to be seen to be unduly favoring Africa."

His failure to visit East African countries in his first term was seen as trying to avoid being labeled a "real African".

After the great anticipation of African people when he was first elected in 2008, Obama let them down by failing to pay sufficient attention to the continent, according to He Wenping, a researcher of African studies of the Institute of West Asian and African Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

In July 2009, the president paid his only visit to Africa during his first term. But he visited only one African country - Ghana - on a stopover at the end of his attendance at the G8 summit in Italy.

"His performance in this regard lags behind his predecessors such as Bill Clinton. Even George W. Bush was more focused on Africa than he is," she said.

Since the fall of Muammar Gadhafi, the US has maintained a role in North Africa. More recently, the US-produced film that was considered offensive to Islam provoked new anti-US sentiment in the region.

"I think the US did not do enough to end Africa's problems, despite Obama's Kenyan origins," said Mohamed Amin Elmasry, a commentator on current affairs based in Cairo. "The last US administration focused on the Sudanese issue and how to divide the country into north and south." He added that the US succeeded, given that South Sudan split from Sudan.

But Obama's underperformance in the past four years does not mean he will ignore the US presence in the region in his second term, given Africa's strategic importance, according to He, the researcher.

Contact the writers at lilianxing@chinadaily.com.cn and qinzhongwei@chinadaily.com.cn