In and Out of Africa

"I am proud to be the first American president to come to Kenya – and of course I’m the first Kenyan American to be president of the United States," Obama said during the speech to a packed stadium in Nairobi, which was repeatedly interupted with loud rounds of applause.

However, given that in order to prepare for the presidential visit it was necessary for Kenyan military and police forces to conduct the "biggest ever security operation" in the nation's history, some observers took the opportunity to make more critical observations about how Obama's foreign policy choices in the region have impacted local people and undermined stability during the course of his presidency.

Remarking on the overwhelming military presence in the capital of Nairobi, Abdullahi Halakhe, a regional security analyst, told Agence France-Presse ahead of Obama's arrival that "the level of security [was] suffocating,"

"I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills."--Karen Blixen

The new hegemony.


TS