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Obama defends human rights on visit to former slave… 27/06/2013 22:09 CET Mandela still critical as family gathers in ancestral… 26/06/2013 06:35 CET US Senate passes landmark immigration reform bill 28/06/2013 00:56 CET South Africans hold prayer vigils for Madiba 28/06/2013 05:46 CET Mandela stable but critical 28/06/2013 10:35 CETOn the first leg of his eight day visit to Africa, US president Obama has taken his family to visit the point in Senegal where Africans were shipped as slaves to North America.
The House of Slaves fort on Goree Island off the coast of Senegal, was built in the late 18th century. For Obama, it was a moving moment.
He told local people who had come to see him that: “It’s always powerful for me to visit countries outside of the United States generally, but obviously for an African-American, and an African-American president to be able to visit this site I think gives me even greater motivation in terms of the defence of human rights around the world.”
Obama’s next stop is South Africa. The White House has said it is up to Nelson Mandela’s family whether Obama pays Mandela a visit. Mandela is described as in a ‘serious but stable’ condition. The US president has previously described the former South African president as a ‘hero.’
More about: Africa, American politics, Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela, South AfricaCopyright © 2013 euronews
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