VOA慢速英语：奥巴马赞扬非洲进步，呼吁进行改革

President Barack Obama says Africa has made“extraordinary progress.” But he says the continentmust change its cultures of corruption anddiscrimination. He spoke last week during his trip toKenya and Ethiopia.

US President Barack Obama (L), alongside African Union Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma (R), arrives to speak about security and economic issues and US-Africa relations in Africa at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, on July 28, 2015

Mr. Obama visited Kenya in 2006 when he was aUnited States Senator. But this was his first visit to theplace of his father’s birth and death since he becamepresident. Many Kenyans called the trip Mr. Obama’shomecoming.

Mr. Obama arrived in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, last Friday. On Saturday, hespoke with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta about trade and security. Mr.Obama said they promised to continue working together against the Somalimilitant group al-Shabab.

“On security: the United States and Kenya are already strong partners andtoday we reaffirm that we stand united in the face of terrorism.”

Al-Shabab has repeatedly attacked Kenyan targets. In April, the groupattacked Garissa University College, killing nearly 150 people.

During the Africa trip, the Obama administration said the U.S. would give morethan $500 million to help fight extremists throughout Africa.

On Sunday, Mr. Obama spoke to thousands of Kenyans at a sports center. He talked about some of the problems facing the continent. He urged Africansand their leaders to change their political cultures.

“I wanna be very clear here: a politics that’s based solely on tribe and ethnicityis a politics that’s doomed to tear a country apart. It is a failure. Here in Kenyait’s time to change habits, and decisively break that cycle, ‘cause corruptionholds back every aspect of economic and civil life.”

He noted that the continent had made many changes in the 50 years sincemany African nations gained independence from their colonial rulers.

“It is long past time to put aside old stereotypes of an Africa forever mired inpoverty and conflict. The world must recognize Africa’s extraordinaryprogress.”

Mr. Obama visited Ethiopia on Monday.

He became the first U.S. president to do so. He visited a food factory that had been helped by American aid.

He urged Ethiopia’s leaders to end restrictions on their political opponents andmass media. The government controls all of the seats in Parliament and limitsthe country’s media.

Mr. Obama said Ethiopia has helped in the fight against al-Shabab andimproved conditions for many of its citizens. Ethiopia was once known as acountry of famine and drought. But Mr. Obama said millions of Ethiopians nolonger live in poverty.

On Tuesday, Mr. Obama spoke to African Union leaders at the A.U.’s new$200 million headquarters in Addis Ababa.

Mr. Obama is the first U.S. president to speak to a meeting of the AfricanUnion. He said he was a proud American and a son of an African.

The Chinese government paid for and built the A.U.’s new offices. In hisspeech, Mr. Obama seemed to criticize China.

“Economic relationships can’t simply be about building countries’infrastructure with foreign labor or extracting Africa’s natural resources. Realeconomic partnerships have to be a good deal for Africa. They have to createjobs and capacity for Africans.”

Chinese state media said Mr. Obama went to Africa because U.S. officials areworried about China’s growing influence on the continent. The English-language Global Times said the United States is no longer “a dominant powerin Africa.” The Xinhua news agency said the United States has spent billionsof dollars on aid for Africa, but the programs “fail to make a big difference.”

Chinais Africa’s largest trading partner. It has aggressively worked tostrengthen ties with the continent in the past few years. China has made tensof billions of dollars in loans to African nations since 2006. And it is spending$24 billion to develop a port in Kenya.

I’m Christopher Jones-Cruise.

Christopher Jones-Cruise wrote this program for VOA Learning English. It was based on stories from VOA reporters Aru Pande, Vincent Makori, ArashArabasadi and Gabe Joselow in Nairobi, Anita Powell in Addis Ababa andChris Hannas and Carol Guensburg in Washington. George Grow was theeditor.

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Words in This Story

discrimination– n. the practice of unfairly treating a person or group ofpeople differently from other people or groups of people

homecoming– n. the act of returning to your home or to a place that is likeyour home

reaffirm – v. to formally state (something) again in order to emphasize that it is true

aspect– n. a part of something

stereotype– n. an often unfair and untrue belief that many people have aboutall people or things with a particular characteristic

extract– v. to get (a substance) from something by the use of a machine orchemicals