He’s also told Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn more must be done to improve democracy in one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies . – often criticised for its record on human rights.
ends intro

President Barak Obama says security cooperation with Ethiopia is pushing back against violent extremism.

He says Ethiopia faces serious threats and its contribution to the African Union mission in Somalia has reduced areas under al-Shabaab control.

Sunday’s hotel bombing in Mogadishu reminds us that terrorist groups like al-Shabaab offer nothing but death and destruction and have to be stopped.

Before heading home today, the first sitting US President to visit Ethiopia will address the African Union at its headquarters in Addis Ababa – another first.

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The American personnel will help train medical staff and supervise the building of new treatment centres.

There’s pressure on the international community, particularly the countries with financial and medical resources to spare to respond more muscularly to the Ebola outbreak that’s killed more than 2 600 people in West Africa.

Last night’s Ghana President John Dramani Mahama called for increased and quicker action slow the spread of the worst outbreak the world has seen.

Mahama slammed the restrictions imposed on infected, countries saying this undermined their economies and their ability to fight against the disease.

In Geneva today the international response to Ebola comes under the spotlight of United Nations officials.

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There are more questions than answers as the United States hosts four dozen African leaders for their first summit in Washington this week.

Will it produce the deals and investment being sought by the fastest growing continent on the planet?

Or will it become a public relations exercise for Barak Obama showing yet again that he is only as African as one wants him to be?

One awkward question has been answered by South African foreign affairs chief Maite Nkoana Mashebane.

President Jacob Zuma snubbed the Europe-Africa summit in Paris last December because Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe was excluded.

He said then Africa will decide who to send, and it’s not for the hosts to decide on the guest list.

Yet Zuma’s at the Washington gathering to which Mugabe was pointedly not invited.

It’s about mechanisms, explains Nkoana Mashebane. Europe has form on summits with Africa. Washington does not.

Obama’s summonsing African leaders was a first.

Joining Mugabe off his invitation list is Omar Al Bashir of Sudan, Issaias Afeworki of Eritrea and interim Central African Republic president Catherine Samba Panza.

No word of complaint has been heard from Africa.

Presumably it is acceptable for Barak Obama to decide who he’s having to dinner, but French President Francois Hollande does not have the same right.

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al Sissi has indicated he will not be there.

The Cairo leader plays a pivotal role in the Middle East, so the summit will be the poorer for his absence if Obama was planning to air the greatest crisis this region is undergoing in a century.

It is not crystal clear exactly what will be discussed.

Ministers accompanying the leaders will deal with issues of trade and investment, security and multilateral cooperation in communications, health, infrastructure development and the like.

They will construct the final documents for their leaders who generally to not board their aircraft heading for a summit meeting without draft agreements and a communique remarkably close to the final versions.

This time there is barely of hint of what will be inked.

Wish lists are plentiful.

US officials are talking about scaling up security cooperation with Africa increasingly best with problems from Al Qaeda, Al Shabab, Boko Haram and other militatnt Islamist groups that cause both African and American security operatives to wake up clammy with sweat in the early hours

They have to deal with an Africa quick to take what Washington offers but reluctant to be seen getting into Uncle Sam’s pocket.

Best example of this is the inability of the US Africa command to find a permanent home on the continent it is designed to help safeguard.

Africans, in their turn, want an extension without conditionality on the African Growth and Opportunity Act giving their exports preferential access to US markets.

They’re pressing for Obama to announce a 15 year extension.

The reality is that whatever the US president offers has to pass a sceptical Congress with a plethora of local interests to protect.

The African leaders would be mistaken thinking they will be received with open arms by US lawmakers, already on their summer holiday.

They will be very fortunate to avoid being roasted by the US media that takes a perverse delight in spitting in the soup of the president’s dinner guests.

They have been asking for weeks why Obama is breaking bread with counterparts guilty of corruption, human rights violations and profligacy.

They will leap at their chance to take those leaders to task personally.

Many questions may linger, but excitement is a central ingredient on the menu this week.

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