Obama's Kenyan grandmother |
President Barack Obama's Kenyan
grandmother, known as Mama Sarah, vowed Friday to cook a traditional meal for
her grandson when he visits the East African nation, the birthplace of his
father, later this month. "With regards to what food I will prepare for Barack on his
visit, I will prepare all the traditional food available," she said,
speaking her Luo language through a translator on a visit to Nairobi.
She tempted him with the offer of dishes including fish,
chicken and maize porridge.
"It does not matter whether Barack is a senator or
a president," she added. "He will have what I have prepared for
him." Mama Sarah was the third wife of US president's paternal
grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama, and lives in the small village of Kogelo in
western Kenya which is home to a number of the president's relatives. She said
she had asked him to travel to Kogelo "to pay respect to his father's
grave", but it was not clear if Obama was scheduled to travel outside the
capital Nairobi.
Obama's late father was born in Kogelo and grew up there
before travelling abroad to study, where he met Obama's American mother in
Hawaii.
Although Mama Sarah is not a blood relative, Obama calls her
"granny" and has visited her in the past. It will be Obama's fourth visit to Africa since becoming
US president, but his first to Kenya since taking office in 2009.
Obama and grandmother |
A presidential visit to Kenya had been put on ice while President
Uhuru Kenyatta faced charges of crimes against humanity for his role in
2007-2008 post-election violence. The International Criminal Court has since
suspended that prosecution, citing a lack of evidence and Kenya's failure to
cooperate.
After Kenya, Obama then travels on to neighbouring Ethiopia, where
he will become the first sitting American leader to visit. Ethiopia's capital
Addis Ababa also hosts the headquarters of the African Union, the 54-nation
continental bloc.
Africa's second most populous nation held a vote in May that was
described by many independent observers as flawed. Ethiopia and Kenya have both been on the frontline of the fight
against Somalia's Al-Qaeda-allied militia Shebab, and have been important
security partners to Washington.
Source: Yahoo
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