VARIOUS: A preoccupation with U.S. presidential candidate, Barack Obama, has gripped Africa

Record ID: 455722

  • Title: VARIOUS: A preoccupation with U.S. presidential candidate, Barack Obama, has gripped Africa
  • Date: 31st October 2008
  • Summary: (W3) CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA (RECENT) (REUTERS) CITY WITH TABLE MOUNTAIN IN THE BACKGROUND CLOUDS PASSING OVER TABLE MOUNTAIN TRAFFIC MOVING IN FRONT OF CAPE TOWN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE PEOPLE INSIDE CAPE TOWN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE (SOUNDBITE) (English) SOUTH AFRICAN RESIDENT PUSSEN JOACHIM TABENGWA, SAYING: "Well, Barack Obama, he is our hope, he is our hope. We think that things will change with Barack Obama." PEOPLE WALKING INSIDE CONVENTION CENTRE TRAFFIC ON CAPE TOWN CITY STREET (W3) ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (OCTOBER 29, 2008) (REUTERS) YAYA TOURE WITH T-SHIRTS IN HIS HAND, WAITING ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD TOURE CROSSING THE ROAD, WITH OBAMA'S PICTURE SEEN ON THE BACK OF HIS T-SHIRT VARIOUS OF TOURE GIVING AWAY OBAMA T-SHIRTS, EXPLAINING TO PEOPLE WHO OBAMA IS (SOUNDBITE) (French) OBAMA SUPPORTER YAYA TOURE, SAYING: "Whatever your religion, if you are Muslim or Christian, or believe in black magic, you can like whatever you choose, you can pray according to your wish, but you should mobilise your family to pray. On November 4, you should wear this to sleep as well as to pray for your brother Obama, so that on November 5, he's the boss in the White House." VARIOUS OF TOURE GIVING AWAY T-SHIRTS TO A FAMILY, YOUNG GIRL WEARING OBAMA T-SHIRT VARIOUS OF TOURE TALKING TO A FAMILY MEMBER (SOUNDBITE) (French) MAID, AMINATA DIABY, SAYING: "It's good for the future if Obama wins, because he speaks of good things. He talks about the future of everyone over there, my grandson is born over there, my daughter lives there, my brother is over there, it's good. Maybe one day I will be there too."
  • Embargoed: 15th November 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVACK456IJ00DBCM7ZCMNM49TIZU
  • Story Text: At music launches in Africa, the most popular theme these days seems to be that of a presidential candidate thousands of kilometres (miles) away - U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama.
    From Lagos to Cape Town, U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama is being heralded as the man who will change America, even the world - days before American citizens vote for their 44th president.
    Obama's face is appearing on badges, t-shirts, billboards and now music videos, with very little regard for intellectual property rights, as a wave of "Obama Mania" grips the continent.
    Musicians in Kenya appear to be pumping out Obama tunes as fast as they can come up with new songs about the democratic presidential candidate.
    Supporters from across the African continent are hoping their publicity campaigns will put Obama, whose father was born in Kenya, into the White House.
    Yaya Toure is a 33 year-old Ivorian who has been campaigning for an Obama win in the city of Abidjan. Toure, who started his campaign soon after Obama was declared the Democrat candidate for the elections, buys T-shirts in the commercial district of Adjame and takes them to a screen-printing workshop to have photos of Obama on them.
    Toure distributes his promotional material across the city, stopping to explain who Obama is and why Africans should support him.
    Printer Pascal Kabore is one of Toure's early converts.

    "This has prompted my conscience, knowing that this is happening in the United States. All countries turn towards the US for all that can be done in terms of big decisions. So it's very important, what Yaya's doing, and this candidate could potentially bring us hope," he said.
    Toure, a trader who pays for the promotional material out of his own pocket, says he believes an Obama win would see the United States pull out of Iraq, which, he says, would help solve the current world financial crisis.
    Toure believes it was the Iraq war that weakened the U.S. economy and led to the crisis.
    He has distributed several hundreds of Obama T-shirts and caps so far and in an effort to spread his message further, has even gone so far as to get an "Obama" haircut.
    In another west African country, Nigeria, supporters even started a fund-raising exercise, reaching out to some of the country's wealthiest citizens, before the government intervened, pointing out that U.S.
    presidential candidates are not allowed to receive donations from overseas.
    The group had already raised some 630,000 USD, which the government confiscated, saying it would be returned to contributors.
    Further south, in South Africa, Obama supporters can be found in shopping malls, petitioning shoppers and writing up messages of support.
    At the very tip of Africa, Cape Town resident Pussen Joachim Tabengwa, put it simply:
    "Barack Obama, he is our hope, he is our hope. We think things will change with Barack Obama," he said.
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