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INSIDE AFRICA
U.S. Election Coverage
Aired November 1, 2008 - 12:30:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Isha Sesay. It's been a long, hard, sometimes nasty slog for U.S. Senators John McCain and Barack Obama, but the presidential campaign is almost over, and soon the world will know which man will lead the United States for the next four years. Most people in Kisumu, Kenya are hoping that man will be Obama, which is not surprising -- it's where his father comes from. And as David McKenzie reports, it's a hot market for all things Obama.
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DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For the last few months, Kenyans have gotten increasingly excited about the U.S. elections, and that's why I've come to Westlands, which is famous for its business community, its small businesses and entrepreneurs. They've really taken advantage of Kenyans who want to buy a piece of Obama, and the election day will just be the icing on the cake. Literally. Let me show you.
(on camera): How are you?
(voice over): Meet Abado Abadoh, the chief pastry chef at Mangala (ph) bakery. He's created the delicious Obama cake that's selling like, well, hot cakes.
(on camera): Would you say that the Obama craze has been good for business?
ABADO ABADOH, PASTRY CHEF: Very much so. I would say it's increased our business portfolio by quite a big margin. (INAUDIBLE).
MCKENZIE: The lucrative black forest cake, made with its dabs of sugar syrup and loads of cream and a sugary photo of Obama, has gotten record sales, and is being ordered from as far away as Liberia.
ABADOH: We decided on it because of the -- the Kenyan connection.
MCKENZIE: The tasty business opportunity stems from Obama's Kenyan roots. His grandmother still lives in the tiny village of Kogelo; his half brother, George, in a slum in Nairobi. So everyone feels they're a relative to Obama here, and they spot the threads to prove it. Watch the bootleg DVDs to get more about the campaign, read about it in every newspaper, and the ultimate sign of respect here, stick posters and slogans on the matatus that ferry people around town.
The Obama craze has become almost obsessive, and it's sure to last all the way up to election day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So I'm going to (inaudible). In fact, on that day, I want to go to (inaudible), because I want to follow them, I want to follow each and every detail about it that's going to unfold.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is no history for black ruling in U.S., and this time around, if you're going to win, it will be our baby boy in Kenya.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have to stay on television, glued there.
(MUSIC)
MCKENZIE: The Obama watchers want to buy a piece of Obama here, but they also just like a good party. And with even popular musicians singing about the man, the U.S. campaign in many ways has also been Kenya's too .
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): Washington, DC, open your doors to Barack, Barack Obama.
MCKENZIE: David McKenzie, CNN Nairobi, Kenya.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Excitements about Obama's candidacy extends to South Africa, where news organizations are devoting heavy coverage to the story. Nkepile Mabuse examines perceptions about both candidates among South Africans.
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NKEPILIE MABUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's an election that has South Africans glued to their television sets. E-news editor Patrick Conroy says the station has sent its best and biggest team ever to cover a U.S. presidential race.
PATRICK CONROY, ENEWS CHANNEL EDITOR: The U.S. election this time around has huge foreign audience. And one has to be honest and say it's the Obama factor that's just playing into that. You know, are many South Africans rooting for a black -- for a black president of the United States? Sure. There is a certain identity that they can relate to there.
MABUSE: Ironically, it is the Republican administration under George Bush that has spent billions of U.S. dollars in Africa, implementing one of the most celebrated HIV/AIDS program ever embarked on by an American government, but George Bush's war on terror has made him very unpopular here, overshadowing his party's successes on the continent.
Both black and white South Africans we spoke to expect an Obama presidency will do more for Africa.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: First of all, he's got African roots, he's younger. I think he has more -- more connection with the continent. And I think he cares more.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He seems to be so in touch with what's going on in Africa. (INAUDIBLE) definitely do wonders for Africa. And America.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The one and the only, Obama. So that guy is -- you can see that he can do a lot of things, I mean, for black people, like us.
MABUSE: Though at least one woman had a simpler reason for supporting Obama.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's gorgeous.
MABUSE: But with two wars and a sinking economy, the next president may not have much time for Africa. Political analyst Xolela Mangcu says regardless of who wins, Africans should keep in mind that he will be elected by Americans to serve their interest.
XOLELA MANGCU, POLITICAL ANALYST: However, if it is Barack Obama, it does open from the -- from the other side, from the African side, it does open opportunities, at least, for engagements, in the way that may not be possible with John McCain.
ROBERT MUGABE, PRES., ZIMBABWE: That was the issue!
MABUSE: For example, Obama may have better luck getting through to Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who would find it difficult to dismiss him as an imperialist as he did President Bush.
Nkepile Mabuse, CNN, Johannesburg.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Some common assumptions about Obama and McCain may not be fair. Up next on INSIDE AFRICA, we'll look at the candidates' positions on some of the big issues affecting the continent. Also ahead, Tanzania in the grips of Obamamania.
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SESAY: What do you want to see from the next president of the United States?
ELLEN JOHNSON-SIRLEAF, LIBERIAN PRESIDENT: We just want to see the continuation in the partnership, the quality of that partnership. And you know, we're not worried. Liberia enjoys very strong bipartisan support.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Welcome back to INSIDE AFRICA. While President Johnson-Sirleaf isn't taking sides, people around the continent clearly are excited about the prospect of a President Obama. But to be fair, the Obama and McCain campaigns seem to share many priorities concerning Africa, as we discovered when we spoke with advisers to both candidates. Both campaigns say they'll help Africa integrate itself into the global economy by increasing trade with the continent and helping create markets for African goods.
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WITNEY SCHNEIDMAN, OBAMA ADVISER ON AFRICA: We have a program in place called "The African Growth and Opportunity Act", and we will work hard to expand that, and to make its benefits more widely available to African producers and manufacturers, so that they can access the American market.
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SESAY: Both campaigns also stress the need to tackle destabilizing conflicts. Earlier this year, Obama and McCain co-signed a statement condemning the Sudanese government for the Darfur crisis. Both campaigns say they'll apply diplomatic pressure to resolve such conflicts, and while they're being light on details, they say they'll use the U.S. Africa Command, AFRICOM, formed last year, to enhance African peacekeeping efforts.
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J. PETER PHAM, MCCAIN ADVISOR: The focus of AFRICOM is to provide security to American interest, but also to African priorities, to help Africa's armed forces and security forces achieve the capacity to, for example, fully deploy, which they have been unfortunately unable to do in troubled regions like Darfur and in Somalia.
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SESAY: Issues of humanitarian aid and health care are also priorities to both candidates. For example, John McCain has pledged to eradicate malaria, and he says he'll continue PEPFAR, President Bush's emergency plan for AIDS relief in other countries. Earlier this year, Barack Obama told "Vanity Fair" magazine he plans to expand PEPFAR. His Africa adviser points to a general philosophy.
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SCHNEIDMAN: One of the guiding principles of the Obama foreign policy will be the notion that the security of each and every American is connected to everyone else in the world, and that we have to work hard to ensure that people in other parts, particularly in Africa, have opportunities, have education, have access to health care.
SESAY: Lastly, both campaigns say they'll strengthen ties with African countries that show a commitment to democracy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHAM: Ultimately, Senator McCain's proposal for a league of democracies worldwide certainly has its applications in Africa, where we hope to find our best partners amongst those governments which are transparent, provide good governance and are accountable to their people.
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SESAY: But of course, there are promises and then there is action. Whichever candidate becomes president of the United States, it remains to be seen how much of his vision for Africa he will be able to carry out, especially given the likely impact of the global financial crisis.
A new poll shows what might happen if the world could vote for the next U.S. president. Up next on INSIDE AFRICA, Errol Barnett has those numbers and some I-Reports feedback from African viewers.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Making business news in Africa. The World Bank's International Financial Corporation says African banks are not immune to the global financial crisis. The group's vice president said the IFC will invest $3 billion to help protect the continent's banks. Reuters reports the IFC funds will target banks in Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone.
And South African officials say that last year, the country became a net importer of food for the first time in 22 years. The ministry of agriculture says the rise in imports was mainly caused by population growth. South Africa still exports $2.9 billion worth of agricultural goods a year.
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SESAY: Welcome back. You're watching INSIDE AFRICA.
People around the world are closely following the U.S. presidential election. IReport correspondent Errol Barnett has been gathering input from African viewers, and has some new international poll results. Errol, how do the numbers look?
ERROL BARNETT, IREPORT CORRESPONDENT: Well, they look very good for Obama. The reputable Gallup organization recently conducted a poll in 73 countries to measure preferences about the two main candidates. The survey includes 22 African countries.
Now, the majority of people had no opinion, but the results suggest that 24 percent want Barack Obama to win, compared to only 7 percent who prefer John McCain. That survey sum was about three quarters of the world's population.
Now, in Obama's father's home country of Kenya, locals have been celebrating a locally brewed beer called Senator. It's widely associated with Senator Obama. In fact, on the night Obama won in the Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. Democratic primaries months ago, these kegs were full of Senator beer, and was a drink of choice as people commemorated the milestone in a suburb called Eufero (ph) outside of Nairobi. Those pictures were sent to us by Patrick Kamao (ph).
Now, Selanja Namalisa (ph) is another iReporter from Africa. She works for the non-profit organization called "The Titziano (ph) Project" that helps people in remote regions learn media technology like recording, editing and online publishing of their own local stories. She uploaded a video looking at the impact of climate change in Rwanda. So I reached out to her via web cam a short while back, when she was in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and got her view of the U.S. presidential candidates.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If I had to choose between both, I would choose Obama, the Democrart, because he will have on his agenda Africa. But when I look at McCain, the Republican, really for him, he will be interested for war, the war in Iraq, maybe doing more war in Iraq and maybe start a war in Iran.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: As you can hear there, she feels that Obama is her guy, because he will focus on the region, and the conflict in DR Congo this past week underscored that for Selanja (ph). I reached out to her, I called her, she is in the town of Goma, where the conflict is taking place. She told me people are fleeing to the border, to head to Rwanda. She said schools are closed, shopping centers and banks. And so this really amplifies why she supports Senator Obama, because in her opinion, he would not forget about the issues on the continent of Africa.
SESAY: But the point has to be made that Senator McCain does have an Africa agenda. We spoke to his adviser for Africa, and he laid out what the McCain administration would do in terms of recalibrating the U.S. approach to -- to various conflicts, whether it's Somalia or Darfur or Zimbabwe, and many more besides. But that does not seem to have resonated on the continent as much, it seems.
BARNETT: He does have initiatives that focus on the region, but when you talk -- like when I talked to Selanje, the number one thing that they associate with Senator McCain is his support for the war in Iraq and other wars. So I don't think that resonates with them as much as it does with Senator Obama, someone with local roots.
SESAY: I mean, I think the thing that strikes me, is, you know, we hear so much over and over again about how this election has electrified the world, is that with -- with technology and people being able to reach out to us here at CNN -- and you're our iReport correspondent -- they just keep coming .
BARNETT: Yes.
SESAY: The responses keep coming.
BARNETT: And we absolutely want more from every region of the world. I mean, if we're able to speak with someone via Web cam in DR Congo, you know, the quality wasn't perfect, but it's raw, it's from our viewers, we want to know what's happening in every region of the world, and this iReport.com is a great outlet for them to upload their video and opinions.
SESAY: Errol, many thanks. Great to talk to you, thank you.
BARNETT: Good to see you.
SESAY: Now, we turn to Egypt, where many issues concerning the Middle East dominate. As Shahira Amin reports, Egyptians seem to lean toward Obama, but they feel whoever wins will have to work hard to rebuild America's image.
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SHAHIRA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In Egypt, Barack Obama seems to be the people's choice.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Obama, he has the Muslim heritage. His father is called Hussein.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): From what I've heard, he's not a warmonger like Bush. He's all for peace. He says he wants to resolve matters with Iran through peaceful means, unlike Bush.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Obama, of course. He's young and of African origin, just like us.
AMIN: And that view is echoed by leading politicians.
MOHAMED KAMAL, NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY: He's African-American. You know, Egypt is an African country, and he talks also a lot about change.
AMIN: But whoever wins has a hard road ahead.
KAMAL: The U.S. lost many friends in the Arab world over the past eight years, and it's time to win those friends again.
AMIN: Egyptian opposition figures have the same advice for the next president of the United States.
MOHAMED EL SAYED SAEED, AL BADEEL: (inaudible) with the big question, why America is being resented in this region, for lack of justice, lack of understanding and lack of sense of real interest and even pragmatism and realism.
AMIN: Egypt's opposition also hopes that the United States will put democratic reform back at the top of its agenda for the Middle East. Opposition leader Ayman Noor, jailed in 2005 on forgery charges, wrote an open letter to Senator Obama, appealing for help in securing his release from prison. So, why did Noor chose to address Obama but not Senator McCain?
GAMILA ISMAIL, AYMAN NOOR'S WIFE: He felt he has more or less the same experience, a young man running the presidential elections, with more or less clear sense regarding democracy and reform in the Middle East.
AMIN: A recent poll by the PEW research center found that just 22 percent of Egyptians had a favorable view of the United States. Egyptians are frustrated by the lack of progress on resolving the Palestinian issue and the occupation of Iraq.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Both candidates are biased in favor of Israel. We have nothing to gain from either candidate.
AMIN: The students say they're watching the elections closely, because what happens in the United States will affect everyone else around the world.
Shahira Amin, CNN, Cairo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: What's happening in the United States seems to be pretty exciting to people in Tanzania. Up next on INSIDE AFRICA, we'll measure enthusiasm about the elections on the streets of Dar es Salaam.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Barack Obama is a person I want personally to -- to win, because he`s a man of substance. I think I like his (inaudible).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, McCain -- McCain is like the same old thing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I like Obama, because I'm proud of him, as an African.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Welcome back to INSIDE AFRICA. Tanzanians seem to be almost as excited about the U.S. presidential election as their next door neighbors in Kenya, and it's pretty obvious that their mood has everything to do with Barack Obama.
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SESAY: Like much of Africa, Tanzania has the case of Obamamania. Not surprising, perhaps, given that his father came from neighboring Kenya. Entrepreneur Alex Mayunga designed this Obama t-shirt. He's amazed at how well it's selling, even at $15 a piece. That's about five days wages for the average Tanzanian.
ALEX MAYUNGA, ENTREPRENEUR (through translator): People stop me on the street, asking about the T-shirt and where I bought it. I tell them the places they can purchase the t-shirt, but end up selling them the ones in my car.
SESAY: Mayunga says Obama's candidacy is a proud moment for Africans.
MAYUNGA: When you speak of Obama, you speak of the success of black people. His achievement symbolizes success of black people.
SESAY: And a brief survey on the streets of the capital Dar es Salaam suggests Tanzanians think an Obama presidency will help Africa and end the war in Iraq, which is very unpopular here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I'm a peace-loving individual, and I don't like war and strife. I feel that Obama will bring peace and stability to the world.
MAYUNGA: He will address the desperate state of the world economy.
SESAY: Writer Maggid Mjengwa has written a book about the presidential hopeful in Kiswahili, the language of much of East Africa.
MAGGID MJENGWA, WRITER: I personally feel that Barack Obama has made history. Not just in the United States, but all over the world, as an American of African origin to be the first in that position in the United States.
SESAY: The book retails for $1.50. Mjengwa says he just sold over 13,000 copies.
MJENGWA: People call me from all over Tanzania, even the most remote areas from the north to the southern regions. All corners of Tanzania.
SESAY: Vendor Heri Karios says sales of the book have been brisk at his news stand.
HERI KARIOS, VENDOR (through translator): The sales have been great, because people really want to know about Obama, his life and where he is from.
SESAY: The commentators here are not assuming Obama will be the next president.
SPEER PATRICK, JOURNALIST (through translator): It would be great if Obama won, but we shouldn't forget that his opponent is also well-liked and respected.
SESAY: African governments recognize the Republican Bush administration has committed billions of dollars to the fight against AIDS and Africa and supported debt relief. Tanzanians welcomed President Bush to Dar es Salaam back in February. They hope the next president will also care about Africa, despite big challenges at home.
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SESAY: No matter how the election turns out, one thing is clear -- Obama's candidacy has put a little more money in a few merchants' pockets.
And there we must leave it. We'll have a brand new edition of INSIDE AFRICA next week, including reaction from Kenya. Check our Web site for a list of times. We're leaving now with some images of this election season from Africa and the United States.
I'm Isha Sesay, thank you for watching.
END
