White House Confirms Obama's Ghana Trip

Barack Obama, the first African-American US president, will visit Ghana in July, on his first official trip dedicated to the continent of Africa, the White House said Saturday.

Obama, whose late father was from Kenya, will visit Ghana between July 10 and 11, after previously announced visits to Moscow on July 6 and 8 and the Group of Eight summit in Italy from July 8 to 10, the White House said in a statement.


"While in Ghana, the President will discuss a range of bilateral and regional issues with Ghanaian President Mills," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement.


"The President and Mrs. Obama look forward to strengthening the US relationship with one of our most trusted partners in sub-Saharan Africa," the statement said.


Obama also looked forward to highlighting the critical role that sound "governance and civil society play in promoting lasting development," Gibbs said.


While Obama will formally set foot as president on the African continent during his visit to Egypt on June 4 to give a speech to the Muslim world, his Ghana trip will be his first foreign voyage specifically targeting the African continent.


Obama has yet to flesh out his Africa policy, having been consumed with major foreign policy challenges in Europe and Asia and the world economic crisis so far in his nearly four months in power.

But he has appointed a special envoy to Sudan and Darfur and has been critical of the regime of President Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe.


Obama also this month said he would ask Congress for 63 billion dollars over six years to battle chronic global health crises, including AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, which will be heavily targeted towards Africa..


The initiative, which officials said would increase levels of spending already pushed to historic heights by the administration of Obama's predecessor George W. Bush, will also target neglected tropical diseases, infant mortality and other health threats.


"We cannot wall ourselves off from the world and hope for the best, nor ignore the public health challenges beyond our borders," Obama said in a statement.


Obama got a hero's welcome when he traveled to his family's ancestral village in western Kenya in 2006 while still a senator and before he announced his presidential campaign.


Unlike Obama, most African-Americans trace their ancestry back to sub-Saharan west Africa, from which colonial-era slave traders brought Africans in chains to the Americas