5 November 2008
Heksinki — Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Wednesday welcomed Barck Obama's victory in the US presidential election, describing it as a sign that "American society is evolving".
Speaking to reporters in Helsinki, where he is on a working visit, Guebuza said the fact that blacks and whites, and Americans of Hispanic or Asian descent, had all voted for an African-American to be their next President was "a very positive sign, and we should all draw lessons from this".
In less than four decades, a remarkable change had occurred in the United States. Guebuza recalled that when he had visited the US in the 1970s, he had witnessed "shameful" discrimination against black people. Now the country had chosen a black man as its next leader. "It shows that this is a society in movement", he said.
Guebuza was confident that Obama will continue to work with Mozambique, and with other African governments, to help maintain peace and guarantee development on the continent.
Guebuza's host, Finnish President Tarya Halonen, was also enthusiastic about Obama, but pointed out he had come to power at a time of financial turmoil, and when the United States was still bogged down in Iraq.
In a veiled criticism of the anti-European stance of the current US President, George Bush, Halonen said he hoped Obama would work to establish good relations with Europe.
She added that Obama, born of a white American from the state of Kansas, and a black African from Kenya, was a symbol of today's globalised world.
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