Abuja — President Bill Clinton arrived in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, this morning for a two-day visit, accompanied by his daughter Chelsea and a large delegation of administration officials and members of Congress.

He was greeted at the airport by President Olusegun Obasanjo, who also hosted the only other American president ever to visit Africa while in office, Jimmy Carter.

Obasanjo, who was head of a military regime in 1978 when Carter came and presided over a handover to an elected civilian government two years later, was the victor in last year's presidential election.

Arrival ceremonies were far less elaborate than Nigeria had planned, curtailed at the insistence of the U.S. Secret Service, which limited the number of dancers and restricted the size of the official welcoming party to 40.

Live telecast of the arrival started late after American officials insisted on relocation of Nigerian Television's satellite dish just moments before the American president's plane, Air Force One, touched down.

Presentation of the key to the city took place on the airport tarmac rather than at the ceremonial welcoming stand on the road into town. The dancers on hand at the city gate only received the two presidents' waves, as the long motorcade slowed but passed by without stopping.

From the airport, Clinton was taken on a drive through the capital, which is 500 miles inland from the country's largest city, Lagos, and then to the presidential villa for bilateral discussions on a range of political and economic issues. Clinton is scheduled to address the National Assembly and attend a State Dinner in the evening.

On Monday, the U.S. president heads to Tanzania to give a boost to the effort led by former South African President Nelson Mandela to bring peace to the small East African nation of Burundi, which borders both Tanzania and Rwanda.