New York — African issues will be in the spotlight Tuesday when President Barack Obama hosts a luncheon for some two dozen African heads of state and government at the United Nations on the first day of the annual opening session of the General Assembly.
"This event will focus on how the United States can work in partnership with African governments to strengthen African economic and social development," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice told reporters last week. "The talk will focus primarily on three topics: job creation, especially for young people; creating a more conducive climate for trade and investment; and ways to mobilize African agriculture to create jobs and help feed the continent," she said.
Three leaders have been asked to address the issues. Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is speaking about youth and jobs. Paul Kagame of Rwanda is talking about investment, and Tanzania's Jakaya Kikwete is discussing agriculture. They were selected to highlight the progress their countries are making under their direction, U.S. officials said.
A number of the leaders taking part in the lunch made last-minute decisions to come to New York after White House invitations were issued early last week. Because only the top leader in each country was invited, several presidents opted to attend rather than leave their countries unrepresented at the high-profile event.
In what one senior U.S. policymaker said was "an embarrassing error by an over-zealous official," Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga was initially invited and then told that he was not eligible to attend. President Mwai Kibaki is not taking part in this year's General Assembly debate.
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"If Kikwete had not been able to come," the senior aide said, "we wouldn't have invited Tanzania's prime minister either."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who made a seven-nation, 11-day trip across Africa last month, played a major role in shaping the luncheon and will attend as well, the official said.
Obama is making his first appearance as U.S. president at the United Nations, where he will take part in a climate change summit, also Tuesday, address the General Assembly on Wednesday and chair a high-level Security Council meeting on nuclear disarmament on Thursday before leaving for the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh.
Rice said Tuesday's luncheon offers an "unprecedented" opportunity for the president "to engage with leaders from African countries on the issues that are frankly most pressing to them."
President George W. Bush held several group sessions with African presidents at the White House, and, in 2002, met with 11 leaders in three separate gatherings while he was attending the General Assembly opening debate in New York. But today's event represents the first time an American head of state has hosted such a large number of his African counterparts.
