Aug 25, 2006 6:59 pm US/Central
Obama Remembers Hundreds of Kenyans Killed
Senator Speaks of The Neglect of Crime, Terrorism, and Divisive Ethnic Politics
by Mike Flannery
NAIROBI, Kenya (CBS) ―
In Africa,
Senator Barack Obama was treated like a head of state on Friday. Crowds of people waited hours on the streets of Nairobi just to see him. But the Senator's day wasn't all joyful.
As CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports, he paid solemn remembrance to the hundreds killed when al Qaeda struck the U.S. Embassy there.
Thousands gathered in downtown Nairobi hoping to catch a glimpse or perhaps to shake the hand of the Chicagoan who may be the most popular person in Kenya. The huge crowd came out to see Sen. Obama at the site of the former U.S. embassy in Nairobi that was bombed in 1998, killing a dozen Americans and more than 200 Kenyans.
He explained the al Qaeda-inspired bombing to his daughter at the memorial.
"It's useful to remember that this was the first substantially significant attack by bin Laden," Obama said. "Kenya is an important arena for terrorism and one we too often neglect."
He also spoke of neglect in a series of meetings with Kenya's president and other top officials.
Obama urged them to stop neglecting the serious problems of crime so bad in Nairobi that the U.S. State Department put out a travel warning about it, as well as the problems of corruption and divisive ethnic politics -- all problems that also plagued Chicago.
"Sound familiar? I used that example to show that there is hope, that there is nothing inherent in Kenyans to cause corruption," Obama said.
The senator now takes a break from serious business in favor of a sentimental journey Saturday to his late father's home in a rural village. An old friend of his late father insisted Barack Obama hasn't seen anything like the royal welcome he'll receive Saturday at the family's ancestral village.
"They're very excited," said Kenyan Parliament member Anyang Nyongo.
Nyongo has a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago. But other members of the Obama family's Luo tribe didn't need a doctorate to express their feelings.
"We love him," said Luo tribesman Shem Okwame. "We just want to have some fun with him."
Tribal tradition requires that a son build a samba, or hut, within the family compound - a topic that arose at a news conference today.
"I don't want you to think I will build a simba tomorrow," Obama said. "I want to see what they need at the family compound, which I can tell you is in pretty bad shape."
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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