Bartamaha (Nairobi):- President Obama sat down for an interview yesterday with South African Broadcasting Corporation in which he suggested that terrorists see African life as cheap.

Radical Islamists in Africa, he said, believe “any efforts to modernize, any efforts to provide basic human rights, any efforts to democratize are somehow anti-Islam.”

“And what you’ve seen in some of the statements that have been made by these terrorist organizations is that they do not regard African life as valuable in and of itself,” Mr. Obama added. “They see it as a potential place where you can carry out ideological battles that kill innocents without regard to long-term consequences for their short-term tactical gains.”

The comments appeared designed to trade on the president’s personal popularity in Africa to push Africans to aggressively repudiate groups like hard-line Somali Islamist group Al Shabaab, which has taken credit for a trio of bombings during the World Cup final that killed at least 74 people.

An administration official backed up Mr. Obama’s comments in an email to reporters, arguing that the “actions of al Qaeda and the groups that it has inspired show a willingness to sacrifice innocent African life to reach their targets.”

The e-mail cited the 1998 embassy bombings in which hundreds of Africans were killed, the Uganda World Cup bombings, and U.S. intelligence reports that Al Qaeda leadership purposely recruits black Africans for suicide bombings and “is racist against black members from West Africa because they are only used in lower level operations.”

“In short, al Qaeda is a racist organization that treats black Africans like cannon fodder and does not value human life,” the official said.

In the interview with South African Broadcasting Corporation, Mr. Obama contrasted a vision of a unified and modernizing Africa that is “on the move” with “a vision of al Qaeda and Al Shabaab that is about destruction and death.”

“I think it presents a pretty clear contrast in terms of the future that most Africans want for themselves and their children,” he said. “And we need to make sure that we are doing everything we can to support those who want to build, as opposed to want to destroy.”

The president spoke specifically about the World Cup, saying it was a “terrific showcase” for Africa that cut against stereotypes and “false perspectives about Africa capacity.”

He said the tournament showed that “when given an opportunity, Africa is a continent full of leaders, entrepreneurs, governments that can operate effectively.”

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Source:- cbsnews.

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