UPDATED: Obama promises more financial aid to Kenya while lecturing country on anti-gay policies

[DonViejo]

Last edited Sat Jul 25, 2015, 03:06 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Reuters

President Barack Obama told Kenya on Saturday the United States was ready to work more closely in the battle against Somalia’s Islamist group al Shabaab, but chided his host on gay rights and said no African state should discriminate over sexuality.

Obama also said during his first visit as president to his father’s homeland that Kenya had to tackle corruption by showing it was prosecuting culprits, saying it would spur growth. Graft is cited as a major obstacle to business across Africa.

The U.S. president has been seeking to strengthen business ties with a continent that is home to some of the world’s fastest growing economies. Earlier on Saturday he addressed a U.S.-sponsored conference to encourage entrepreneurs.

But security was high on the agenda in talks with his counterpart President Uhuru Kenyatta, whose country has suffered a spate of attacks by al Shabaab militants.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2015/07/obama-promises-more-financial-aid-to-kenya-while-lecturing-country-on-anti-gay-policies/

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UPDATE:

Kenyan Leader: Gay Rights Are ‘Nonissue’

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta dismissed gay rights as a “nonissue” in the country and said it was not a priority during a joint news conference with President Obama. Obama pushed for equal rights for gays during his visit, saying that “when a government gets in the habit of treating people differently, those habits can spread. Gay sex is punishable by up to 14 years in prison in Kenya.

Read it at NBC News

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/07/25/kenyan-leader-gay-rights-are-nonissue.html

[forest444]

1. I'm happy for Obama personally,

but the president does himself a real disservice by coddling repressive regimes like that of Uhuru Kenyatta - a man indicted by the ICC for his leading role in the post-election massacre of 2007 (of the infamous 'Ocampo Six'). That Kenyatta is also intolerant of his country's gay community (insert birther joke here) is, of course, a further testament to the problem we should have with governments like Kenya's current one.

Obama's more than entitled to this visit for its personal importance to him; but he shouldn't forget the reality on the ground.

[Fred Sanders]

3. "The reality on the ground" in America is that one party has taken total leave of reality. Focus!

[forest444]

4. Absolutely.

It's always fun to hear the right bring up problems in other countries whenever Obama visits any given country, or makes an effort to improve relations to said country - something they quickly point out progressives often do when a Republican is in office.

But it's pure disingenuousness coming from the GOP of course, because since Nixon all Republican presidents have made it the nation's business to staunchly ally us with the most brutal dictators they could find (sadistic juntas; cocaine republics and their kingpin friends; kleptocrats like Marcos, Suharto, and Mobutu; ethnic cleansers; and so on). The harm that coddling all these monsters over the years has done to U.S. credibility abroad is beyond measure, and while Democrats have also been in good terms with some of these miscreants, it really is a Republican foreign policy legacy.

[Bluenorthwest]

2. Words words, you get a check no matter how you treat 'em, words, words....

I'm glad the President got to see his family but this is just more crap. They tax gay people and give our money to people who hate us.