United States presidential visits to Sub-Saharan Africa

Six United States presidents have made presidential visits to Sub-Saharan Africa. The first was an offshoot of Franklin D. Roosevelt's secretive World War II trip to French Morocco for the Casablanca Conference. More recently, Barack Obama, the first U.S. president with African American ancestry, visited his father's native Kenya in 2015. Of the 46 African nations identified as sub-Saharan by the United Nations,[1] 14 have been visited by an American president.

The countries of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Table of visits

President	Dates	Country or territory	Locations	Key detils
Franklin D. Roosevelt	January 13, 1943	Gambia	Bathurst	Overnight stop en route to Casablanca.[2]
	January 25, 1943			Overnight stop en route from Casablanca.[2]
	January 26–27, 1943	Liberia	Monrovia	Informal visit; met with President Edwin Barclay.[2]
	December 9, 1943	French West Africa	Dakar	Stopped en route home to U.S. after conferring with General Dwight D. Eisenhower in Tunis, Tunisia, following Tehran Conference and Second Cairo Conference.[2]
Jimmy Carter	March 31–April 3, 1978	Nigeria	Lagos	State visit; Met with President Olusegun Obasanjo.[3]
	April 3, 1978	Liberia	Monrovia	Met with President William R. Tolbert, Jr..[3]
George H. W. Bush	December 31, 1992–January 2, 1993	Somalia	Mogadishu, Baidoa, Baledogle Airfield	Visited international relief workers and U.S. military personnel.
Bill Clinton	March 23, 1998	Ghana	Accra	Met with President Jerry Rawlings; visited a Peace Corps project.[4]
	March 23–25, 1998	Uganda	Kampala, Kisowera, Mukono, Wanyange, Entebbe	Met with President Yoweri Museveni and with the Presidents of Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[4]
	March 25, 1998	Rwanda	Kigali	Met with President Pasteur Bizimungu; delivered a public address.[4]
	March 25–29, 1998	South Africa	Cape Town, Johannesburg	Met with President Nelson Mandela; addressed joint session of Parliament.[4]
	March 29–31, 1998	Botswana	Gaborone, Kasane	Met with President Quett Masire; visited Chobe National Park.[4]
	March 31–April 2, 1998	Senegal	Dakar, Thies, Goree Island	Met with President Abdou Diouf; visited Senegalese peacekeeping troops; delivered several public addresses.[4]
	August 26–28, 2000	Nigeria	Abuja, Ushafa, Abuja	Met with President Obasanjo and addressed the National Assembly.[4]
	August 28–29, 2000	Tanzania	Arusha	Met with former South African President Mandela to promote a peace agreement for Burundi; also met with President Benjamin Mkapa.[4]
George W. Bush	July 8, 2003	Senegal	Dakar, Goree Island	Met with President Abdoulaye Wade.[5]
	July 8–11, 2003	South Africa	Pretoria	Met with President Thabo Mbeki.[5]
	July 10, 2003	Botswana	Gaborone	Met with President Festus Mogae. Toured Mokolodi Nature Reserve.[5]
	July 11, 2003	Uganda	Kampala	Met with President Yoweri Museveni.[5]
	July 11–12, 2003	Nigeria	Abuja	Met with President Olusegun Obasanjo.[5]
	February 16, 2008	Benin	Cotonou	Met with President Yayi Boni.[5]
	February 16–19, 2008	Tanzania	Dar es Salaam, Arusha	Met with President Jakaya Kikwete, signed Millenimum Challenge agreement.[5]
	February 19, 2008	Rwanda	Kigali	Met with President Paul Kagame and dedicated new embassy.[5]
	February 19–21, 2008	Ghana	Accra	Met with President John Kufuor.[5]
	February 21, 2008	Liberia	Monrovia	Met with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.[5]
Barack Obama	July 10-11, 2009	Ghana	Accra	Met with President John Atta Mills. Delivered a speech to the Ghanaian Parliament. Toured a former departing point of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the Cape Coast Castle.[6]
	June 26–28, 2013	Senegal	Dakar	Met with President Macky Sall.[6]
	June 28–July 1, 2013	South Africa	Johannesburg, Pretoria, Soweto, Cape Town	Met with President Jacob Zuma and with members of the Mandela family; gave a speech on trade and investment, development, democracy and security partnerships; visited Robben Island.[6][7]
	July 1–2, 2013	Tanzania	Dar es Salaam	Met with President Jakaya Kikwete. Laid a wreath at the memorial to the 1998 United States embassy bombing.[6] Participated in trade and investment discussions; accompanied by business leaders.[7]
	July 2, 2013	Senegal	Dakar	Stopped during return to Washington D.C..[6]
	December 9–11, 2013	South Africa	Johannesburg	Attended the memorial service for former President Nelson Mandela.
	July 24–26, 2015	Kenya	Nairobi	Attended the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit. Also met with President Uhuru Kenyatta.[8]
	July 26–28, 2015	Ethiopia	Addis Ababa	Met with the government of Ethiopia and addressed the African Union.[9][10]

See also

• Foreign policy of the United States
• Foreign relations of the United States

References

1. "About Sub-Saharan Africa: Africa at a turning point". africa.undp.org. New York, New York: United Nations Development Programme. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
2. "Travels of President Franklin D. Roosevelt". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
3. "Travels of President Jimmy Carter". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
4. "Travels of President William J. Clinton". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
5. "Travels of President George W. Bush". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
6. "Travels of President Barack Obama". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
7. Epatko, Larisa, "Why Obama Is Visiting Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania But Not Kenya", PBS NewsHour, June 25, 2013. Retrieved 2013-08-18.
8. Ferris, Sarah. "Obama: Proud to be first U.S. president to visit Kenya". The Hill. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
9. Lee, Carol E. "Obama Becomes First U.S. President to Address African Union". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
10. "Obama to be first sitting U.S. President to visit Ethiopia". CNN. June 19, 2015. Retrieved June 28, 2015.