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Washington:
US President Barack Obama, who sees Mahatma Gandhi as an
inspiration, has asked young African leaders to follow the legendary
Indian icon to bring the changes they want in their continent.
"One of the things that I think everybody here has to really
internalise is the notion that, you know, I think it was (Mahatma)
Gandhi who once said, you have to be the change that you seek,"
Obama said.
He was responding to a question after addressing a meeting of Young
African Leaders Forum, which he had convened bringing in young
leaders from nearly 50 African countries to the White House.
In his speech at the event, the first of its kind organised by the
US for African leaders, Obama said Africa's future belongs to its
young people.
"We are going to keep helping empower African youth, supporting
education, increasing educational exchanges like the one that
brought my father from Kenya, in the days when Kenyans were throwing
off colonial rule and reaching for a new future," Obama said.
"We are helping to strengthen grassroots networks of young people
who believe, as they are saying in Kenya today, yes, youth can", he
said.
"You represent the Africa that so often is overlooked: the great
progress that many Africans have achieved, and the unlimited
potential that you've got going forward into the 21st century," he
added.
"I see Africa as a fundamental part of our interconnected world...
we have to have a strong, self-reliant and prosperous Africa," he
said.
"So the world needs your talents and your creativity We need young
Africans who are standing up and making thing happen, not only in
their own countries but around the world. And the US wants to be
your partner," Obama said.
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