YALIYOJIRI ZIARA YA OBAMA AFRIKA KUSINI

First Lady Michelle glows in stunning burnt orange dress at glamorous South African dinner after President's meeting with Mandela's relatives

• The Obamas first full day in South Africa ended on Saturday evening with an official dinner in Pretoria
• The president meet briefly earlier on Saturday with members of Mandela's family and spoke on the phone to the ailing leader's wife
• He is not now planning to see the man he has called a personal hero
• The First Lady also spoke to young South Africans and shared her own story of growing up without wealth and facing doubts

The President and First Lady ended a busy first full day in South Africa by attending an official dinner along with South African president Jacob Zuma and first lady Thobeka Madiba-Zuma in Pretoria on Saturday evening.
Michele Obama looked stunning in a pleated one-shoulder evening dress which looked to incorporate all the colors of a South African sunset.
The Obamas are staying in nearby Johannesburg overnight before stopping in Cape Town on Sunday and visiting Robben Island, the prison where Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in jail.
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President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are greeted by South Africa's President Jacob Zuma and South African First Lady Thobeka Madiba-Zuma at an official dinner in Pretoria on Saturday evening

First Lady Michelle Obama looked stunning in a pleated one-shoulder evening dress which seemed to incorporate all the colors of a South African sunset

Obama's stop in South Africa marks the midway point of a week-long trip to Africa, his most significant engagement with the continent since taking office in 2009. The trip will close with a visit to Tanzania.
Earlier in the day Michelle Obama challenged young adults in South Africa to channel the hope that former President Nelson Mandela held while imprisoned for 27 years during racist white rule.

More...

• President Obama lands in South Africa but WON'T be visiting ailing statesman Nelson Mandela whose condition remains critical but stable
• 'Mandela is an inspiration to the world': Obama pays tribute to critically-ill anti-apartheid hero as he holds press conference in South Africa
• 'I hope Nelson Mandela will be out of hospital very soon', says South African President Jacob Zuma

She was speaking at an engagement on the first full day of the first family's trip to South Africa which also included the President meeting privately with Nelson Mandela's family as the world anxiously awaited news on the condition of the ailing 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader.
As the nation continues to pray for Mandela, who has been hospitalized since June 8, the first lady also offered her prayers to the ailing anti-apartheid leader she said had 'laid the foundation for all of us.'

Michelle Obama challenged young adults in South Africa to channel the hope that former President Nelson Mandela held while imprisoned at an event on Saturday in Johannesburg

President Obama gestures during a town hall meeting with young African leaders at the University of Johannesburg, he also found time to meet briefly with relatives of ailing statesman Nelson Mandela

Sasha Obama and her cousin Leslie Robinson, sit together before U.S. first lady Michelle Obama speaks at a youth event organized in conjunction with MTV Base

'Our thoughts and prayers are with President Mandela and we hold him and his family in our hearts,' she told the 200 young adults who had gathered at the Sci-Bono Discovery Center in downtown Johannesburg.
The Obamas are in South Africa as part of a tour of three African countries. 
As President Barack Obama spoke to students at the University of Johannesburg's Soweto Campus, the first lady participated in a round-table discussion that was taped for an MTV Base Meets show, a series which connects young people with key influencers in various sectors.

Surrounded by four South African youths who have made significant contributions in their community, Michelle Obama shared her story of growing up without wealth and facing doubts that she could become successful.

She urged students to not be overwhelmed by doubts, to become risk takers and to think about the legacy they will leave for the next generation.

Surrounded by four South African youths who have made significant contributions in their community, Michelle Obama shared her story of growing up without wealth and facing doubts that she could become successful

U.S. President Barack Obama held a joint news conference with South African President Jacob Zuma in Pretoria on Saturday

President Obama met with African Union Commission Chair Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, in Johannesburg, South Africa on Saturday

'Now more than ever before, we need you guys to step up as leaders,' she said. 'We need you to be engaged in the pressing matters of our time.'
President Obama is not planning to see the man he has called a personal hero and revered Saturday as 'one of the greatest people in history.'

But Obama did meet with two of Mandela's daughters and eight of his grandchildren at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, part of the former president's foundation.
Obama said he told the family he hopes Mandela draws comfort from the time he's spending with loved ones.

'I also reaffirmed the profound impact that his legacy has had in building a free South Africa, and in inspiring people around the world - including me,' Obama said in a statement after the visit.
'That's a legacy that we must all honor in our own lives.'

A protester holds a huge poster depicting US President Barack Obama wearing a toothbrush mustache and reading 'I've changed' during a demonstration against Obama's visit to the University of Johannesburg on Saturday

Women of an ANC women's organization sings songs to honor former South African President Nelson Mandela in front of his house in Soweto on Saturday

U.S. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama are greeted by Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Mkoana-Mashabne after arriving in Pretoria, South Africa

Welcome to South Africa: The president arrives in South Africa, but isn't now expected to meet with former South African president and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela who is ill in hospital

Obama also spoke by telephone with Graca Machel, Mandela's wife, while she stayed at his bedside in the hospital. Machel said she drew strength from the call and that Obama added a characteristic 'touch of personal warmth.'
'I am humbled by their comfort and messages of strength and inspiration, which I have already conveyed' to Mandela, she said.
President Obama also praised the former South African president's "moral courage" during remarks from the grand Union Buildings where Mandela was inaugurated as his nation's first black president.
Obama also called on the continent's leaders, including in neighboring Zimbabwe, to take stock of Mandela's willingness to put country before self and step down after one term despite his immense popularity.
'We as leaders occupy these spaces temporarily and we don't get so deluded that we think the fate of our country doesn't depend on how long we stay in office,' Obama said during a news conference with South African President Jacob Zuma.
Obama's stop in South Africa marked the midway point of a week-long trip to Africa, his most significant engagement with the continent since taking office in 2009.

U.S. President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia arrive at Waterkloof Air Base in South Africa on Friday evening

Obama's three-day trip to South Africa includes a visit to Cape Town's Robben Island, where Mandela spent 18 years imprisoned

His lack of personal attention on the region has frustrated some Africans who had high expectations for the first black American president and son of a Kenyan man.
Even with Mandela's health casting a shadow over his visit, Obama tried to keep focus on an agenda that includes deeper U.S. economic ties with Africa.
The president dismissed suggestions that he was only investing personal capital on Africa's economy now as a response to the increased focus on the continent by China, India, Brazil and others.
'I want everybody playing in Africa,' Obama said. 'The more, the merrier.'
But the president pointedly called on Africans to make sure that countries seeking an economic foothold on the continent are making a 'good deal for Africa.'
'If somebody says they want to come build something here, are they hiring African workers?' Obama said.
'If somebody says that they want to help you develop your natural resources, how much of the money is staying in Africa? If they say that they're very interested in a certain industry, is the manufacturing and value-added done in Africa?'

The President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are in South Africa as the second leg of their three country tour of Africa and arrived from Senegal

Air Force One touched down at the Waterkloof Air Base in Centurion, near Pretoria on Friday evening and the President was welcomed with an arrival ceremony

I don't need a photo op: Obama won't meet Mandela

The White House had said it was up to the family of Nelson Mandela to decide if Obama could pay a visit to the ailing former president in hospital

Obama did not specifically mention China, but some African leaders have criticized Beijing for such behaviors.
Obama's focus on trade and business appeared to be well received in Africa, home to six of the world's 10 fastest-growing economies. The majority of the questions he received from the South African press and later at a town hall meeting with young African leaders focused on U.S. economic interests in the region.
Obama, who has met Mandela in person only once before, did not visit the former leader in the hospital out of respect for his family's wishes, the White House said.
Ahead of his arrival in South Africa, the president had told reporters that he did not need 'a photo-op' and didn't want to be obtrusive.
Obama ascent to the White House has drawn inevitable comparisons to Mandela. Both are their nations' first black presidents, symbols of racial barrier breaking and winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Zuma said Obama and Mandela 'both carry the dreams of millions of people in Africa and in the diaspora who were previously oppressed.'

South African military personnel roll out the red carpet on the tarmac as U.S. President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and their family arrive in South Africa on Friday evening

People protesting against Obama's visit to South Africa carried placards in Pretoria on Friday

Demonstrators burned an American flag while protesting against the offical visit of Barack Obama in front of the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria

Zuma said Mandela's condition remained the same as it had in recent days - critical yet stable - though he expressed hope that Mandela soon would leave the hospital.
Later Saturday, Obama held a town hall with young people in Soweto, an area of Johannesburg that was the center of the youth-driven movement to fight against South Africa's apartheid government.
At least 176 young people were killed there 27 years ago this month during a youth protest against the white government's ban against teaching local Bantu languages.
The Soweto Uprising catalyzed international support against apartheid, and June is now recognized as Youth Month in South Africa.
Outside the event, protesters under police watch demonstrated outside the university against Obama's record on surveillance and foreign policy.
Protesters from a range of trade unions and civil society groups chanted, 'Away with intelligence, away,' holding posters depicting Obama with an Adolf Hitler moustache.

About 800 people marched through Pretoria to voice their opposition to Obama and U.S. policy in South Africa and around the world, while some demonstrators burned an American flag

In Cape Town tributes to the ailing former president were painted on stones

In Africa, where some governments struggle with corruption, Obama has made it a priority to promote civic activism among young people and invest in their development.
He hosted young leaders from more than 40 African countries at the White House in 2010 and announced plans during the event to expand the program.
About 600 youth leaders from South Africa attended the town hall, with other young people participating via video conference from Uganda, Nigeria and Kenya, Obama's ancestral homeland.
Kenya's current political environment made it impossible for Obama to visit the country where many of his relatives live.
The International Criminal Court is prosecuting Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta for crimes against humanity, including murder, deportation, rape, persecution and inhumane acts allegedly committed by his supporters in the aftermath of Kenya's 2007 elections.

'The timing was not right for me as the president of the United States to be visiting Kenya when those issues are still being worked on, and hopefully at some point resolved,' said Obama, though he added that he planned to make many more trips to the East African nation.
The president planned to stop in Cape Town on Sunday and visit Robben Island, the prison where Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in jail. Obama will close his trip with a visit to Tanzania.

The stones left in Cape Town were painted with 'Madiba', Nelson Mandela's tribe name

Mandela is being treated at the Mediclinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria, where wellwishers have been leaving tributes since his admission for a recurring lung infection

RETURN': OBAMA PAYS

On Friday South Africans protesting Obama's visit to their country rallied a few blocks from well-wishers at the hospital in Pretoria where Mandela is critically ill.
About 200 trade unionists, student activists and South African Communist Party members gathered in the capital Pretoria to protest Obama's visit this weekend, calling his foreign policy 'arrogant, selfish and oppressive'.
'We had expectations of America's first black president,' said Khomotso Makola, a 19-year-old law student.
'Knowing Africa's history, we expected more.
'He has come as a disappointment, I think Mandela too would be disappointed and feel let down.'
South African critics of Obama have focused in particular on his support for U.S. drone strikes overseas, which they say have killed hundreds of innocent civilians, and his failure to deliver on a pledge to close the U.S. military detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba housing terrorism suspects.
Hundreds of protesters marched to the U.S. embassy in a peaceful protest against Obama's impending visit.
The demonstrators opposed U.S. policy on Cuba, the war in Afghanistan, global warming and other issues.

Some protesters dressed as a Guantanamo detainees to join the 800-strong march against Obama's visit in Pretoria

One placard accused Obama of being a 'Zionist Uncle Tom'. The 'Uncle Tom' refers to the title character faithful slave in Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin and used to insult a black person perceived as too keen on winning the approval of white people

Outside the Parliament building in Cape Town a young girl held up a placard reading: 'Stop plunder of Africa'

The Pretoria protest was by organised by trade unionists and members of the South African Communist Party

The rally in Pretoria was organized by trade unionists and members of the South African Communist Party.
The protesters want to raise public awareness and warn U.S. citizens about human rights violations committed by the Obama administration, which includes the non-closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison holding terrorism suspects, said campaign coordinator Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.
'Their administration's government is not welcome, and is being received with antagonism,' Ndlozi said.
'Therefore they'll have to rethink the standards by which they hold their government.'
Protesters carried signs that read: 'No, You Can't Obama,' a message inspired by the 'Yes We Can' campaign slogan adopted by the president during his first run for election.

Outside Cape Town's parliament building demonstrators protested against America's support of Israel

Demonstrators staged a similar protest outside the Parliament building in Cape Town where Obama's record on human rights and trade relations in Africa were questioned.
'He's coming here to plunder Africa and South Africa,' protester Abdurahman Khan said.
'He's coming for the wealth and resources, for the gold and the diamond mines, while the majority of Africans and South Africans are suffering.'