Barack Obama has made a scathing attack on Africa’s culture of presidents-for-life, urging the continent’s leaders to follow the example of George Washington and Nelson Mandela by respecting term limits, and saying of himself: “I think if I ran I could win, but I can’t.”

The US president, addressing the African Union (AU) on Tuesday at its headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at the close of a four-day visit to east Africa, also repeated his impassioned plea for girls to be treated equally and not suffer mutilation of their bodies.

The fragility of Africa’s recent democratic gains has been exposed by the decision by the Burundian president, Pierre Nkurunziza, to override the constitution and gain election for a third term in a disputed victory, plunging the country into civil strife. Similar moves are afoot in Congo-Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda.

“I have to say Africa’s democratic progress is also at risk from leaders who refuse to step aside when their terms end,” Obama told delegates from across the continent.

“Let me be honest with you – I just don’t understand this. I am in my second term … I love my work but under our constitution, I cannot run again. I actually think I’m a pretty good president: I think if I ran I could win, but I can’t.

When a leader tries to change the rules just to stay in office, it risks instability and strife, as in Burundi Barack Obama

“There’s a lot that I’d like to do to keep America moving, but the law’s the law and no one person is above the law, not even the president. I’ll be honest with you, I’m looking forward to life after being president. I won’t have a great security detail all the time. I can take a walk, spend more time with my family, look for new ways to serve, and make more visits to Africa.”



He said he was puzzled why some African leaders clung to office, “especially when they’ve got a lot of money”, prompting huge cheers and whistles from the public gallery.

The president continued: “When a leader tries to change the rules in the middle of the game just to stay in office, it risks instability and strife, as we’ve seen in Burundi. And this is often just a first step down a perilous path. But if a leader thinks they’re the only person who can hold their nation together – if that’s true then that leader has failed to truly build their nation.

“Look at Nelson Mandela. Madiba – like George Washington – forged a lasting legacy by being willing to leave office and transfer power peacefully. And just as the African Union has condemned coups and illegitimate transfers of power, the AU’s authority and strong voice can also help the people of Africa ensure that their leaders abide by term limits and their constitutions.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest African leaders listen to the US president at the African Union headquarters. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

“Nobody should be president for life. Your country’s better off if you have new blood and new ideas. I’m still a pretty young man but I know someone with new energy and new insights will be good for my country. It will be good for your country, too.”

Mandela voluntarily gave up power in 1999, having served one five-year term. But Africa is still replete with leaders unwilling to let go. Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and José Eduardo dos Santos have ruled Equatorial Guinea and Angola respectively for 36 years. The Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, in power since 1980, was not invited to Obama’s speech despite being the current AU chairman.

I believe my two daughters ought to have every chance to pursue their dreams – the same goes for girls here in Africa

Earlier this month, the Rwandan parliament voted for a constitutional change to allow president Paul Kagame to run for a third term in office. Muthoni Wanyeki, regional director of rights watchdog Amnesty International, said: “It’s a new pushback against the gains made in the nineties. Many then, a period that was seen as Africa’s second liberation, created term limits but now these terms are coming to an end, and they’re determined to hold on to power by any means.”

Obama’s message on term limits was generally well received.

Hallelujah Lulie, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Ethiopia, said: “There are many countries with no term limits, but we have to start by respecting the constitutions where term limits are clearly set. If you look at the past five years, it has been a source of instability and insecurity so it’s good he addressed it.”

Akuei Bona Malwal, the South Sudanese ambassador the Ethiopia, added: “It’s right on. In Africa now there are enough educated young leaders who should be given a chance to give it a try. They might make mistakes because of their youth but that’s better than making a mistake because they stayed too long.”

Only two of Africa’s 54 leaders are women, in the Central African Republic and Liberia. Obama surprised some in Kenya with his blunt remarks on gender equality and gay rights. He returned to the latter theme in his address to the AU, which is headed by a woman, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma of South Africa.



“Africa is the beautiful, talented daughters who are just as capable as Africa’s sons,” he said. “As a father, I believe that my two daughters ought to have every chance to pursue their dreams – and the same goes for girls here in Africa. We can’t let old traditions stand in the way. The march of history shows that we have the capacity to broaden our moral imaginations. We come to see that some traditions keep us grounded, but that, in our modern world, other traditions set us back.”

Female genital mutilation (FGM) affects more than 130 million girls and women around the world. Most of the 29 countries that carry out FGM on girls are in Africa, and include Ethiopia. The practice carries a risk of severe bleeding, problems urinating, infections, infertility and complications in childbirth.

Obama added: “When African girls are subjected to the mutilation of their bodies, or early or forced marriage, that sets us back, and it needs to end. When more than 80% of new HIV cases in the hardest-hit countries are teenage girls, that’s a tragedy and it sets us back.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Barack Obama and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma of South Africa, the African Union Commission chairperson. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

The US was beginning a partnership with 10 African countries – Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe – to keep teenage girls safe and Aids-free, he said. The first lady, Michelle Obama, is leading an education and health campaign including a new initiative in Tanzania and Malawi.

“Africa is the beautiful, strong women these girls grow to become. The single best indicator of whether a nation will succeed is how it treats its women. When women have healthcare and education, families are stronger, communities are more prosperous and nations are more successful – just look at all the amazing African women here in this hall today.

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“Let’s work together to stop sexual assault and domestic violence. Let’s make clear that we will not tolerate rape as weapon of war – it is a crime and those who commit it must be punished. Let’s lift up the next generation of women leaders who can help fight injustice and forge peace and start new businesses and create jobs – and probably hire some men, too. We’ll all be better off when women have equal futures.”

Obama condemned corruption, wildlife trafficking and the rival leaders of South Sudan, a country that gained independence with US help, for plunging it into a civil war. “In South Sudan, the joy of independence has descended into the despair of violence. Neither Salva Kiir nor Riek Machar have shown any interest so far in sparing their people from this suffering or in reaching a political solution.”

Obama and regional leaders meeting on Monday gave Kiir and Machar a deadline to reach an agreement by 17 August. “If they do not, I believe the international community must raise the costs of intransigence,” he said.

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The first sitting US president to address the AU did so in $200m headquarters that were a gift from China, which is widely perceived as America’s rival on the continent. Africa’s trade with China is now roughly double that with the US.

Obama did not mention China by name, but said: “Of course, the United States isn’t the only country that sees your growth as an opportunity. This is a good thing. When more countries invest responsibly in Africa, it creates more jobs and prosperity for us all. But economic relationships cannot simply be about other countries building infrastructure with foreign labour or extracting Africa’s natural resources. Real economic partnerships have to be a good deal for Africa – they have to create jobs and capacity for Africans. That’s the kind of partnership America offers.

The US was investing in agriculture to lift 50 million Africans out of poverty, working to bring electricity to more than 60m African homes and businesses, supporting more than 40 African nations to prepare and adapt to climate change, and investing in better treatments and helping Africa better prevent and treat disease, he said.

“As Africa changes, I’ve called for the world to change its approach to Africa. So many Africans have told me: ‘We don’t just want aid, we want trade that fuels our progress. We don’t want patrons, we want partners who help us build our own capacity to grow. We don’t want the indignity of dependence, we want to make our own choices and determine our own future.’”

• The caption of the picture of Barack Obama and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was amended on 31 July 2015 to clarify that she is the chairperson the African Union Commission, not the African Union as an earlier version said.

