What does Obama hope to accomplish on Africa trip?

By Ross Colvin

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama heads next week to Ghana, on the continent where his father was born, for his first trip as president to sub-Saharan Africa.

WHY IS OBAMA GOING TO AFRICA?

Africa has not been high on Obama's foreign policy agenda in his first six months in office as he wrestles with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea. As an African-American whose father was born in Kenya, Obama was anxious not to be seen as exaggerating the importance of Africa in U.S. foreign policy.

"He has not yet put his stamp on Africa. His visit to Ghana will be the start," said Whitney Schneidman, a former Africa policy adviser to Obama during his presidential campaign.

Obama has been outspoken, however, about the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, and one of his first acts as president was to appoint his friend, General Scott Gration, as his envoy to Sudan. He has also held talks with Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on the economic crisis in that country.

This will not be his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa. In 2006, he visited Kenya, Chad, Ethiopia, South Africa and Djibouti as a U.S. senator.

WHAT SIGNAL IS HE TRYING TO SEND BY CHOOSING GHANA?

Ghana, a former British colony that was the first African nation to win independence in 1957, held a closely contested presidential election which saw power peacefully transferred to opposition leader John Atta Mills in January.