| Connect to share and comment |
Samantha StainburnFebruary 5, 2013 12:07
Kenya: Barack Obama video message urges peaceful elections (VIDEO)
US President Barack Obama has released a YouTube video urging citizens of Kenya to support peaceful elections in March.
US President Barack Obama has released a YouTube video urging citizens of Kenya to support peaceful elections in March.
Enlarge
Then-Sen. Barack Obama with his step-grandmother and sister (left) at his ancestral home in the village of Siaya near Kisumu, northern Kenya, in August 2006.
(Gary Knight/VII/GlobalPost)
US President Barack Obama, whose father was born in Kenya, has released a video on YouTube urging citizens of the East African country to support a peaceful election process next month.
Kenya is holding elections for president and other offices on March 4, the Associated Press reported. During the last presidential election, in 2007, more than 1,000 people died in politically-related violence.
More from GlobalPost: Kenya to hold elections in March 2013
“Habari yako,” Obama said in Swahili on the video. “Over the years, I’ve been greatly moved by the warmth and the spirit, the strength and resolve of the Kenyan people. And I’ve been grateful for my connection to Kenya, and the way you’ve welcomed me and my family to your beautiful country, from my father’s village of Alego to the bustling city of Nairobi.”
"Kenya must reject intimidation and violence and allow a free and fair vote. Kenyans must resolve disputes in the courts, not in the streets," Obama continued. "Above all, the people of Kenya must come together before and after the election to carry on the work of building your country.”
Obama was estranged from his father, Barack Hussein Obama Sr., a goat-herder turned economist who married Obama’s mother while a student at the University of Hawaii and divorced her when Obama was 3 years old. Obama Sr. died in a car accident in Kenya in 1982, BBC News reported.
The US president has visited Kenya three times, most recently in 2006, when he was a US Senator, according to the New York Times.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/130205/kenya-barack-obama-video-message-urges-peaceful-
.
-
Photo
Jaume Plensa's "Tel Aviv Man" at Art Basel, the world’s premier trade fair for leading galleries and collectors focused on modern and contemporary art.
- [/] -
Photo
The front of the Art Basel building. This year’s show attracted 303 of the world’s top galleries from 36 countries, showing the works of more than 2,500 artists. It drew more than 62,000 visitors, a new record.
- [/] -
Photo
Platform Gallery's Chen Wei and one of his "Recovery Room" series at Liste Young Artist's show. By the time the week was over he had sold more than 10 works, with prices ranging from $1,800 to nearly $3,000.
- [/] -
Photo
A performance spectator admires some of the pieces at Basel Art.
- [/] -
Photo
A performance piece at Basel Scope, done by an unidentified nearly naked man who moved in slow motion up and down the aisles dressed like a Greek version of Mars, the god of war.
- [/] -
Photo
A performance piece at Scope. The man clutched a staff, on which a plastic container for motor oil with the BP logo was impaled.
- [/] -
Photo
An installation piece at Basel Art.
- [/] -
Photo
An installation piece with paper tubes at Basel Art.
- [/] -
Photo
A gallery scene at the Scope Basel show.
- [/] -
Photo
A sculpture of Sperone Westwater Gallery's employee, Michael Short, by Evan Penny.
- [/] -
Photo
Evan Penny's sculpture of Michael Short.
- [/] -
Photo
A woman views Jaume Plensa's "Tel Aviv Man," (Study) 2010, Galerie Lelong, Paris.
- [/] -
Photo
"Medusa marinara," 1997 — a photographic representation of the Medusa in spaghetti and tomato sauce by New York-based Brazilian artist, Vic Muniz.
- [/] -
Photo
Children play around Ai Weiwei's piece, "Field," 2010.
- [/] -
Photo
Heimo Sobernig's "Black Cube" sits on display outside outside.
- [/] -
Photo
A piece by Yayoi Kusama titled "Pumkin."
- [/]
Follow us: