Obama urges Kenyan leaders to ease ethnic tensions

KOGELO, Kenya – Former US President Barack Obama on Monday urged Kenya's leaders to turn their backs on ethnic policies that often resulted in violence and anti-corruption

. Obama hailed the rapprochement between President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga, while saying that they must do more to repair the divisions between the 40 or so ethnic groups in Kenya [19659004]. 1,200 people were killed in the fighting that followed the disputed Odinga and Kenyatta elections in 2007.

"It means no longer seeing the different ethnicities as enemies or rivals but rather as allies, Obama, whose father was Kenyan, said: "The first black president of the United States, whose eight-year term preceded the election of Donald Trump in November 2016, was in Kenya to open the center, which is run by his half -soeur Auma through his charity, the Sauti Kuu Foundation.

This was his fourth trip to Kenya. He made his first in 1987, a journey that he narrated in his book "Dreams of my father ", followed by a visit as a senator in 2006 and then as president in 2015.

During his visit, Obama avoided any public mention of his successor and the division policy that took root in the United States since Trump's victory On Democrat Hillary Clinton

Obama also noted the corruption scandals that have spoiled the Kenyatta administration, saying that corruption is holding back economic development and undermining public confidence in the government.

Kenyan media have reported dozens of corruption scandals since Kenyatta was re-elected last year. In May, 54 people, most of them public servants, were charged with investigating the theft of nearly $ 100 million in public funds from the National Youth Service.

After Kenya, Obama will visit South Africa. deliver a speech marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of the anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela