US President Barack Obama to rename Africa program for Nelson Mandela

Washington:  A program designed to foster a new generation of young African leaders will be renamed after former South African President Nelson Mandela, the White House said Sunday.

 

President Barack Obama, who has said he was one of the untold millions of people around the world who were inspired by Mandela's life, is set to announce the name change at a town hall-style event on Monday in Washington with several hundred young leaders from across sub-Saharan Africa.

 

The youngsters are participating in the inaugural Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, part of the broader Young African Leaders Initiative that Obama launched in 2010 to support a new generation of leadership there. The fellowship is being renamed as a tribute to Mandela, who died last December at age 95.

 

Obama announced the fellowship during a stop in South Africa last summer. It connects young African leaders to leadership training opportunities at top U.S. universities.

 

In remarks at Monday's event, Obama also was announcing new public-private partnerships to create more programs for young African leaders, including four regional leadership centers across Africa, online classes and other resources, the White House said.

 

Mandela spent 27 years in jail under the apartheid regime, South Africa's former system of white minority rule, before eventually leading his country through a difficult transition to democracy. In 1994, he became the first democratically elected leader of a post-apartheid South Africa.

 

This week's events with the next generation of young African leaders are a lead-in to the inaugural U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, being held Aug. 4-6 in Washington. About 50 African leaders are expected to attend what the White House says will be the largest gathering any U.S. president has held with African heads of state and government.