Obama Gets Warm Welcome In Ghana

July 10, 2009 6:37 p.m. EST

Accra, Ghana (AHN) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday arrived in Ghana to the warm welcome of Ghanaian President John Atta-Mills and citizens of the western African nation.

Obama's arrival in Kotoka International airport in the capital Accra, which marked his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa since taking office, was greeted with the traditional drumming, chanting and dancing. He stepped down from the plane with his wife Michelle and two daughters.

Outside the airport, in the streets of Accra, locals paraded with a mock figure of Obama. Huge billboards showing the first black American president with Mills were all over the city.

The itinerary of Obama's 24-hour visit which starts Saturday will take him to a meeting with his counterpart and the country's former leaders John Kufuor and Jerry Rawlings. Obama will also address Ghana's parliament and visit a former slave trading center, the Cape Coast Castle, which shipped Africans to the Americas.

Obama chose Ghana as his next destination after attending the G8 meeting in Italy because he was reportedly impressed by the country's peaceful transition of power after January's close presidential elections, a sign of strong democracy in a region beset lately by coup d'etats.