{"id":138020,"date":"2015-07-27T11:29:00","date_gmt":"2015-07-27T11:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=138020"},"modified":"2015-07-27T11:29:00","modified_gmt":"2015-07-27T11:29:00","slug":"obama-begins-key-talks-in-ethiopia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2015\/07\/obama-begins-key-talks-in-ethiopia\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama begins key talks in Ethiopia"},"content":{"rendered":"
US President Barack Obama is holding talks with Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on the second leg of his African tour.<\/p>\n
They are expected to centre on human rights and regional security issues, as well as the civil war in South Sudan.<\/p>\n
Mr Obama is the first serving US leader to visit Ethiopia and will be the first to address the 54-member African Union in Addis Ababa on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Mr Obama flew to Ethiopia after a two-day visit to Kenya.<\/p>\n
There he had discussed trade and security but also called for greater human rights and warned of the dangers of corruption.<\/p>\n
The US president was greeted at Addis Ababa’s international airport on Sunday by Mr Hailemariam.<\/p>\n
In talks on South Sudan with leaders from Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda as well as the Sudanese foreign minister, he is expected to call for tougher sanctions and a possible arms embargo if the warring factions do not agree on a peace deal.<\/p>\n
However, a US official travelling with Mr Obama said they were not expected to lead to a breakthrough.<\/p>\n
“This is an opportunity to reinforce the effort that’s on the table and to strategise… on next steps in the event that it doesn’t succeed,” the official told reporters.<\/p>\n