World

The Overlooked Continent

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

March 20, 1998 / 2:48 PM EST / infoplease.com

President Clinton's visit to Africa has focused attention on a continent largely neglected by both American foreign policy and the media. His six-nation trip (March 22 -April 2) is the first official state visit an American president has made to sub-Saharan Africa in twenty years.

Although numerous presidents have visited North Africa, that region is generally considered to be a part of the Middle East, with the great ethnic divide of the Sahara cordoning off the largely Arab north from black Africa.

The roster of presidential visits south of the Sahara is sparse:

1992-93-- George Bush visited U.S. troops in Somalia over the New Year, but he did so to rally the troops and not as a diplomatic mission.

1978--Jimmy Carter made official state visits to Nigeria and Liberia.

1943--Franklin D. Roosevelt visited Liberia following the Casablanca Conference (CE) in Morocco.

Liberia's distinction as the only sub-Saharan country visited by two American presidents comes from its status as a former U.S. colony. It had been settled by freed American slaves before the Civil War.

Following is some background on the six nations on President Clinton's itinerary.

Ghana
· History
· Statistics and Current Events

Uganda
· History
· Statistics and Current Events

South Africa
· History
· Statistics and Current Events

Botswana
· History
· Statistics and Current Events

Rwanda
· History
· Statistics and Current Events

Senegal
· History
· Statistics and Current Events

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