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Gambia News : US envoy hosts Obama inauguration ceremony in The Gambia

This was just hours after the inauguration, which took place in Washington DC. The evening’s programme also included broadcasts of Obama’s life history as well as the late Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech in the 1960s.

According to the ambassador Barry Wells, Americans from all walks of life have watched with friends and family members what was a historic and life changing event.

“The tears that fell,” according to Wells, “are tears of joy and satisfaction that America has come so far in such a short time; showing the world that even as an imperfect nation they can continue to seek a more perfect union.

“Tonight we are also recognizing our national holiday of yesterday, the 80th birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Forty five years ago, Dr. King gave a speech on the same lawn that President Barack Obama spoke from this afternoon.

“But, oh how different is their content,” Wells remarked, adding that on August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of people came to Washington, DC, to march “for jobs, for freedom, and for equality.”

This time round, he said millions of people gathered in Washington to acknowledge Dr. King’s dream realized- that a man be measured by the content of his character and not by the color of his skin.

Wells said standing there that night, one could not help but feel the sweeping hand of democracy at its best, stressing that many of his generation never contemplated the possibility of a black president of the United States in their lifetime.

He told the guests: “On November 4, 2008 when Barack Obama was declared the winner, the tears I shed were joyful but also sad. Because I understood that for all the many insults and painful moments I endured as a black man in America, they paled in comparison to those endured by my father and his father and generations of black men and women who endured and survived and to raise their families but yet never raised their voices against their country.”

“Much like the end of Apartheid in South Africa, the history books will never be able to capture that which we are feeling this evening,” Wells said.

He however noted that President Obama is faced with many challenges: an economic crisis of global proportions; the responsibility of managing two wars; civil unrest in various parts of the world, challenging diplomatic relations with an assortment of countries, a global environment and food crisis, and much more.

Also speaking at the occasion was the Gambia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Omar Touray. He said Africa and elsewhere look forward to the promised change because they all know “as things stand, the world cannot persist in business as usual.”

But he said he was confident that the promised change would bring back the peace and security that has long eluded the world.

He said the Gambia welcomed Obama’s pledge that justice, tolerance and mutual respect will underpin the change he advocates.

“Once again, The Gambia extends a hand of friendship to the United States of America and its people. We trust that we will see change not only in international affairs but also in bilateral relations, and I am confident that with the heightened sense of justice, tolerance, mutual respect and fair-play, we can promote our mutual interest and attain our common objectives of security and freedom from want.”