Barack Obama has called for African countries to follow the democratic example during a visit to Ghana today.

On his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa as US president Obama hailed Ghana’s stable democracy saying it should be the ‘model’ for the rest of the continent.

Obama said he wanted to assure Africa it was not excluded from world affairs, but called for widespread change in its governance.

Speaking after a meeting with Ghanaian President John Atta Mills in Accra this morning Obama said: “We wanted to make sure to come to an African country after the G8 and after my business in Moscow to emphasise that Africa is not separate from world affairs.

“We think that Ghana can be an extraordinary model for success throughout the continent.

"The 21st Century will be shaped by what happens not just in Rome or Moscow or Washington, but by what happens in Ghana as well.

"Development depends upon good governance.That is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long. And that is a responsibility that can only be met by Africans."

Ghana’s democracy, which held peaceful elections last year in which the ruling party conceded power, is seen as atypical of the coups and corruption, which blight other African nations.

President Mills welcomed Obama’s comments and said: “We like the positive signals that this visit is sending and will continue to send.”

“This encourages us also to sustain the gains that we have made in our democratic process.”

As the son of Kenyan immigrant Obama is revered by many Africans and his arrival in Ghana was greeted with cheering crowds, waving banners, billboards and posters plastered across the city.

During the 24 hour visit the president and his wife Michelle also made a trip to the Gold Coast Castle, a seaside fortress converted to the slave trade by the British in the 17th Century.

Obama said Africa’s colonial history had been the source of much conflict in the region , but could not be blamed for many of the continent's current problems

He said: "The West is not responsible for the destruction of the Zimbabwean economy over the last decade, or wars in which children are enlisted as combatants."

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