Africa's lesson from Obama win

After the conclusion of the Beijing Olympic Games in late August, I arrived at the Nordic African Institute in Uppsala, Sweden for a three-month stay as a guest researcher. While there I felt the impact of the US presidential election on Africa and northern Europe.

Before Election Day the prevailing view of people there can be summed up in the disappointment with the Bush administration and the wish for Barack Obama to win whenever they were asked of their opinion about American politics and primary election.

On Nov 4, Tolu, a fellow researcher from Nigeria with whom I shared the office, stayed up all night (because of the time difference it was night time when Americans cast their votes and waited for the result) watching the BBC coverage of the US presidential election. He kept tabs of the ballot counts in each US state as they were announced one after another with no less attention than he would put on the presidential election of his own country.