VZCZCXRO2712
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHCO #0239 1561023
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 051023Z JUN 09 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY COTONOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0957
INFO RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1456
RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS COTONOU 000239 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/PD (ANYASO, TITUS, LISENBY), AF/W (ACOOK) 
 
AMEMBASSY PARIS FOR ARS (COWHER) 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KDEM KPAO BN
SUBJECT: COTONOU GPRA REPORT ON THE DVC "PRESIDENT OBAMA'S FIRST 100 
DAYS" 
 
¶1. DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITY: 
On May 19, PAS Cotonou hosted a Digital Video Conference program 
entitled "President Barack Obama's First 100 days." The program 
began with opening remarks from PAO Rhonda Watson, followed by 
Africa Regional Services (ARS) Deputy Director Linda Cowher's 
welcome remarks and introduction of the Speaker, Dr. Lorenzo Morris. 
 After Morris' 20-minute presentation, guests participated actively 
by asking several questions, including the following:  What will be 
the U.S. policy towards Africa during President Barack Obama's 
administration? What is President Obama's plan to promote 
development in Africa? What can the Beninese youth do to achieve 
change in Benin like President Obama is doing in the United States? 
What can the Obama administration do to provide immediate assistance 
to the poor and needy people of Africa? What is the policy of 
President Obama's administration with regard to the observation of 
elections in Africa? Will President Obama's administration pursue 
the AGOA program? 
 
¶2. DATE: May 19, 2009 - Third quarter 2009. 
 
¶3. JUSTIFICATION / OBJECTIVE: 
The election of Barack Obama as the first African-American President 
of the United States generated a lot interest and hope in Benin. In 
Africa in general and in Benin in particular, people sincerely 
believe that President Barack Obama will bring change to Africa, 
that he will change their future prospects and impact the relations 
between the U.S. and Africa at the political and economic levels. 
Thus, the purpose of Benin's participation in this program was to 
make an assessment of what the new President was able to achieve in 
100 days, and to examine if president Obama's first hundred days in 
the White House justifies the hope he has fostered. 
 
¶4. MPP UMBRELLA THEME AND AUDIENCE REACHED: 
Bolstering Democracy and Combating Corruption. 25 guests attended 
this program, including faculty members, members of the civil 
society, political activists, members of the AGOA committee, private 
media owners, journalists, members of President Barack Obama's local 
support committee, the Ambassador of the United States to Benin and 
the Deputy Chief of Mission. 
 
¶5. RESULT/IMPACT: Excellent 
This DVC program provided an opportunity to learn about the 
accomplishments of President Barack Obama during his first 100 days 
in office. According to Morris, despite his election during a period 
of war and world financial crisis, President Barack Obama took a 
number of measures and initiatives that constitute a source of hope 
and optimism for the international community.  These initiatives 
include his plan for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, a 
rescue plan to fight the world financial crisis, talks with the 
Latin American countries, immigration reforms, reinforcing 
humanitarian laws both in the United States and abroad, restoration 
of dialogue with the Muslim community, finding a sustainable 
solution to the Middle-East issue,  the pursuit of the war against 
terror, and most importantly, the appointment of an experienced 
African-American as Deputy Secretary of State for African Affairs. 
During her presentation following the program, Ambassador Gayleatha 
¶B. Brown answered questions and informed the audience that President 
Barack Obama is scheduled to make a major speech about his 
administration's policy towards Africa during his July 10 through 
July 11 visit to Ghana. 
 
¶6. NON-USG SOURCES OF IN-COUNTRY FUNDING / IN KIND SUPPORT: None. 
 
¶7. QUALITY OF U.S. SUPPORT AND OFFICE: Excellent. 
Kudos to ARS Paris for recruiting such a knowledgeable speaker to 
address this topic. Professor Morris' presentation was accurate and 
he provided clear and understandable answers to our guests. Post 
experienced no major technical difficulties during the program, 
except that there was a lag time delay between when the Speaker 
started to speak and when we actually heard the words. 
Rawlings