United States presidential visits to Sub-Saharan Africa
# United States presidential visits to Sub-Saharan Africa

Six United States presidents have made presidential visits to Sub-Saharan Africa. The first was an offshoot of Franklin D. Roosevelt's secretive World War II trip to French Morocco for the Casablanca Conference. More recently, Barack Obama, the first U.S. president with African American ancestry, visited his father's native Kenya in 2015. Of the 46 African nations identified as sub-Saharan by the United Nations, 14 have been visited by an American president.

## Table of visits

| President | Dates | Country or territory | Locations | Key details |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt | January 13, 1943 | Gambia Gambia | Bathurst | Overnight stop en route to Casablanca. |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt | January 25, 1943 | Gambia Gambia | Bathurst | Overnight stop en route from Casablanca. |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt | January 26–27, 1943 | Liberia | Monrovia | Informal visit; met with President Edwin Barclay. |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt | December 9, 1943 | French West Africa | Dakar | Stopped en route home to U.S. after conferring with General Dwight D. Eisenhower in Tunis, Tunisia, following Tehran Conference and Second Cairo Conference. |
| Jimmy Carter | March 31–April 3, 1978 | Nigeria | Lagos | State visit; Met with President Olusegun Obasanjo. |
| Jimmy Carter | April 3, 1978 | Liberia | Monrovia | Met with President William R. Tolbert, Jr. |
| George H. W. Bush | December 31, 1992–January 2, 1993 | Somalia | Mogadishu, Baidoa, Baledogle Airfield | Visited international relief workers and U.S. military personnel. |
| Bill Clinton | March 23, 1998 | Ghana | Accra | Met with President Jerry Rawlings; visited a Peace Corps project. |
| Bill Clinton | March 23–25, 1998 | Uganda | Kampala, Kisowera, Mukono, Wanyange, Entebbe | Met with President Yoweri Museveni and with the Presidents of Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. |
| Bill Clinton | March 25, 1998 | Rwanda | Kigali | Met with President Pasteur Bizimungu; delivered a public address. |
| Bill Clinton | March 25–29, 1998 | South Africa | Cape Town, Johannesburg | Met with President Nelson Mandela; addressed joint session of Parliament. |
| Bill Clinton | March 29–31, 1998 | Botswana | Gaborone, Kasane | Met with President Quett Masire; visited Chobe National Park. |
| Bill Clinton | March 31–April 2, 1998 | Senegal | Dakar, Thies, Goree Island | Met with President Abdou Diouf; visited Senegalese peacekeeping troops; delivered several public addresses. |
| Bill Clinton | August 26–28, 2000 | Nigeria | Abuja, Ushafa, Abuja | Met with President Obasanjo and addressed the National Assembly. |
| Bill Clinton | August 28–29, 2000 | Tanzania | Arusha | Met with former South African President Mandela to promote a peace agreement for Burundi; also met with President Benjamin Mkapa. |
| George W. Bush | July 8, 2003 | Senegal | Dakar, Goree Island | Met with President Abdoulaye Wade. |
| George W. Bush | July 8–11, 2003 | South Africa | Pretoria | Met with President Thabo Mbeki. |
| George W. Bush | July 10, 2003 | Botswana | Gaborone | Met with President Festus Mogae. Toured Mokolodi Nature Reserve. |
| George W. Bush | July 11, 2003 | Uganda | Kampala | Met with President Yoweri Museveni. |
| George W. Bush | July 11–12, 2003 | Nigeria | Abuja | Met with President Olusegun Obasanjo. |
| George W. Bush | February 16, 2008 | Benin | Cotonou | Met with President Yayi Boni. |
| George W. Bush | February 16–19, 2008 | Tanzania | Dar es Salaam, Arusha | Met with President Jakaya Kikwete, signed Millenimum Challenge agreement. |
| George W. Bush | February 19, 2008 | Rwanda | Kigali | Met with President Paul Kagame and dedicated new embassy. |
| George W. Bush | February 19–21, 2008 | Ghana | Accra | Met with President John Kufuor. |
| George W. Bush | February 21, 2008 | Liberia | Monrovia | Met with President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. |
| Barack Obama | July 10–11, 2009 | Ghana | Accra | Met with President John Atta Mills. Delivered a speech to the Ghanaian Parliament. Toured a former departing point of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the Cape Coast Castle. |
| Barack Obama | June 26–28, 2013 | Senegal | Dakar | Met with President Macky Sall. |
| Barack Obama | June 28–July 1, 2013 | South Africa | Johannesburg, Pretoria, Soweto, Cape Town | Met with President Jacob Zuma and with members of the Mandela family; gave a speech on trade and investment, development, democracy and security partnerships; visited Robben Island. |
| Barack Obama | July 1–2, 2013 | Tanzania | Dar es Salaam | Met with President Jakaya Kikwete. Laid a wreath at the memorial to the 1998 United States embassy bombing. Participated in trade and investment discussions; accompanied by business leaders. |
| Barack Obama | July 2, 2013 | Senegal | Dakar | Stopped during return to Washington D.C. |
| Barack Obama | December 9–11, 2013 | South Africa | Johannesburg | Attended the memorial service for former President Nelson Mandela. |
| Barack Obama | July 24–26, 2015 | Kenya | Nairobi | Attended the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit. Also met with President Uhuru Kenyatta. |
| Barack Obama | July 26–28, 2015 | Ethiopia | Addis Ababa | Met with the government of Ethiopia and addressed the African Union. |
