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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says it's important to fulfill what he calls "the extraordinary potential of today's Africa."
He welcomed an inaugural class of young African leaders to Washington today, and announced that their program is being expanded -- and renamed after former South African President Nelson Mandela.
The youngsters are taking part in the Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders. It's part of the broader Young African Leaders initiative that Obama launched in 2010.
Obama said the world's security and prosperity depend on what he calls "a strong, prosperous and self-reliant Africa."
Among those in the group who were singled out for praise by Obama were a Nigerian woman who distributes sterile kits for delivering babies, after a friend died in childbirth, and a woman from Senegal who started an academy to fight trafficking of young girls.
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APPHOTO DCMC115: President Barack Obama speaks to participants of the Presidential Summit for the Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders in Washington, Monday, July 28, 2014, during a town hall meeting. The President announced that the program will be renamed in honor of former South African President Nelson Mandela. The summit is the lead-up event to next week's inaugural U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, the largest gathering any U.S. President has held with African heads of state. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) (28 Jul 2014)
<<APPHOTO DCMC115 (07/28/14)££
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