Clinton Home From African Tour

President and Mrs. Clinton are back at the White House after his 12-day tour of Africa - Mr. Clinton's longest trip as president.

His aides say the trip was worthwhile because it helped Americans to see Africa in a new light.

The Clintons' six-nation visit also took them to Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa and Botswana

They spent their last day in Senegal with a visit to Goree Island, a former slave trading post, off the coast of Dakar, where at least 20 million Africans where uprooted from their homes and shipped into bondage in the Americas over three centuries.

Mr. Clinton said the success of African-Americans proves the human spirit can never be enslaved.
The president pointed out that the descendants of some of those slaves became leaders of American society. He pointed out some examples in his delegation, including successful business and political leaders.

"Long after the slave ships stopped sailing to America, Goree Island still today looks out onto the new world connecting two continents, standing as a vivid reminder that for some of America's ancestors the journey to America was anything but a search for freedom and yet still a symbol of the bright new era of partnership between our peoples," he said.

Clinton visited the island to tour a former slave house and deliver a speech outlining his vision for future U.S.-African partnerships.

In a hazy sunshine, Clinton and his wife Hillary took a two-mile boat ride to Goree. They were greeted on the island by children waving flags and cheering. The president and first lady walked along a cobblestone path to a two-story, red-clay former slave house.

Goree Island is home to about 1,300 people. Its name means "good harbor." It was a principal site for slave trading in West Africa, and was an outpost for interdicting the seas and expanding French colonialism once France abolished slavery in its territories in 1856.

With President Abdou Diouf explaining the layout, Clinton went through a dark passageway in the house that leads to the infamous "Door of No Return," where countless Africans sold into slavery were forced onto boats for the voyage to the Americas.

There, the two presidents looked out onto the sea. With water lapping at nearby boulders, Clinton stooped down to enter a small cell where slaves had been held. A guide showed him a 22-pound iron ball and chain that once shackled a slave. Clinton hefted the ball and said, "This was on a chain?," adding incredulously, "Some of the people weighed only 60 kilos (132 pounds) and they were carrying this around?"

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