Obama says Kenya in 'a moment filled with peril and enormous promise'

While concluding his visit to Kenya, US President Barack Obama has praised the country's economic and political progress but warned of challenges ahead, in a televised address.

Noting that Kenya had come come so far in just my lifetime in economic and political terms, President Obama stressed on the need to tackle corruption, terrorism and tribal or ethnic division, which posed threats to its future, reported the BBC.

He said, Kenya is at a cross road, a moment filled with peril but enormous promise, adding that the country could build its future right here, right now because of its potential and the progress it had made over the years.

President Obama remarked that any politics that was based on only tribe and ethnicity was doomed to tear a country apart and was a failure of imagination. He also slammed female genital mutilation and forced marriage, which he said did not belong in the 21st Century, adding that the best use of development aid would be to spend it on girls' education.

Referring to gay rights, the president also urged Kenya to embrace diversity. The trip, which began on Friday, is Obama's first visit as president to the country where his father was born. 

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