Though inspiring in the way it laid out long-term goals, Muluka said, Obama's speech was short on specifics for achieving them.
"I wanted to hear about the practical and tangible things that are going to be done in the U.S. engagement with Africa," he said. "It was just window-dressing."
You can't blame Africans for being skeptical. Over the decades, many Western leaders have called for reforms and promised aid, yet the continent remains caught in a cycle of poverty and chronic violence.
George W. Bush won praise early in his presidency for committing $18 billion to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa, but the region largely fell off his radar after the Iraq war was launched.
Next, British Prime Minister Tony Blair convened a blue-ribbon Commission for Africa, but recommendations it made in 2005 remain mostly unfulfilled. That year, the Group of 8 leading industrialized nations pledged $21.5 billion in additional funds for Africa, but only $7 billion has been delivered, according to One International, an advocacy group.
That might explain why Obama avoided announcing new financial pledges or bold initiatives to combat poverty or improve healthcare. Nor did he lay out specific plans for helping restore stability in conflict-prone nations such as Somalia, Sudan or the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Addressing Ghana's parliament from a stage draped with traditional kente cloth, Obama spoke briefly of violence in those regions, and promised that the United States would support those who "stand up to inhumanity in our midst."
"It is never justifiable to target innocents in the name of ideology," he said. "It is the death sentence of a society to force children to kill in wars. It is the ultimate mark of criminality and cowardice to condemn women to relentless and systematic rape. We must bear witness to the value of every child in Darfur and the dignity of every woman in Congo. No faith or culture should condone the outrages against them."
But Obama did not dwell on what he called the "crude caricature of a continent at war."
"I would have expected Obama to speak more on Darfur, but he just mentioned it," said Eltigani Mohammed, 36, a Darfur intellectual, referring to the conflict in western Sudan.
Former State Department official John Prendergast, founder of the Enough Project, which works to end genocide and war crimes, said Obama has not backed up his words with concrete efforts to resolve conflicts in Africa, such as brokering peace talks, pressuring armed groups and building international coalitions.
