Obama to meet 4 African leaders in March

US President Barack Obama will welcome four African leaders to Washington this month, the White House said. Obama on March 28 will meet with the president of Senegal, Macky Sall; of Sierra Leone, Ernest Bai Koroma; of Malawi, Joyce Banda; and the prime minister of Cape Verde, Jose Maria Pereira Neves. Spokesman Jay Carney said the leaders will discuss issues that include economic development and reinforcing democracy in sub-Saharan Africa. The multi-party meeting is not unprecedented: in late July 2011 Obama met with the presidents of Benin, Guinea, Nigeria and Ivory Coast. Obama, the son of a Kenyan-born father and a US-born mother, has visited sub-Saharan Africa only once as president -- he made a short trip to Ghana in July 2009.