Barack Obama, the first African-American president, is due in Ghana shortly on his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as US leader.

Ghana was chosen because of its democratic track record and Mr Obama is expected to use the trip to promote democracy across the continent.

He is due to visit a former slave fort as part of the 24-hour visit.

Posters of Barack and Michelle Obama dot the capital, Accra, where their arrival is eagerly awaited.

"The dead can be buried later but Obama is here for once and we must pay all attention to him"

Ama Benyiwaa Doe
Ghanaian minister, explaining suspension of funerals in Cape Coast

Musicians have written songs to mark the event and it is clear that millions of Ghanaians would love to see Mr Obama, the BBC’s Will Ross reports from the city.

However, there will be few opportunities for them to do so during his 24-hour stay.

When former President Bill Clinton came more than a decade ago, he addressed hundreds of thousands of cheering Ghanaians.

But post-9/11, security is tighter and all events are for invited guests only, our correspondent notes.

Key rings and umbrellas

Barack Obama visited sub-Saharan Africa while a US senator, making a trip to Kenya – his father’s homeland – in August 2006.

ANALYSIS
Martin Plaut, BBC News

For Ghanaians, there is little doubt that they deserve to be Mr Obama’s first real African destination since assuming office.

Nigeria was not really suitable, given the question marks over the way in which President Umaru Yar’Adua was elected. Kenya, home of Mr Obama’s father, experienced post-election violence. Ethiopia has jailed the leader of the opposition, and South Africa’s Jacob Zuma is new in the post and something of an unknown quantity.

Not only is Ghana clearly democratic, but it has some of the African oil on which the US increasingly depends, and there is the symbolic link with slavery, from which so many African-Americans trace their heritage.

So Ghana ticks Mr Obama’s boxes – a suitable stage on which to launch the president’s Africa policy on the continent itself.

Mr Obama’s official business on Saturday includes talks with Ghana’s president and a speech to parliament.

With the US president due to touch down late on Friday, people were already out celebrating, dancing and drumming in the seaside city’s streets.

Memorabilia being sold by vendors ranged from key rings and coffee mugs to handkerchiefs and umbrellas bearing portraits of Mr Obama and Ghana’s President John Atta-Mills.

Thousands of police have been deployed for the visit and a number of city roads were closed on Friday.

Cape Coast, a town about 160km (100 miles) west of Accra, has even suspended funerals on account of Mr Obama’s impending visit to its old slave fort.

"We banned all funeral activities in Cape Coast because we want to give a befitting welcome to the US president," Ghana’s central regional minister, Ama Benyiwaa Doe, told AFP news agency.

"The dead can be buried later but Obama is here for once and we must pay all attention to him."

Squeeze on aid

Across the African continent, people are pinning a lot of hope on Barack Obama partly because of his African roots but also because of his election slogan, Yes We Can, our correspondent reports.

He arrives in Ghana hours after leaders of the G8 industrialised countries pledged billions of dollars to boost agriculture – the main source of income for many sub-Saharan Africans.

But in Africa it will not be easy for Mr Obama to live up to some of the achievements of his predecessor, George W Bush, Will Ross adds.

The financial climate is different now and American-funded programmes, such as the provision of medicine for people living with HIV, are facing new challenges. </p

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