Foreign policy of the Barack Obama administration Palestinians. Obama's gesture in reaching out to the Muslim world was unprecedented for a U.S. president. President Obama's first trip to a Muslim majority country occurred on April 6–7, 2009 when he visited Turkey and spoke to the Grand National Assembly. President Obama addressed the Muslim world in a speech in Cairo, Egypt on June 4, 2009. In that speech President Obama issued a call for "a new beginning" in the relationship between the United States and Muslims around the world. He outlined his ideas about "engaging the Muslim world" and how to create "a new beginning." Farah Pandith was
Foreign policy of the Barack Obama administration Horn peninsula had initiated drone strikes against pirates and al-Qaeda affiliates. Obama is a strong critic of the government of Zimbabwe led by President Robert Mugabe. Although Obama congratulated longtime opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on becoming Prime Minister of Zimbabwe under a power-sharing agreement, U.S. State Department spokesman Robert Wood warned, "We need to see evidence of good governance and particularly real, true power sharing on the part of Robert Mugabe before we are going to make any kind of commitment" to lifting economic sanctions on the impoverished Southern African country, which has been ruled by Mugabe since independence in