Obama to Address Muslim World From Egypt

President to tackle US-Muslim relations on first Middle Eastern trip
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 9, 2009 3:34 AM CDT
Obama to Address Muslim World From Egypt
A White House spokesman said President Obama's speech to Muslims is part of the administration's continuing effort to ensure safety and security in the US and the Muslim world.   (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

President Obama will travel to Egypt next month to deliver a speech aimed at mending America's relationship with the Muslim world, McClatchy Newspapers reports. Egypt is a politically risky choice due to President Hosni Mubarak's heavy-handed autocratic rule, but a White House spokesman said the country "in many ways represents the heart of the Arab world" and that the speech would be pitched at ordinary Muslims, not their leaders.

"The issues of democracy and human rights are things that are on the president's mind, and we'll have a chance to discuss those in more depth on the trip," the spokesman said. Obama will make the speech on June 4, probably in Cairo, and then travel to France for the commemoration of D-Day and to Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. (More Islam stories.)

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