Obama Begins Africa Trip in Senegal

Also scheduled to visit South Africa and Tanzania

President Obama arrived in Sengal Wednesday for the start of a weeklong trip to promote trade in Africa and to smooth over criticisms of neglect in his first term. At the other end of the continent, the critically declining health of South Africa's first black president is poised to overshadow the agenda of America's first.

From Senegal, President Obama will travel to South Africa, where anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela is hospitalized, and then on to Tanzania. The trip is Obama's second as President to sub-Saharan Africa. He made a 22-hour stop in Ghana in July 2009.