Michelle Obama begins solo Africa tour

America’s first lady Michelle Obama began her first solo Africa tour today arriving in South Africa before continuing to Botswana later in the week.

Obama’s visit to the continent as the first African-American first lady of the United States carries a lot of symbolic power.

Her schedule includes a meeting with Graca Michel, the wife of former South African president Nelson Mandela.

She plans to visit Robben Island off Cape Town, the prison where apartheid-era leaders of the black liberation movement were incarcerated for years for opposing white rule.

Mandela was locked up on the island as part of his 27 years of incarceration before being released and becoming the country’s first democratically elected president.

Obama will also meet with one of South African President Jacob Zuma’s three current wives (a practicing polygamist Zuma has been married five times so far).

Speaking to reporters in Washington last week one of her husband’s national security advisors, Ben Rhodes, said Mrs Obama’s visit was in tune with the president’s policy towards Africa.

"This trip by the first lady is very directly connected to the president's agenda in Africa and the Obama administration's foreign policy in Africa," he said.

"It's no coincidence that she would be visiting countries that have embraced democracy, [and] in many respects, have shown that not only does their democracy deliver for its citizens, but it can provide a positive example for the neighborhood that these countries are in as well.”

South Africa is the continent’s economic anchor and Botswana a powerful example of a functioning democracy.

Mrs Obama’s daughters, Sasha and Malia, and her mother Marian Robinson are joining her on the official visit, her second solo foreign trip. In July 2009 she accompanied Barack Obama on his first tour of Africa since becoming president.