Obama scraps safari over cost of snipers

NAIROBI, Kenya — U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle have scrapped a safari expedition during their trip to Africa because of the costs of snipers needed “to neutralize cheetahs, lions and other animals if they became a threat,” it was claimed Friday.

The couple will end a weeklong tour of Africa in Tanzania, but austerity measures in the Secret Service mean that they will not head into the African wilderness, as was first planned.

U.S. taxpayers will foot the bill of between $64 million and $104 million for the trip, only Obama’s second to the continent of his father’s birth since he became president, leaked documents showed.

But even with the overall costs involved, their scheduled afternoon’s visit to a Tanzanian wildlife sanctuary was judged to be too expensive and difficult to arrange, the Washington Post reported. It was dropped in favour of a tour of Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned, during the Obamas’ visit to South Africa before they fly to Tanzania.

The safari “would have required the president’s special counter-assault team to carry sniper rifles with highcalibre rounds that could neutralize cheetahs, lions or other animals if they became a threat,” the newspaper reported, citing a leaked Secret Service internal planning document. “We do not have a limitless supply of assets to support presidential missions, and we prioritized a visit to Robben Island over a two-hour safari in Tanzania,” said Josh Earnest, a White House spokesman.

Military cargo planes will airlift 56 vehicles — including 14 limousines, ambulances equipped for chemical and biological attacks and radio-jamming trucks — to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania.

A U.S. aircraft carrier or amphibious warship with a full medical trauma centre will be anchored just offshore in case of emergencies.