Four years ago Africa greeted Barack Obama's election with rapture, predicting America's first black president would smother the continent with attention. But instead of warm hand-holding, Africa got hard-headed, security-first policies. 'Obama to my mind is more engaged in Africa, but the nature of how the United States is engaging has changed. It is mostly security related,' said Jason Warner, a Harvard-based expert on African security. According to Mr Warner, President Obama has helped 'normalise' Africa policy. 'There is no other region in the world that the US engages on simply humanitarian grounds.'