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Barack Obama has told the leaders of African nations that they must educate their girls and treat their women as equals if they are to be prosperous.

Addressing the African Union in Ethiopia today, the United States President said: �鶹APP�If you want your country to grow and succeed, you have to empower your women.�鶹APP�

He reiterated the points made in an earlier speech in Kenya, when he��sent an emphatic message that educating girls and not treating them as second-class citizens is key to countries becoming economic success stories.

President Obama spoke to the African Union in Addis Ababa at the end of his five-day trip to Ethiopia and Kenya, where his father came from.

He called for an end to child marriage and female genital mutilation, telling national leaders: �鶹APP�When African girls are subjected to the mutilation of their bodies or forced into marriage at the ages of nine or 10 or 11, that sets us back. That�鶹APP�s not a good tradition. It needs to end.

�鶹APP�The single best indicator of whether a nation will succeed is how it treats its women.�鶹APP� �鶹APP� to the African Union
�鶹APP� The White House (@WhiteHouse)

�鶹APP�When more than 80% of new HIV cases in the hardest-hit countries are teenage girls, that�鶹APP�s a tragedy.�鶹APP�

He spoke about a partnership between the US government and 10 African countries to keep teenage girls safe and free of AIDS. He also mentioned his wife Michelle�鶹APP�s initiative , which aims to expand access to education for adolescent girls around the world.

Prssident Obama added: �鶹APP�When girls cannot go to school and grow up not knowing how to read or write that denies the world future women engineers, future women doctors, future women business owners, future women presidents. That sets us all back.��That�鶹APP�s a bad tradition. Not providing our girls the same education as our sons.

�鶹APP�The single best indicator of whether a nation will succeed is how it treats its women. When women have health care and women have education families are stronger, communities are more prosperous, children do better in school.�鶹APP�

During his visit to Kenya, President Obama said one of the most successful development policies was �鶹APP�giving girls an education and removing the obstacles that stand between them and their dreams�鶹APP�.

President Obama speaks in Nairobi Picture:��White House Photo by Pete Souza

He added: �鶹APP�Any nation that fails to educate its girls or employ its women, allowing them to maximise their potential, is doomed to fall behind in a global economy.

�鶹APP�if you educate girls, they grow up to be moms. And they, because they�鶹APP�re educated, are more likely to produce educated children. So Kenya will not succeed if it treats women and girls as second-class citizens. I want to be very clear about that.�鶹APP�

Speaking to a crowd of 4500 students civil society leaders and others at a sports arena in the capital Nairobi on July 26, President Obama called on the country�鶹APP�s youth to help build the future of their country.

He highlighted the achievements of young Kenyans such as child rights activist Josephine Kulea, whose foundation rescues girls from child marriage and FGM.

He said: �鶹APP�Treating women and girls as second-class citizens, those are bad traditions. They need to change. They�鶹APP�re holding you back.

Students among the excited crowd to see him in Nairobi

�鶹APP�There�鶹APP�s no excuse for sexual assault or domestic violence. There�鶹APP�s no reason that young girls should suffer genital mutilation. There�鶹APP�s no place in civilised society for the early or forced marriage of children. These traditions may date back centuries; they have no place in the 21st century.�鶹APP�

An estimated 26% of girls in Kenya are married before they are 18, according to the organisation .

Its website says says: �鶹APP�A high prevalence of HIV in Kenya means that young married girls are particularly at risk. In a study in Kisumu, 33% of married girls surveyed were infected with HIV as opposed to 22% for their sexually active, unmarried counterparts.�鶹APP�

The Kenyan parliament adopted a new law last year �鶹APP� setting 18 as the minimum age of marriage for both men and women. It applies to all forms of marriage including Islamic and customary marriages.