Rarely has an incoming U.S. President received such a resounding welcome from around the world. From the sun-baked streets of Africa and Asia to the snow-covered offices of the European Commission in Brussels, Barack Obama's election mantra "Yes, we can!" has echoed like a stubborn cry of resolve in the face of growing global uncertainty.

Obama is being claimed by countries as far apart as Kenya, where his father was born, and Indonesia, where the new U.S. President spent 4 years of his childhood with his mother and Indonesian step-father.

The hopes resting on the charismatic 47-year old are as diverse as the countries they are coming from. Indonesia, home to the world's largest and most diverse Muslim population, the single unifying hope is that Obama's victory will lead to a rapprochement between the U.S. and the Islamic world.

"We are very optimistic that Mr. Obama can change the U.S.," says Din Syamsudin, leader of PP Muhammadiyah, one of the biggest Muslem communities in Indonesia. "We hope that the U.S. can change its vision and mission so as to make a better world, one of peace and stability, and not to ruin the world."

Obama's gift for inspiring and uniting people from the diverse backgrounds has also impressed EU politicians who, still smarting from recent rejections by European voters, have remarked with a mixture of envy and

admiration on Obama's powerful use of the internet in his campaign.

"Here in Europe, use of the internet is not yet so refined," says Margot Wallstrom, the EU's communications chief who is running a blog as part of her efforts to bring the EU closer to the people. "The political establishment ignored the growing significance of the internet. (We) need to learn the lessons from the USA."

Some 7,000 kilometres south of Brussels, in Uganda, East Africa, people too beli