Obama seeks to calm US allies over Trump concerns

Mr Obama addressed a White House news conference on Monday before leaving for Greece

President Barack Obama has sought to assure America's allies that President-elect Donald Trump will honour the country's international alliances when he takes office in January. 

Mr Obama told reporters that Mr Trump had expressed an interest in maintaining the US commitment to Nato. 

This came hours before Mr Obama was due to arrive in the Greek capital, Athens, on his final official overseas trip.

Mr Obama will later travel on to Germany and then to Peru.

Security has been stepped up in Athens where anti-US protests are planned.

Mr Obama is expected to use his final foreign visit to calm nerves over the forthcoming administration of Mr Trump.

The property tycoon's surprise election victory has raised concern among some world leaders after a string of controversial statements he made during his campaign.

At a White House news conference on Monday, Mr Obama said his successor had "expressed a great interest in maintaining our core strategic relationships".

He said this included "strong and robust Nato" partnerships, which he said would convey "enormous continuity" to the world.

Mr Obama said that in last Thursday's White House meeting with his successor, he had urged Mr Trump to send "some signals of unity" after the bruising election battle.

"I did say to him, as I've said publicly, that because of the nature of the campaign and the bitterness and ferocity of the campaign, it's really important to try to send some signals of unity, and to reach out to minority groups or women or others that were concerned about the tenor of the campaign," he said.

Mr Obama said he "absolutely" had concerns about Mr Trump but urged his fellow Democrats to accept the result and "recognise that that is how democracy works".

In another development, the Kremlin said on Monday that President Vladimir Putin had spoken by phone to Mr Trump and agreed to work with him towards improving relations between the two countries. Mr Trump has repeatedly praised the Russian president, describing him as a stronger leader than Barack Obama. 

Donald Trump praised Vladimir Putin during his election campaign

Speaking in Athens, where Mr Obama is due to arrive on Tuesday morning, Greek minister of state Nikos Pappas said there was surprise at the election result, as elsewhere, but added: "Everybody would be expecting the US government to continue to be on our side."

"The mood of Greek people for this political change is 'wait and see'," he said.

High on the agenda in talks between Mr Obama and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Tuesday will be Greece's crippling debt problems.

The US and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have urged restructuring of the debt but face resistance from EU states, particularly Germany.

As preparations for Mr Obama's visit went ahead, Greek anarchist and left-wing groups announced they were planning protest marches "against the representative of imperialist powers".

Police banned public gatherings in central Athens and near the city's international airport until after the US leader's departure. Extra officers are also being deployed.

Greek trade unionists were angered by a police ban on protests in central Athens

The last official visit to Greece of a sitting US president - by Bill Clinton in 1999 - was marked by extensive violent protests.

On Wednesday, Mr Obama will fly on to Germany where he will hold talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel and meet other key European leaders.

In Peru, Mr Obama will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit and meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Australian Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull.

Source: BBC