U.S. President Barack Obama arrived Thursday morning in Cairo, where he will hold talks with his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak and deliver a much-anticipated speech to the Muslim world in Cairo University, Xinhua reported.
Earlier on Wednesday, Obama held talks in Riyadh with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, an oil power and U.S. regional ally which proposed the Arab Peace Initiative in 2002.
Describing Abdullah as "wise and gracious," Obama said "it is very important to come to the place where Islam began and to seek his majesty's counsel."
For his part, Abdullah said Obama "deserves this position."
Shortly after Obama's arrival in Riyadh, al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden said in a tape broadcasted by pan-Arab TV channel al- Jazeera that the U.S. president will follow the steps of his predecessor George W. Bush.
"He (Obama) has chosen to follow the steps of his predecessor in hostility against Muslims," bin Laden said in the tape, which was apparently aimed at Obama's outreach to the Islamic world.
Bin Laden said that Obama and Bush planted the seeds of hatred and revenge toward Americans.
He also threatened to revenge Americans for the consequences of their administration's policies.
Obama's Cairo visit is part of a Mideast-Europe tour which will also take him to Germany and France.