Africa's most revered statesman, Mr Nelson Mandela, condemned the United States as a "threat to world peace" and cautioned against war with Iraq, in an interview published yesterday.
Speaking to Newsweek, Mr Mandela said the US President was motivated by a "desire to please the arms and oil industries" and surrounded by "dinosaurs" such as Vice-President Dick Cheney.
"do not want him to belong to the modern age," the former South African president (84) said in an interview recorded last Monday.
His comments reflected the feeling across many African countries, where sympathy for the September 11th attacks was mixed with wariness about a possible war with Iraq. There was a particular resonance in east Africa, where the 1998 al-Qaeda bombing on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed 231 people - 219 of them African - and injured at least 5,000.
"Kenya was the victim of a terror attack," said Kenyan Health Minister Mr Sam Ongeri at a ceremony in Nairobi. "Kenyans can sympathise with the victims of September 11th." Mozambique's President Joaquim Chissano also offered sympathy but urged the US to continue its war on terror "within the framework of the United Nations".
Other countries put aside their animosities for the day. Liberian President Charles Taylor has frequently accused of the US of trying to unseat him, but yesterday he led government officials at a Mass in the capital, Monrovia.
The president of Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, a devout Muslim, condemned the use of religion as a cover for acts of violence.
Many newspapers cautioned against attacking Iraq, including Kenya's Daily Nation which said, "Terrorism will not be defeated through terrorism". Senegal's Walfadjri said Americans "have never asked themselves why they are so hated around the world."
Officially, 13 Africans died in the World Trade Centre attacks, but many more, mostly unregistered illegal immigrants, are thought to have perished.
Since then, the attacks have had major political repercussions although the feared economic impact has not materialised. Last winter there was intense speculation that the US would launch an attack on Somalia in search of fleeing al-Qaeda members.
In the end there was no attack but US pressure resulted in the closure of Al Barakat, a semi-official bank that officials claimed was used to launder Bin Laden funds.
In the wake of the attacks, several African countries strengthened their ties with the US. German military aircraft are using Kenyan airspace to monitor possible terrorist movements on the seas off Somalia.