DAKAR: US President Barack Obama sought yesterday to calm tensions surrounding fugitive intelligence leaker Edward Snowden’s stay in a Moscow airport as it appeared he did not possess documents allowing him to travel further.

Snowden, who is wanted by the US authorities for leaking sensational details of US surveillance to the media, is said by the Kremlin to have been in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo airport since arriving on a flight from Hong Kong Sunday.

The episode risks further ratcheting up tensions between Washington and Moscow, as well as Beijing, which are already strained by the conflict in Syria.

But Obama insisted the United States, which has revoked Snowden’s passport, would not scramble jets to intercept him should he fly from Russia.

“I am not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker,” Obama said on a visit to Senegal, oddly giving the wrong age for the 30-year-old former National Security Agency (NSA) technician. Obama indicated he did not want to ruin ties with Moscow and Beijing for the sake of Snowden, saying that the US and China relationships were broad and ranged over many issues. He also rejected any “wheeling and dealing” over Snowden and said he had not called President Xi Jinping of China or Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the issue. “The reason is, number one, I shouldn’t have to. This is something that routinely is dealt between law enforcement officials in various countries,” said Obama.

Putin has indicated that Moscow is keen to see the back of its unexpected visitor, while also strongly rejecting US pressure to hand over Snowden as the two countries have no extradition treaty.

Ecuador, whose embassy in London is already giving refuge to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as he faces extradition to Sweden on allegations of sexual assault, has said it is considering an asylum request from Snowden.

Later Obama plans to reflect on the ties many African-Americans share with the continent as he takes a tour of Goree Island, Africa’s westernmost point. Africans reportedly were shipped off into slavery across the Atlantic Ocean through the island’s “Door of No Return.”

Thousands of boisterous revelers welcomed Obama’s motorcade yesterday morning in Dakar, cheering and waving homemade signs as the first African-American president made his way to the presidential palace. A large sign outside his hotel gate had pictures of smiling Obama and Sall that read, “Welcome home, President Obama.” Some in the crowd drummed, danced and sang, and many wore white as a symbol for peace.

Obama’s focus in Senegal is on the modern-day achievements of the former French colony after half a century of independence. Sall ousted an incumbent who attempted to change the constitution to make it easier for him to be re-elected and pave the way for his son to succeed him. The power grab sparked protests, fueled by hip-hop music and social media, that led to Sall’s election.

“Senegal is one of the most stable democracies in Africa and one of the strongest partners that we have in the region,” Obama said. “It’s moving in the right direction with reforms to deepen democratic institutions.”

Obama’s itinerary in Senegal was designed to send a message, purposefully delivered in a French-speaking, Muslim-majority nation, to other Africans in countries that have not made the strides toward democracy that Senegal has. Obama plans to meet with civil society leaders at the Goree Institute and visited the Supreme Court to speak about the importance of an independent judiciary and the rule of law in Africa’s development.