WRAPUP 4-Obama assures Africa it will not be sidelined

* Ghana an example of democracy, economic reform

* Mills says Obama visit will help sustain democracy

* Thousands try to glimpse Obama, a hero in Africa

(Adds Obama comment, recasts)

By Jeff Mason and Matt Spetalnick

ACCRA, July 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama assured Africa on Saturday that it would not be sidelined from world affairs and hailed democratic Ghana as a model for other African countries.

The visit to Ghana is Obama's first to sub-Saharan Africa since taking office as the first black U.S. president. He arrived from the summit of G8 leaders in Italy.

"We wanted to make sure to come to an African country after the G8 and after my business in Moscow to emphasise that Africa is not separate from world affairs," Obama said after meeting Ghanaian President John Atta Mills in Accra.

Ghana symbolises an Africa different to the old images of war, misery and corruption on the world's poorest continent. Mills was elected in a peaceful, transparent vote last December in which the former ruling party conceded power.