News
Biden To Welcome Uhuru In White House As First African Leader To Visit In His Presidency
Joe Biden will welcome Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday, in the first visit by an African leader to the White House during his presidency.
The summit will be part of “Biden’s commitment to the US partnership with Africa based on principles of mutual respect and equality,” a White House statement said Tuesday.
It said Biden and Kenyatta would discuss “the need to bring transparency and accountability to domestic and international financial systems,” amid a push by the Biden administration to fight both corruption and inequities overseas.
The two will also “discuss efforts to defend democracy and human rights, advance peace and security, accelerate economic growth and tackle climate change,” the White House said.
Biden has vowed to promote democracy overseas. Once-stable Kenya saw deadly political violence after 2017 elections, but Kenyatta has since made up with his former rival Raila Odinga.
Biden took office vowing a new commitment to Africa after the disinterest of his predecessor Donald Trump, who was the first president in decades not to visit sub-Saharan Africa.
But Biden has only gone on one international trip and has trimmed the number of visitors at the White House amid continued precautions against Covid-19.
Much of the Biden administration’s attention in Africa has turned to Ethiopia, a longtime US ally that has disappointed Washington with a nearly year-old offensive in the Tigray region.
Ethiopia launched the operation late last year in response to attacks on an army camp by the then ruling party in Tigray, where UN officials say that hundreds of thousands are facing severe hunger.
Kenyatta, speaking Tuesday after a UN Security Council meeting on Ethiopia, called for “an immediate cessation of hostilities by both sides.”
“We do not believe that there is a military solution, and we need to urgently have all parties coming across the table in order for us to be able to ensure that all humanitarian corridors are actually opened,” he told reporters.
“We will continue to push — not just as Kenya, as a neighbor and a member of the Security Council but also through the African Union.”-AFP.
Kenya Insights allows guest blogging, if you want to be published on Kenya’s most authoritative and accurate blog, have an expose, news TIPS, story angles, human interest stories, drop us an email on [email protected] or via Telegram
-
Business2 weeks agoTHE HANDSHAKE THAT BECAME A NOOSE: How Tuju’s Alleged Intimate Access to EADB’s Yeda Apopo Produced a Sh294 Million Deal With No Written Contract, and Why That Trust Destroyed an Empire
-
Investigations7 days agoForged Legacy: How Kaplan and Stratton’s Peter Gachuhi Is Accused of Faking a Top AG’s Will as State Claims Damning Evidence
-
News1 week agoMen Linked to Akasha Drug Dynasty Charged With Death Threats and Assault at Nairobi Nightclub
-
Business6 days agoHow Firm Linked To Mombasa Tycoon Jaffer Was Allowed To Import Fuel At Bloated Price And Set To Make Billions In Profits From Iranian War Crisis In Kenya
-
News1 week agoCity Lawyer Kimani Wachira Caught Up In Bribery Web Fights Claims
-
News5 days agoTreasury Hands Sh358M Brief to Eric Gumbo’s Firm While Bypassing Standard Rules — and the Lawyer Is Already Deep Inside Ruto’s State Machine
-
Business5 days agoSold And Abandoned: How Diageo and Asahi Are Locking Kenya’s EABL Minority Shareholders Out Of East Africa’s Biggest Corporate Heist
-
Business7 days agoTHE BANK THAT BROKE THE TRUCKER: How NCBA’s Asset Financing Empire Is on Trial Before London’s Most Feared Arbitral Tribunal
