Source: AFP
Kenyan President William Ruto is meeting his US counterpart Joe Biden in Washington this week, with the crisis in Haiti and efforts to build trade ties likely to top the agenda.
Described as “historic” by Ruto’s office, it is the first state visit by a Kenyan president to the United States in two decades and the first by an African leader since 2008.
Thursday’s Biden-Ruto talks will focus on trade and security partnerships, including Kenya’s pledge to lead a UN-backed multinational mission seeking to restore order in Haiti, which has been wracked by gang-fueled anarchy .
Kenya has offered to send 1,000 personnel, along with forces committed by several other countries, although the United States and other major powers have ruled out putting their own forces on the ground.
A first batch of Kenyan police officers is expected to make the 12,000-kilometer (7,500-mile) journey to the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince this week, security sources told AFP, despite a fresh Nairobi court challenge to the deployment.
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Ruto has defended the venture as a “mission for humanity” in the western hemisphere’s poorest nation, which has suffered from poverty, political instability and natural disasters for decades.
But a new lawsuit filed last week seeks to hold Ruto’s government in contempt for “blatantly” ignoring a January court ruling that banned the development as unconstitutional and illegal.
Funding could also prove a stumbling block for the mission, analysts say.
Source: AFP
The United States is the biggest backer of the force, committing more than $300 million since the crisis in Haiti intensified several years ago, but other countries have been slow to offer support.
Ruto will demand that “the US do more to raise financial support for the UN basket fund,” said Meron Elias, East and Southern Africa analyst at the International Crisis Group.
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“Kenya also wants the U.S. to commit more to stem the flow of arms to Haiti, including through U.S. ports in Florida,” he said.
Trade agreement
Ruto begins his visit on Monday in Atlanta, Georgia where he will visit the Carter Presidential Library and Museum, among other engagements.
“His remarks here will underscore the importance of democracies working together to address global challenges,” said State House Speaker Hussain Mohamed.
On Tuesday, he is due to visit studios owned by entertainment mogul Tyler Perry, who has championed greater diversity in Hollywood to “explore opportunities in the creative economy.”
Ruto will meet a congressional delegation on Wednesday and seek an extension of a free trade agreement — the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) — that removes import tariffs on goods from eligible African countries.
The pact expires in 2025, prompting African leaders to seek clarity on future arrangements.
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Most of Kenya’s imports come from China — also one of its biggest bilateral creditors — and Washington has been eager to engage Beijing’s influence in the region.
The East African nation has begun talks with the United States on a free trade deal in 2020, but nothing has been signed.
In 2022, the United States exported $604 million worth of goods to Kenya, while imports totaled $875 million, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Kenya’s Trade Minister Rebecca Miano said there are “very big opportunities” for investment in the country.
“We have lined up more than 30 projects with a bankability of over $20.5 billion to interest American investors and the Kenyan diaspora,” he told local media last week.
‘Extremely disappointed’
A request for Ruto to address a joint session of Congress failed after House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson of the Republican Party declined to extend an invitation.
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Lawmakers from Biden’s Democratic Party last week accused Johnson of disrespecting Africa, saying they were “extremely disappointed” by the decision.
The last African leader to address Congress was Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, the continent’s first female elected head of state in 2006.
The visit “looks like a bit of a fig leaf” for Africa, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said, as it comes after Biden reneged on a promise to visit Africa last year.
Kenyan historian Macharia Munene also warned that Nairobi’s future relationship with Washington will depend on the outcome of November’s US presidential election.
Ruto is currently “America’s blue-eyed boy” and is “fooling” Biden, a situation that could change if Donald Trump wins the presidency again, he said in an opinion piece for The Standard newspaper.
Source: AFP