![Biden fetes Kenyan leader as Africa competition grows](https://www.berlinertageblatt.de/media/shared/articles/b7/dd/c3/Biden-fetes-Kenyan-leader-as-Africa-403411.jpg)
-
Trump offers tech sector policy flips ahead of election
-
Spacecraft to swing by Earth, Moon on path to Jupiter
-
What's the fallout of Mexican drug lords' capture?
-
Video game makers see actors as AI 'data,' says union on strike
-
Chinese qualifier Shang to face Thompson in ATP Atlanta semis
-
Concern grows as Venezuela blocks election observers
-
'Massive attack' on French rail threatens more chaos
-
'We did it!': France breathes sigh of relief after Olympics ceremony
-
Blinken, in Laos, set for talks with Chinese foreign minister
-
Regional concern grows as Venezuela blocks vote observers
-
Historic river parade, Dion show-stopper ignite Paris Olympics
-
Rainy Paris Olympic parade dampens many spectators' spirits
-
G20 pledges to work together to tax ultra-rich
-
The one of a kind Paris opening ceremony: five memorable moments
-
Justin Timberlake seeks to dismiss DUI case
-
Warner Brothers Discovery sues NBA over Amazon rights deal
-
Kobe Bryant locker, Maradona jersey up for auction in New York
-
Historic river parade launches Paris Olympics
-
Stocks rise as US inflation data boosts rate cut hopes
-
New York family of Holocaust victim reclaims Nazi-looted art
-
NASA Mars rover captures rock that could hold fossilized microbes
-
Thousands evacuate season's biggest wildfire in northern California
-
Sinaloa Cartel co-founder pleads not guilty after stunning US capture
-
Ethiopia mourns victims of landslide tragedy
-
Lady Gaga adds sparkle to star-studded Olympic show
-
Airbus and Boeing supremacy secure despite turbulence
-
Teams sail down Seine in rain-soaked Olympics opening ceremony
-
Norris hoping for more after topping Belgian practice times
-
West Indies' treble strike rocks England in third Test
-
Trump slams rivals as he meets Netanyahu in Florida
-
Olympic opening ceremony under way on River Seine
-
Mott's England future uncertain as ECB chief fails to offer support
-
Trump meets Israeli PM Netanyahu in Florida
-
S.African police say 95 Libyans detained at suspected military camp
-
Blinken set for talks with Chinese counterpart in Laos
-
Norris heads Piastri in McLaren one-two at Belgian GP practice
-
G20 seeks common ground on taxing super-rich
-
European medicines watchdog rejects new Alzheimer's drug
-
Harris gets vital Obama backing in battle against Trump
-
Habib, Ebden eye Alcaraz and Djokovic shocks at Olympics tennis
-
Stocks rise as inflation data boosts rate cut hopes
-
Long queues, ticketing problems ahead of Paris opening ceremony
-
Two Sinaloa Cartel leaders face US charges after stunning capture
-
Spain train driver jailed for 2.5 years over deadly 2013 crash
-
Paris poised for Olympic opening ceremony spectacular
-
Judoka fails doping test in first case at Paris Olympics
-
Holder and Da Silva keep England at bay after West Indies collapse
-
Alpine F1 boss Bruno Famin to leave in August
-
Ethiopia declares three days of mourning after landslide tragedy
-
Brazilian dunes dotted with dazzling pools make UNESCO heritage list
![Biden fetes Kenyan leader as Africa competition grows](https://www.berlinertageblatt.de/media/shared/articles/b7/dd/c3/Biden-fetes-Kenyan-leader-as-Africa-403411.jpg)
Biden fetes Kenyan leader as Africa competition grows
Kenyan President William Ruto on Wednesday opened the first state visit to Washington by an African leader in more than 15 years as President Joe Biden seeks to counter geopolitical headwinds across the continent.
Biden welcomed his Kenyan counterpart at the White House and then joined him meeting business leaders ahead of Thursday's formal portion of the visit, which will start with an honor guard and culminate in a lavish dinner.
Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security advisor, said the visit highlights the "important role in global peace and security" by Kenya, which has worked with the United States on hotspots including Somalia and more recently Haiti.
He also saluted Ruto as a "leading voice" on reducing the mounting debts of developing countries and said Biden would make an announcement on the issue.
"We are demonstrating how, as President Biden has said himself, the United States is all in on Africa, and all in with Africa," Sullivan told reporters.
But Biden, after holding a major summit for African leaders in late 2022, has not made good on promises to visit the continent as president.
Asked by a reporter as he welcomed Ruto when he would go, Biden quipped that he plans to visit Africa in February -- when he hopes to be entering a second term following an election rematch against Donald Trump.
- 'Heavy lifting' by Kenya -
While Africa has often been on the back burner for US diplomacy, the continent has become a growing headache for Washington.
Russia has made growing inroads -- most recently in Niger, where the United States has agreed to withdraw its 1,000 troops -- and war has ravaged countries including Sudan.
The United States also faces competition from China, which has pumped billions in infrastructure money into Africa for the past two decades.
Ruto, meeting at the US Capitol with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, said Kenya was "doing the heavy lifting" on security in parts of Africa.
He noted that Kenya has been fighting Al-Shabaab, the Islamist militants in neighboring Somalia also blamed for attacks at home, "for the last almost 20 years."
An African Union peacekeeping force known as ATMIS is set to leave Somalia at the end of the year.
Ruto said he hoped to work with the United States to "make sure that the drawdown of ATMIS troops does not create a vacuum that will end up being filled by Al-Shabaab."
"Kenya and the United States and frontline states need to work together to see how that can be done -- not calendar-based withdrawal, but conditions-based withdrawal."
Ruto said he was also asking Congress for a 10-year extension to the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a landmark trade pact set to expire in September 2025.
One top issue on the agenda is the imminent arrival of Kenyan police officers at the head of an international force to restore order in chaos-torn Haiti.
A first batch of Kenyan police 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 court challenge in Nairobi against the deployment.
Ruto has defended the undertaking as a "mission for humanity" in the Western hemisphere's poorest nation, which has suffered from poverty, political instability and natural disasters for decades.
The United States is the largest backer of the force, pledging more than $300 million since the Haiti crisis intensified several years ago.
- Kenya as key partner -
The United States has long depended on regional partners in Africa but relations have soured with some key countries, noted Cameron Hudson, a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
South Africa has angered the United States by refusing to join sanctions on Russia following the Ukraine invasion and by bringing a case against Israel alleging genocide.
Ethiopia fell from US good graces over the brutal war in its Tigray region, while Nigeria, the continent's most populous nation, has faced internal tumult.
"So Kenya really stands alone right now, I think, among regional powers that the United States can rely on," Hudson said.
J.Horn--BTB