Kerry clears the way for Obama visit

– US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Kenya yesterday for talks on security cooperation and ahead of US President Barack Obama’s visit to his late father’s home country.

The trip to the east African nation is the first high-level visit since 2012, and comes after a year of tensions surrounding Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta being charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity.

The ICC has since abandoned the case against Kenyatta over his role in the 2007-2008 post-election violence, citing a lack of evidence and Kenya’s failure to cooperate – somewhat removing Kenyatt a’s pariah status.

“We have had a long relationship with Kenya that goes back more than 50 years, and we have had continuous economic and cultural ties with the Kenyans, and this has never ended. So this trip is not about making amends,” a State Department official said.

“It’s about reinforcing and deepening the relationship that we have had with Kenya ...”

Kerry arrived from Sri Lanka late yesterday and leaves tomorrow, during which he will also meet with Kenyatta.

The fight against Somalia’s Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab militants will feature high on the agenda, with Kenya struggling to stop increased cross-border attacks by the militants even though it has thousands of troops in southern Somalia.

Last month Al-Shabaab gunmen massacred close to 150 people, mostly students, in a raid on Garissa University in Kenya’s northeast.

Diplomats said Kerry would nevertheless raise human rights issues with Kenyatta, whose government has been accused of clamping down on civil society groups and the press.

The top US diplomat will also meet Kenyan opposition leaders and rights activists. – AFP

Nairobi