Biden to meet Kenya President, hold first talks with African leader amid Ethiopian unrest

US President Joe Biden is expected to hold his first-ever bilateral talks with the Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday this week as the conflict enrages in the neighbouring Ethiopia with the military launching the offensive on all fronts against the forces in northern Tigray. According to the White House, the US President will host President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya in Washington and the two leaders will discuss issues related to US-Kenya, the bilateral relationship, and the need to bring transparency and accountability to domestic and international financial systems. “They will also discuss efforts to defend democracy and human rights, advance peace and security, accelerate economic growth, and tackle climate change,” the White House informed in a release on 12 October. 

“The meeting [between President Joe Biden and President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya] will build further on the leaders’ phone call in February, and on President Biden’s commitment to the US partnership with Africa based on principles of mutual respect and equality,” the White House’s statement read on Tuesday. 

Kenya, which shares border with Ethiopia, seeks to counter-terrorism with US cooperation

Oval Office talks come just days after the US President threatened to sign an executive order that would levy sanctions against Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed for reviving the 11-month long conflict in the region. Claiming that an internet blackout was enforced by the Ethiopian government, the Tigray forces said that they have been under attack as Ethiopia has launched a long-threatened major military offensive “in full swing”.  

A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Billene Seyoum, said in a statement that “The government of Ethiopia will continue to counter the (Tigray forces’) destruction, violence and killings in the Amhara region and elsewhere.”

Earlier this week, a statement from the Tigray external affairs office informed that the Ethiopian Army has launched fresh strikes as “regular and irregular fighters” led the coordinated assault on several fronts in northern Tigray. Kenya, meanwhile, shares the border with Ethiopia, and is partnering with the US to ramp up efforts to thwart Islamic terrorism, US local media sources revealed. Kenya, which holds the rotational UN Security Council (UNSC) chair currently, has been openly vocal about the Tigray-Ethiopia conflict. The African country has urged for an immediate “political resolution” to the war stressing that there was no military solution as such.