Thursday, May 23, 2024 - The United States Government has announced that it will designate Kenya as its first major non-NATO ally in sub-Saharan Africa, following a meeting between President Ruto and his US counterpart Joe Biden.
The designation gives non-members of the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization access to military and financial advantages that NATO
members enjoy, but without the mutual defense agreement that holds NATO
together.
A senior administration official told reporters late
Wednesday that Biden would inform Congress of the designation, which takes 30
days to take effect.
The official said the move aims at "elevating and
really acknowledging that Kenya is already a global partner of ours."
In the meantime, Ruto and Biden are using their daylong deliberations to iron out Kenya’s plan to send 1,000 security officers to the fragile, chaotic Caribbean nation of Haiti.
The initiative, toward which the United States has pledged $300 million in support, faces stiff political and legal challenges in Kenya.
The mission was also delayed when Haitian armed gangs took control while the nation’s leader, Ariel Henry, was visiting Kenya in March.
Henry resigned in April and has not returned to the island.
The official said that Ruto would meet with Secretary of
Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss the
mission but promised no progress.
"This is definitely an ongoing area of
collaboration," the official said.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
-overlay.jpg)
0 Comments