President Biden and Kenyan President William Ruto need each other’s help.
The two men will meet at the White House on Thursday and hold a joint press conference ahead of a formal state dinner in the evening, the first such event for an African leader in more than 15 years.
Beneath the pomp and circumstance are a host of serious issues linking the two countries at a pivotal moment — from an American counterterrorism campaign in Africa now highly dependent on Nairobi’s help to the potential U.S. investment in Kenya that could help the country escape from under a mountain of debt, much of which is owed to China.
But analysts say that one of the most important items on the agenda lies in America’s own backyard. A multinational police force, led by about 1,000 Kenyan personnel, is set to arrive in Haiti in the coming days to restore order to a country wracked by gang violence and political chaos.
Mr. Ruto’s decision to send Kenyan personnel to Haiti has positioned his country at the center of a major foreign policy crisis in the shadow of U.S. shores, and specialists say it’s the type of mission that in the past America may have handled itself.
“President Ruto has embraced a very large task in helping to stabilize Haiti, something that would normally be done by a [United Nations] mission or a U.S.-led coalition. Taking on this mission is courageous and bold,” said Keith Mines, senior vice president of the Latin America program at the United States Institute of Peace.
“But there will be tough work ahead,” he told The Washington Times. “It will need massive support from the rest of the international community, especially the United States, for gang diversion programs and economic assistance and community-led development. It will also require a kind of ‘shock and awe’ up front that puts the gangs back on their heels and demonstrates clearly their days of running the capital are over.”
The plan has met stiff resistance in Kenya, including court challenges seeking to block the deployment to Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
Haiti’s former prime minister, Ariel Henry, abruptly resigned in April as widespread gang violence reached new heights.
Mr. Ruto has stood firm in his desire for Kenyan units to lead the multinational force. A successful mission, even on the margins, could greatly enhance both Mr. Ruto’s and his nation’s broader geopolitical standing. There are, however, still disagreements between the U.S. and Kenya over the details of the mission, including how much financial and logistical support the U.S. will provide.
The administration has framed the state visit as a key diplomatic moment between the two nations, which in 2024 mark their 60th year of formal relations. U.S. officials said their agenda also will include trade and investment, technological innovation, climate and clean energy, health and security, and other issues.
“This is a partnership that is deep and broad,” White House principal deputy national security adviser Jon Finer said this week.
The visit from Mr. Ruto offers Mr. Biden the chance to say he is making good on a promise to devote more time and attention to Africa than past presidents. Mr. Biden also hosted nearly 50 leaders for the U.S.-Africa leaders summit in December 2022.
But in some ways the U.S. is on the defensive in Africa. The Pentagon is racing to withdraw all American personnel from Niger, which had been home to a key U.S. drone base from which counterterrorism missions were launched across the Sahel and other corners of the continent. Many counterterrorism analysts believe the Sahel has become the world’s new epicenter of Islamic extremism, with affiliates of the Islamic State and al Qaeda, and other terror groups, active there.
The exit from Niger will make the U.S. partnership with Kenya even more vital as Washington seeks to preserve a key counterterrorism partnership with a leading African government. The U.S. has personnel and air assets based at the Manda Bay military base in Kenya. The site plays a key role in the U.S. effort to combat the al-Shabab terror network in neighboring Somalia. Mr. Biden will surely seek to deepen the U.S.-Kenya counterterrorism partnership during his meetings with Mr. Ruto.
For Mr. Ruto, the meeting will offer the chance to push for greater U.S. financial investment in Kenya — a move that could be attractive to Mr. Biden as well, as he seeks to blunt the growing Chinese and Russian footprints on the continent.
Mr. Ruto specifically could seek help to escape from under a massive amount of Chinese debt. As of last year, the roughly $6.3 billion in Chinese loans to Kenya accounted for nearly two-thirds of Nairobi’s total foreign debt, according to information compiled by the British think tank Chatham House. Much of the debt stems from a major rail project in Kenya and other China-funded projects.
Analysts say Mr. Ruto will push for American investment as an alternative to borrowing more from Beijing, as critics say that communist China’s lending practices, particularly to poor and developing countries, are predatory.
“For Ruto, trade and investment issues will be at the top of the agenda. Nairobi badly needs more external investment,” Meron Elias, an east and southern Africa analyst at the International Crisis Group, wrote in a recent analysis. “One of Ruto’s key campaign pledges was to turn around the country’s struggling economy and improve the lot of those at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid. He has struggled to fulfil that promise, instead imposing an ever-increasing number of taxes aimed at raising funds to pay off the country’s substantial sovereign debt.”
(This article is based in part on wire-service reports.)
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.