President Biden and first lady Jill Biden welcomed Kenyan President William Ruto and his wife, Rachel, to the White House on Thursday for a state visit focused on designating a non-NATO ally as part of the effort to resolve the crisis in Haiti.
The arrival of Mr. Ruto included all the usual White House pomp and circumstance reserved for a foreign leader’s state visit, including honor guards, marching bands and a multigun salute on the South Lawn. He is the first African leader in 16 years to make an official visit to the U.S.
Mr. Ruto’s arrival came after House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, turned down a request by Democrats for Mr. Ruto to address a joint session of Congress. A spokesman for the speaker said the decision not to invite Mr. Ruto was due to “scheduling constraints.”
The spokesman said the speaker offered the Kenyan Embassy more than 90 minutes of one-on-one engagement with top leaders of both parties in the House and Senate.
At the welcoming ceremony on the White House South Lawn, Mr. Biden hailed the 60-year partnership between the U.S. and Kenya.
“Together, the United States and Kenya are working to deliver on the challenges that matter most to our people’s lives — health security, economic security, cybersecurity and climate security,” Mr. Biden said.
He said Kenya has been an invaluable ally in fighting the Islamic State and other terror groups that have set up strongholds in Africa.
“The past is proof that we are stronger and the world is safer when Kenya and the United States work together,” Mr. Biden said.
Mr. Ruto said his trip to America was about finding solutions to the issues that plague Kenya and the rest of East Africa.
“We will have an opportunity to discuss and to have a conversation about building a global partnership and leadership around the issues that pose challenges regionally, globally and in countries like Kenya and many others,” Mr. Ruto said. “Challenges of insecurity. Challenges around debt distress.”
The arrival ceremony was to be followed by an Oval Office meeting and a joint press conference with journalists from both nations. Mr. Ruto will later join the Bidens for a lavish state dinner at the White House.
Mr. Biden’s non-NATO ally move deepens Kenya’s ties with the U.S. while Russia and China are also scrambling to bolster their partnerships with the African nation.
The designation is given to countries whose militaries have working relationships with the U.S., but not necessarily a mutual defense pact. Kenya would be the first sub-Saharan African country to earn the designation.
Mr. Biden will inform Congress of his intent to make the designation later Thursday.
The security partnerships will boost the two nations’ counterterrorism efforts in Africa, including battling ISIS and the Sunni Islamist al-Shabab organization. Kenya has also participated in the Ukraine Defense Contact Group and a maritime task force launched by Mr. Biden to combat Houthi aggression against vessels in the Red Sea.
Beyond that, Mr. Ruto is sending roughly 1,000 Kenyan police officers to Haiti as part of a multilateral security mission to help quell gang violence. The move was welcomed by the Biden administration as a show of global leadership by Kenya.
