Kenya has become the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to be designated non NATO ally status by the US while its leader is the first from the continent to be treated to an official state visit in Washington for 15 years.
President William Ruto’s trip to Washington was accorded the highest status of an official state visit which has a distinctive flavour to it and inherently different from other kinds of visit by a foreign head of state.
Perhaps the only thing missing from the invitation to Washington is the privilege of speaking in front of a joint session of Congress.
Ruto’s visit concides with events marking 60 years of diplomatic ties between his country and the United States.
Its newfound status as a NATO ally will allow the Kenyan military more sophisticated weaponry from the US as part of a much enhanced security cooperation in the fight against regional and global terrorism.
Symbolically, Kenya’s new designation also means relations with Washington have gone a notch higher than in previous years and suggests the country’s growing reputation as one of the most important allies of the US in East Africa especially in tackling the threats from al-Shabaab in neighbouring Somalia.
Details of a Nairobi-Washington couterterrorism alliance against the militants are an open secret six years after ties were upped to a strategic partnership.
But strong ties with Russia and China have prompted President Joe Biden to reconsider rejigging US geopolitical interests in the region where Kenya as a dominant force would play the role of a ‘harmonica’ in its diplomatic symphony.
Seen as a gateway to sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya’s growing importance in the eyes of the Biden administration signals Washington’s strong desire to upstage its past influence in a region which in recent years has witnessed a serious flurry of diplomatic activities by Beijing and Moscow to not only give an indelible stamp to their East Africa footprints but also upend US influence in the process.
The East African nation is seen as a useful member of the so-called Ukraine Defense Contact Group coalition of 50 nations committed to arming Ukraine against the ongoing invasion by Russia.
Biden is yet to visit Africa during his time as president but observers say his administration is keen to steal a march on Washington’s rivals and we could witness a flurry of visits by the US president across the continent should he win the White House for a second four-year term.
Diplomatic relations between Nairobi and Washington have come a long way since Kenyan independence in the early 1960s.