The US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is set to tour Nairobi in his first African visit since President Donald Trump took office last year.
In a statement by the State Department on Thursday, spokesperson Heather Nauert said Tillerson will travel to “N’Djamena, Chad; Djibouti, Djibouti; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Nairobi, Kenya; and Abuja, Nigeria, between March 6 and 13.”
In his visit to the African continent, he will meet African leaders in a move largely seen to be mending bridges following Trump’s outburst branding African countries as “shithole countries” in January.
He will also meet with the Africa Union leadership in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
“He plans to discuss ways we can work with our partners to counter terrorism, advance peace and security, promote good governance, and spur mutually beneficial trade and investment,” Nauert added according to AFP.
In a meeting held between African Union ministers and Tillerson in Washington in November last year, he fronted general policy as the only element the US is keen on working on in the African continent.
Unlike his Barrack Obama, former US President who made his first trip to Ghana after six months in office, Trump has projected disinterest in making such a trip to the African continent.