Renson Mwakandana
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the highest American representative to the UN, is scheduled to visit Kenya on Wednesday. The UN country team is anticipated to update Ms. Thomas-Greenfield on humanitarian programs, including the regional drought response and support for refugees.
She will also meet with refugees who are waiting to be resettled in the United States and promote the recently formed Welcome Corps program under President Joe Biden’s administration.
She is traveling at the same time as US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen who has been in Africa for 11 days, visiting Senegal, Zambia, and South Africa to strengthen commercial connections on a continent where China is a major influence.
The former assistant secretary of state for Africa, Ms. Thomas-Greenfield, will also meet with Kenyan business leaders who are leading the nation’s transformation to a green economy.
According to a press statement from the United States Mission to the UN office of Press and Public Diplomacy, “The Ambassador’s visit will also focus on the impact Russia’s war against Ukraine continues to have on global food security, which has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in the region.”
A week after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Uganda, Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Congo Republic during his tour of the continent in August of last year, President Biden dispatched the ambassador to Kampala. Ms. Thomas-Greenfield visited Cape Verde, Ghana, and Uganda.
