Since May 20, 2024, Kenyan President has been on a state visit to the USA where he met President Joe Biden and several other government and local leaders. His trip came after attending the African CEO Forum in Kigali, Rwanda on May 17, 2024. On his trip to Rwanda, he made conflicting statements during interviews with media, justifying the use of Kenyan troops in Haiti to fight off the Haitian gangs controlling the country while advocating for a diplomatic solution for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to fight off the Rwandan troops under the cover of M23 rebels committing war crimes and looting mineral resources. His comments before heading to the USA on a historical state visit have raised controversies and made the decisions to send troops to Haiti and to go on a expensive trip to the USA, very unpopular in Kenya.
While William Ruto is visiting the US on Thursday, 200 Kenyan troops have been deploying to Haiti along with the special police force officers.
He started his trip on Monday, May 20, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia where himself and first lady Rachel Ruto were welcomed by Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and other elected officials, including at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. He then visited the Center for Disease Control (CDC), MLK museum, Coca-Cola, Carter Presidential Center, and Tyler Perry Studios.
On May 22, 2024, he travelled to Washington DC to meet with US President Joe Biden.
Kenyan President William Ruto is the first African leader to make a state visit to Washington since 2008.
They met at the Oval Office on May 23, 2024 and spoke about Kenya being the first African country to join a list of non-NATO US allies, new US investment in Kenya, and working together to support the Somali government in its fight against terrorism.
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Controversial Statements and Expenses and Conflicting Positions on Rwandan Army's Wars in DR Congo and Ruling Gangs in Haiti
The interview in Kigali, Rwanda, during the African CEO Forum was with The Africa Report and Jeune Afrique. When asked about the position on the war in DR Congo, due to the invasion of the Rwandan troops under the cover of the M23 rebels, Kenyan President Willian Ruto appeared to minimize the invasion of DR Congo by Rwandan troops and the well documented war crimes, looting and humanitarian tragedy faced by the Congolese people.
He said:
“The DRC told us: ‘They [M23 Rebels] are Congolese.’ End of the debate. If they are Congolese, how does this become a Rwandan problem? How does this become a Kagame problem? ... I don’t find any better outcome than a citizenship that has grievances, that have issues with their government, who are willing to engage their government in a discussion so that they can sort out their grievances.”
Kenyan William Ruto’s comments came in contradiction with several reports from the UN experts, independent observers, human rights organizations and local population pointing to Rwandan government and army as being behind the invasion, funding, providing troops, weapons and supporting the M23 militia used as a cover.
The comments by William Ruto have raised concerns among Congolese leaders and people, and reminded them of many controversial comments and failures of Kenyan government against Congo, under William Ruto.
In 2020-2023, East African Community (EAC), then led by Kenya under William Ruto deployed the peacekeeping force to the DRC to stop the invasion of Rwandan troops, under the cover of the M23 militia. The performance the Kenyan troops was worse than dismal. The Congolese population, mostly from regions where the Kenyan troops were deployed led protests pointing to the usefulness of the troops and asking the troops to be sent back to Kenya. Kenyan troops were pulled out in December 2023.
In February 2022, during election campaigns, William Ruto made controversial comments mocking the Congolese population saying that they only seek to wear high waist trousers and are incapable of keeping and leveraging cows, to generate wealth.
He then said: " We have a market in DR Congo... these people are singers... These people have a population of about 90 million but they don't own any cow .. they only know how to wear high - waist trousers"
William Ruto's comments were then criticized by many Kenya politicians and government officials, as a reckless lack of vision and foresight, and unacceptable lack of respect for the Congolese people.
The other challenge, is that William Ruto was about to head to the USA, for a state visit and appeared to please Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame.
On a four-day visit at the invitation of his US President Joe Biden, Kenyan President William Ruto started with renting a very expensive luxury private jet from Dubai-owned RoyalJet company, instead of using the presidential plane while the Kenyan people are facing serious economic challenges. The price of hiring the luxury private jet was estimated to be $1.5 millions.
Faced with widespread critics against the expansive trip, the US government had to officially deny reports that it had paid for the private jet.
“Just to be clear: The United States of America did not pay for President Ruto’s jet to the US,” a spokesperson for the US embassy in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, told the media.
During the state visit in the USA by Kenyan President William Ruto , many questions have been raised across, in Kenya and in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, especially the following:
What is behind the state visit? why did William Ruto travel to Kigali, Rwanda first and criticize the DR Congo leaders, while seeming to support Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame?
Guests at the White House State Dinner for Kenya's president and Rejection by Speaker Mike Johnson
The first state visit a U.S. president has held for an African president since 2008 was historic, especially that Mr. Biden has yet to fulfill his promise to visit Africa as president. Meanwhile, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) condemned Speaker Mike Johnson, a Representative from Louisiana, for refusing to host Kenyan President William Ruto for a joint meeting of Congress, commonly extended to other international leaders.
On Thursday Night, May 24, 2024, US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden hosted Kenyan President President William Ruto and his wife, first lady Rachel Ruto, for an elaborate state dinner.
Among the guests were:
- US Vice-President Harris and the second gentleman Douglas C Emhoff
- Former President Barack Obama, whose father is from Kenya,
- Former President Bill Clinton and and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
- US Rep Ilhan Omar and her husband Tim Mynett
- Pete Buttigieg and Chasten Glezman
- Actor Sean Penn and his wife Ann Lee,
- Actor LeVar Burton and his wife and fellow actor Stephanie Cozart Burton
- NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell his wife Jane Skinner Goodell,
- Philanthropist Melinda French Gates and Rory Gates,
- Guitarist Don McLean and Paris Dunn
- Journalist Lester Holt and his wife Carol Hagen-Holt and
- Businessman Tom Bernthal and Sheryl Sandberg
- Wilmer Valderrama and Amanda Pacheco Rhinesmith
- Tech executive Sheryl Sandberg and
- NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
- American musician Brad Paisley and his wife Kimberly Williams-Paisley
- Reverend Al Sharpton and Aisha McShaw
- American political staffer Huma Abedin
- Philanthropist Alexander Soros
- Paul Keary and Ursula Burns
- Black Panther actress Danai Gurira, who is from Zimbabwe
- Ndidi Okonkwo Nwuneli, CEO of the One campaign
©2024 AfroAmerica Network.
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