Jill Biden visits Kenya to focus on the worst drought in many years

US First Girl Jill Biden arrived in Kenya on Friday, kicking off a go to geared toward focusing consideration on the worst drought to hit the Horn of Africa in many years.

5 consecutive seasons of poor rainfall have killed hundreds of thousands of livestock, destroyed crops and left some 22 million folks susceptible to hunger in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, with the sixth season additionally anticipated to fail.

Biden traveled to Kenya from Namibia, as a part of a two-country tour geared toward deepening ties with the continent, which has turn into a renewed diplomatic battlefield after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine final 12 months.

The primary senior White Home official to journey to the area since her husband, President Joe Biden, got here to energy, the 71-year-old neighborhood faculty professor’s go to will even concentrate on empowering ladies and youth.

Thanks for welcoming me again to Kenya, FirstLadyKenya!

I am excited to construct on the friendship we began on the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit, and see the methods you are giving voice to these usually exceptional.

The tour goals to construct on a summit of US-Africa leaders in Washington late final 12 months the place President Biden stated his nation was “all in” on the deeply courted continent.

Throughout her go to to Namibia, Biden stated the USA is dedicated to serving to African international locations achieve a larger voice within the United Nations and different worldwide our bodies.

“We’re dedicated to creating certain that African international locations not solely have a voice in organizations just like the United Nations Safety Council and the G20, however that these voices are valued as equal companions,” Biden stated at a luncheon in Windhoek on Thursday. That is Biden’s first journey to Africa as First Girl of the USA.

AFP