This week, Biden and Kenya’s Ruto will talk about debt relief for Kenya

This week, Kenyan President William Ruto will be hosted by US President Joe Biden for extensive negotiations that are anticipated to cover a range of topics, including Kenya’s debt relief as well as the future of Haiti, Ukraine, Sudan, and other regions.

Kenya has been facing severe cash shortages, and a senior administration official told Reuters on Monday that the US is pressuring major creditors like China, which is Kenya’s largest creditor, to provide debtor nations with assistance.

“We think it’s essential that responsible debtors provide reprieves for countries like Kenya, whether that’s by debt service suspensions or via new grant assistance,” added the official.

Additionally, Washington is pressuring global financial institutions to provide Kenya and other nations with affordable funding.

During the state visit this week, the official indicated to anticipate some major joint pronouncements about debt relief “on how countries like Kenya can tackle this problem of debt.”

Washington hopes to counter China’s growing influence in Africa by arranging for the Kenyan leader to pay a high-profile visit.

By collecting debt service payments and limiting follow-on loans, U.S. Treasury Undersecretary Jay Shambaugh cautioned China and other nations that have made large loans to low-income countries last month against free riding.

The remarks demonstrated the mounting annoyance of debtor countries and Western countries with Beijing’s procrastination about debt restructuring and the glacial pace of debt relief negotiations.

The executive director of Jubilee USA Network, an ecumenical coalition of advocacy, development, and religious organizations, Eric LeCompte, predicted that the Ruto visit will have a significant impact on American policy on Africa.

“Ruto truly speaks for Africa when he speaks. Furthermore, this conference is actually about sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, not just Kenya, as President Biden hasn’t had a chance to travel to the continent yet,” LeCompte stated.

African leaders demanded that wealthy nations make historic pledges to the World Bank’s International growth Association, a low-interest facility that developing countries depend on to help finance their growth and fight climate change, during a conference Ruto convened last month.

The insider stated that as U.S.-Kenyan relations move beyond regional endeavors to a more global partnership, Biden and Ruto will also talk about security cooperation. According to the official, they will talk about Sudan, Haiti, and other hotspots across the world.

Kenya abruptly reversed course in mid-March, announcing that it was stopping the deployment of police officers, despite having an agreement with Haiti to expedite the deployment in order to address the country’s increasing violence.

Following their discussions on Thursday, Biden and Ruto are anticipated to have a state supper and then a joint news conference.