US President Barack Obama has landed in Kenya to begin a visit that many Kenyans see as the return of the country’s “son”.
After Air Force One landed at Jomo Kenyatta airport in the capital Nairobi, Mr Obama was driven away in his presidential limo – nicknamed “the Beast” – which was flown in from the US and which bristles with security features.
Mr Obama’s visit has required a huge security operation, with Kenyan troops patrolling Nairobi and several US military aircraft spotted flying above the city. Al Shabaab, the Somali terrorist group linked to al Qaeda, has conducted major attacks in Kenya including the 2013 attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi and an attack in Garissa in April that killed nearly 150 people.
Sarah Obama, the matriarch of the Obama family, flew from the western city of Kisumu to Nairobi to meet the president, Kenyan media reported. Mrs Obama was the second wife of the president’s grandfather and helped raise his father, Barack Obama Sr.
“Today, I am going to talk to him face to face,” Mrs Obama, who is in her 90s, said before boarding her plane.
Major Nairobi roads will be temporarily closed and authorities said the airport would be closed for Mr Obama’s departure on Sunday for Ethiopia.
Safaricom, a mobile network operator, warned of disruptions to phone signals while Mr Obama was in Nairobi to meet entrepreneurs and his Kenyan counterpart, Uhuru Kenyatta.
AP
