Q&A

The White House says it chose Kenya for its first state visit for an African leader for many reasons – not least because the East African powerhouse has stepped up on the global stage, offering to staff a UN peacekeeping mission to Haiti that could see boots on the ground as early as this week. Voice of America interviewed Frances Brown, the newly appointed director for African affairs at the National Security Council, ahead of last week’s state visit by President William Ruto.

Why was Kenya chosen and what deliverables can we expect? We chose Kenya for a few reasons. Number one is the Kenya-US partnership has really grown from a regionally focused one to a globally focused one. ... and we see a lot of complementarities in terms of what we're trying to do on climate. What we're trying to do on debt for the developing world, and on security issues. The second reason we wanted to have this state visit with Kenya is that we are both democracies, and our bond is very deep as democracies, and our bond is very deep on people-to-people ties. The third reason is that Kenya and the U.S. really work similarly in terms of bringing in the private sector to solve global challenges. So, we'll be talking a lot about those. The deliverables you'll see are in the realms of technology, clean energy and climate transition, of debt relief, of democracy, of people-to-people ties and on health-related issues.

Kenya hopes to soon have peacekeepers in Haiti. Why is this so important to the administration? We do really welcome the Kenyans raising their hand to help lead this multinational security support mission in Haiti, because it's kind of an example of what I just mentioned of Kenya raising its hand to solve problems even outside of its region. ... As you may know, there's been planning under way for a number of months. It has included policing experts from around the world working to develop a concept of operations. Kenya is not going it alone. The US has provided $300m towards this, so it's a big thing for us.

US troops are pulling out of the Sahel and the so-called ‘Coup Belt.’ What are the concerns the administration has about security in the Sahel region, especially as Russia expands its footprint there? As has been widely reported, we are making an orderly withdrawal from Niger. I will say that is pretty consistent with our administration's [counterterrorism] posture in general that we have made changes to our posture that are consistent with our CT policy. It is no secret that democracy is on the backfoot in a lot of places globally. If you talk to democracy scholars, democracy is on something like its 20th year of global decline. So, Africa is not alone in this regard. The Biden administration is focused on lifting up and partnering with democracies to help them deliver. You may have seen USAID's initiative on democracy delivering. We're working with a few African countries on that. And I think this is, again, something that we'll be talking a lot to the Kenyans with, because President Ruto has talked about the imperative of democracy delivering.

Regarding issues of trade and the African Growth and Opportunity Act – obviously, this is going to be a decision made by Congress, but how does the administration feel about the benefits of trade and of barrier-free trade with the US? President Biden has been really vocal that he sees Agoa reauthorisation and Agoa modernisation as a huge priority. It has been huge, I think from our perspective, but also from the perspective of the region. It's something we hear a lot about from our Kenyan partners. We do look to Congress for that. But as you know, reauthorisation is due next year, and obviously we hope that things can get in motion before then.