Washington (agencies)
US President Joe Biden received Kenyan President William Ruto in the first state visit by an African leader to the United States in 16 years, at a time when the United States, the largest economy in the world, is seriously seeking to build influence in a continent that is weaving closer relations with countries other than China and Russia. , Washington’s biggest competitor.
Bloomberg News Agency said that the visit of Kenyan President William Ruto to the White House, yesterday, comes at a time when President Joe Biden’s commitment to engaging with African countries is losing momentum, due to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and economic competition with China.
Bloomberg quoted Nick Cheeseman, professor of democracy at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, as saying, in a phone call, that African countries “want to benefit from all parties, and resent being forced to choose between them,” highlighting the challenge Biden faces to woo the continent’s leaders. .
The last state visit by an African leader to the United States was in 2008, when President George W. Bush received then Ghanaian President John Kufuor.
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