(22 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
POOL
Washington – 22 May 2024
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Mike Johnson, House Speaker:
“I’d just like to say we are grateful to host the president. As you all may recognize or remember, this is, I believe, the first state visit for an African nation since 2008. And, of course, we regard Kenya as our closest friend in East Africa and in a very strategic partnership that we have together with our countries. And we certainly honor and appreciate that. A couple of thoughts I just wanted to share, and I’ll share with the president here privately when we visit, but we certainly are mourning the loss of many in the recent floods there. We can relate to natural disasters here as well, and I know what that means is as a resident of Louisiana, we have lots of flooding issues. And those are tragic things that we we stand with you. And we’re really grateful for, Kenya’s partnership in opposing extremists around the world and, partnering together to, to oppose al-Shabab and the jihadist and stand against the Houthis in the Red Sea and other other places. And we’re really grateful for what Kenya has done to assist with Haiti in recent days in our hemisphere, to try to keep stability. And we applaud all of the good work and leadership that you’ve championed with regard to the anti-corruption laws and all of those things really, really important.”
++BLACK FRAMES++
2. SOUNDBITE (English) William Ruto, Kenya President:
“We are celebrating this year 60 years of solid friendship between the United States and Kenya, sharing in many areas. As you have said correctly, in the space around peace and security. I think we have common positions on working with different countries to see how to resolve challenges of security. For example, in the Horn of Africa, we have security challenges in Somalia. And that you have said correctly, we have been fighting the al-Shabab for the last almost 20 years. And part of the conversation we are going to have or is on how we can make sure that the drawdown of Army troops does not create a vacuum that will end up being filled by al-Shabab. And Kenya and the United States and frontline states need to work together to see how that can be done. Not calendar based withdrawal, but conditions based withdrawal.”
++BLACK FRAMES++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) William Ruto, Kenya President:
“Working together also on how the United States being the leader of free market economy, how we can have a fairer international financial system.”
4. Various of Ruto and Johnson greeting members of Congress
STORYLINE:
Kenyan President William Ruto met with House Speaker Mike Johnson at the Capitol on Wednesday as part of a three-day state visit as the East African nation prepares to deploy forces to Haiti as part of U.N.-led effort to try to calm a spiraling security crisis in the Caribbean country.
Ruto during his meeting with Johnson said he would look to use the visit in part to share his concerns about the challenges caused by heavy debt loads in Kenya and across Africa.
Some 1,000 Kenyan police officers are set to arrive soon in Haiti, part of a multilateral security support mission that aims to help quell gang violence. Other countries expected to back up Kenyan forces include the Bahamas, Barbados, Benin, Chad and Bangladesh.
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