NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) – French President Emmanuel Macron will be in Kenya today in the first visit by a French leader since the East African nation’s independence in 1963.
This is the latest stop in Macron’s Africa tour, followed by Ethiopia and Djibouti, focusing on investment and security in a region of increasing strategic importance.
The French leader is attending a U.N. environmental meeting and One Planet Summit in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, and meeting with President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Macron’s office says that Kenya is the only African nation to reach the goal of making renewable energy 75 percent of its energy mix.
The office also notes the ongoing threat to Kenya from extremism. Al-Shabab is in neighboring Somalia.
French business leaders are also traveling with Macron. Kenya is East Africa’s commercial hub.