Kenya’s newly elected president, William Ruto, left the country for the first time since taking office. The first leg of the trip took him to the United Kingdom, where he attended the burial of Queen Elizabeth II, and had a meeting with the new British monarch, Charles III (https://nation.africa/kenya/news/politics/ruto-flies-out-in-maiden-trip-as-head-of-state-3952850).
The trip then continued overseas, where President Ruto attended the 77th General Assembly of the United Nations. The congress addressed several issues. The main ones were about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of Agenda 2030, policies on education, and combating the climate crisis. Ruto’s speech focused on the debt of African nations. According to Kenyan president, Africa is the continent that suffers the most from the adversities of climate change, and therefore, upper middle-income nations should take this into account and recount the continent’s debts (https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/c40rjmqdlzzt/kenya).
During the assembly, Ruto spoke directly with UN Secretary-General Guterres. In this meeting the two discussed, in addition to the aforementioned climate, mainly security issues. In fact, this week, Ruto stated that Kenya will send troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo, in line with UN and East African Community (EAC) missions. The secretary expressed good words about the African country, and his commitment in being a guarantor of peace in that region (https://nation.africa/kenya/news/peace-security-key-issues-in-president-william-ruto-guterres-meeting-in-new-york–3957100?).
Also of significance is the meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, where both Ruto and his first lady, Rachel, were received. In this meeting, too, the Kenyan president reiterated the need for the first world to realize the price the African continent is paying. The two then reiterated that they would continue the joint effort to bind the two countries together. A topic of no small importance, given the ambivalence the country has shown with Chinese courtships (https://www.citizen.digital/news/ruto-meets-us-president-joe-biden-in-new-york-n306182).
