US: Why we invited Uhuru Kenyatta to Africa Summit

NEW YORK

President Uhuru Kenyatta has been invited to next week's Africa summit because of Kenya's status as a key regional partner of the United States, a White House official said Thursday.

Kenya's response to the International Criminal Court (ICC) indictments of the country's two top leaders also factored into the US decision to ask President Kenyatta to take part in the three-day summit in Washington, DC, added Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security advisor.

"The US has been supportive of Kenya's efforts to address concerns related to the ICC cases," said Mr Rhodes.

His comments during a teleconference with reporters were made in response to a question as to why Mr Kenyatta was invited while a few other African leaders were not.

Mr Rhodes said the US decided to exclude leaders of countries that are either not in good standing with the African Union or that present “unique challenges” to Washington.

He noted that the leaders of Zimbabwe, Sudan, Central African Republic and Eritrea were not been invited to the summit.

'PRODUCTIVE DISCUSSIONS'

The heads of state and senior officials of about 50 nations in sub-Saharan and northern Africa are expected to participate in the event.

In a separate press briefing earlier Thursday, the State Department's top Africa official said she expected “extraordinarily productive and fruitful discussions” to take place at the summit.

Gay rights, the Ebola outbreak and terrorism will be some of the topics to be discussed, along with the summit theme of “investing in the next generation,” added Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs.

Noting that the US had been “extraordinarily clear” in its support for gay rights, Ms Thomas-Greenfield said in a conference call with reporters that this subject will be discussed at a civil society forum taking place on August 4.

The Obama administration is arranging meetings involving African officials and US health experts to identify how the US can best assist in responding to the Ebola outbreak, she said.

CONFLICT AND VIOLENCE

On the issue of terrorism, Ms Thomas-Greenfield said many communities were still threatened by conflict and violence.

“The US wants to help African states stay a step ahead of these challenges with the aim of eliminating the need for outside interventions,” she said.

Ms Thomas-Greenfield defended the decision not to pair President Obama with any of the African heads of state for one-to-one talks during the summit.

Saying it was impossible to arrange meetings with all 50 leaders, the State Department official noted that Secretary of State John Kerry and other members of Mr Obama's Cabinet will be holding bilateral talks with the visiting African leaders.

At the later briefing on Thursday, Mr Rhodes added that Mr Obama will have an opportunity to interact with each leader during a White House dinner on August 5.