NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 3 – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lands in Kenya on Saturday for a one-day official tour.
She is scheduled to arrive at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport at 8am, and from there travel to the city centre for meetings with President Mwai Kibaki, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Chief Justice Willy Mutunga.
She will also hold talks with top Independent Electoral Commission officials led by Chairman Isaack Hassan at the InterContinental hotel from 1pm.
“The Secretary will meet President Kibaki, Prime Minister Odinga, and other government officials to emphasise her support for transparent, credible, non-violent national elections in 2013,” US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
Clinton arrived in South Sudan’s capital Juba on Friday, becoming the highest-ranking US official to visit the world’s newest nation, which split from former civil war foe Sudan last year.
She is due to meet President Salva Kiir and Foreign Minister Nhial Deng Nhial on the three-hour long trip, where she’s expected to highlight Washington’s concern over the bitter dispute between Juba and Khartoum.
Arriving in the steamy heat of the ramshackle Juba – a rapidly growing city largely made up of simple tin-roof huts strung out alongside the White Nile River – the top US diplomat headed to the presidency to meet with Kiir.
Juba’s government has yet to agree on a raft of issues with the rump state of Sudan such as border demarcation and contested areas in oil-rich regions, which were left unresolved after they split in July 2011.
The UN Security Council gave the two countries until August 2 to reach a deal or face sanctions, after they came close to a return to all-out war earlier this year. That deadline elapsed yesterday.
While showing continued support to South Sudan, Clinton “will express our continued concern about the lack of movement in the resolution of the key issues that divide the two countries,” said the statement.
Clinton’s 11-day, seven nation Africa tour is focused on the Obama administration’s new Africa strategy of promoting development by stimulating economic growth while advancing peace and security and strengthening democracy.
Earlier this year, Clinton pledged US backing for democratic and economic development in North Africa as she toured the region that gave birth to the Arab Spring.