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On May 23, Kenyan President William Ruto and his delegation dined with President Biden at the White House in the first state dinner hosted by an American president of an African head of state since Ghanaian President John Kufuor visited George Bush for a state dinner in September 2008.
Although these events are typically symbolic gestures meant to signify the close diplomatic connection between the United States and an ally, Ruto's visit bears greater significance than that which traditionally accompanies these dinners.
The visit coincided with Kenya gearing up to send a police force to Haiti in an attempt to quell long-standing violence in the Caribbean country. Although the United States has stated that it has no interest in leading an international police or military mission to end the violence there, it has long sought another country to lead a security intervention in its place.
With approval from the UN Security Council and with American financial and political support, Kenya agreed to lead the mission. The state dinner served as an expression of U.S. support for Kenya's imminent security mission to Haiti.
This point was explicitly emphasized by President Biden during a press conference with President Ruto at the White House on May 23. In response to a question about Washington's perspective on the crisis in Haiti and Kenya's decision to lead a security mission, Biden said, "we concluded that for the United States to deploy forces in the hemisphere just raises all kinds of questions … about what we're trying to do. … So we set out to find a partner or partners who would lead that effort that we would participate in, not with American forces but with supplies and making sure they have what they need. And so I'm very grateful for President Ruto's leadership here for a multinational effort."
To support the mission, Biden said, "we're going to supply logistics, intelligence, and equipment…Kenya is stepping up with police and other countries plan to do so as well. The United States is going to support the collective effort here." On America's financial support for the Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission in Haiti, Biden said "we're working with Congress to provide $300 million to the MSS and an additional $60 million for equipment and assistance."
When pressed by a Kenyan journalist on his decision to send Kenyan troops to Haiti rather than deploying them to respond to domestic security threats, President Ruto argued that Kenya has long taken action in neighboring African countries to promote peace and security by sending in forces, such as sending troops to Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to help fight against non-state armed groups. Ruto then formed a parallel between these African security missions and the one planned for Haiti — a country 7,500 miles away — saying, "Haiti should not be an exception. Sending 1,000 security men to Haiti speaks to the same belief and commitment to peace and security."
The MSS Mission has already faced plenty of criticism and skepticism that it will be able to provide adequate security amid the overwhelming gang violence and political turmoil plaguing Haiti right now. It also follows a tradition of failed outside interventions by the U.S. and the UN. The difficulty of this task has complicated the deployment of Kenyan police, and continues to delay their arrival. Scheduled to touch down in Haiti on the same day as Ruto's visit to the White House, the Kenyan police deployment has been delayed, with no firm date for their arrival yet announced.
Beyond an expression of support for Kenya's planned police intervention in Haiti, the state visit also served as an opportunity for President Biden to indicate his administration's attention to African affairs and his continued interest in the continent. This comes as his administration has faced criticism for failing to deliver on promises to invest in Africa's prosperity, instead prioritizing U.S. diplomatic energy and resources on other issues, such as great power competition with China, the Russia-Ukraine War, and the Israel-Gaza War.
Despite hosting the U.S.-Africa summit at the Convention Center in Washington in December 2022 — during which African leaders joined American officials to discuss ways in which the United States can work with African governments and institutions to meet Africa's interests and needs — the Biden administration has indeed done little to respond concretely to Africa's challenges and deepen its ties with the continent.
Biden has failed to keep his promise to visit Africa during his first term in office and was slow to provide diplomatic support to seek an end to the Sudanese Civil War. African governments have also accused the United States of carelessly lecturing them on the importance of democracy and the appropriate responses to local security threats. And the United States has struggled to maintain diplomatic and security ties with African governments, having recently had its military expelled from Niger and Chad by each country's government.
Among the countries of East Africa, Kenya has been among the most stable in recent years. This has provided reassurance to the United States that Kenya — rather than its more traditional East African partner, Ethiopia — can be trusted with increased diplomatic and military cooperation.
On the largely symbolic front, the Biden administration named Kenya as a "major non-Nato ally" of the United States. This falls short of a formal military or security treaty between the two governments, but does enhance defense ties between the two militaries by giving Kenya access to American military loans and the purchase of American military technology.
The United States and Kenya also announced the U.S.-Kenya Climate and Clean Energy Industrial Partnership. This looks to increase American investment in clean energy solutions and green infrastructure in Kenya. In conjunction with this effort, major American government agencies announced their intention to invest in Kenya's infrastructure and development. The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) announced in September 2023 a $60 million grant to support a four-year program to improve transportation in Kenya, emphasizing climate-friendly public transportation projects.Meanwhile, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) also announced $15 million for new projects focused on poverty reduction and food security in Kenya.
In a speech delivered at Johns Hopkins University's School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS) on May 23, Ruto — who holds a PhD in plant ecology from the University of Nairobi — emphasized his desire to see greater American investment in green infrastructure and climate-friendly technology across Africa.
Ruto said: "With our massive, untapped renewable energy potential, the world's youngest and fastest-growing workforce, and abundant natural assets, our continent has the fundamentals to be a major player in the three critical areas needed to avert climate catastrophe."As the United States looks to respond to Russia's and China's growing engagement with the continent, it should do so by working with African states in the climate, development, and humanitarian spheres.This will provide the nuanced and deeply interconnected relationships that might help the U.S. meet security needs while promoting the stability and prosperity of Africa, as the continent seeks to provide jobs and resources for a booming population whose median age is just 19.

In the early hours of Sunday, May 19, the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) thwarted an attempted coup against the ruling government of President Felix Tshisekedi.
The coup began around 4 a.m. local time when dozens of armed men in the capital of Kinshasa raided the home of Vital Kamerhe, a national legislator allied with Tshisekedi. Nearby, armed men stormed the official residence and office of the president, though Tshisekedi wasn't there at the time.
In an ensuing armed struggle, several of those involved in the attempted coup sought to flee across the Congo River to neighboring Brazzaville, the capital of the bordering Republic of Congo, located on the other side of the river. The two neighboring capitals are close enough — located immediately across the river from each other — that a shell fired during the gun fight in Kinshasa landed in Brazzaville, injuring multiple people.
At least six individuals were killed in the gunfight, including two Congolese security officials and 41-year-old Christian Malanga, the man thought to have led the attempted coup.
Although the details leading up to all of this is unclear, Malanga was a well established opposition figure known throughout the Congo. As a child, he had fled the DRC with his family to Salt Lake City in the United States as political refugees escaping repression. Malanga attained U.S. citizenship and claimed that he was a member of the U.S. Air Force Junior ROTC while in high school in Salt Lake City. After graduating, he started a car dealership company.
He eventually returned to the DRC and unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the national parliament in 2011, during which time he was arrested and detained for several weeks.
Following his release, he returned to Salt Lake City and continued his political work in the United States, founding the United Congolese Party (UCP) in opposition to the ruling government. The UCP refers to itself not just as an opposition party, but as the exiled true government of the DRC, which the party calls New Zaire, referencing the years during which the DRC was officially known as Zaire, from 1971 to 1997.
Representing the UCP and the New Zaire movement, Malanga had previously met with high-ranking officials in Washington and the Vatican. During a live stream of Sunday's attacks shown on his Facebook page, Malanga was heard chanting "New Zaire!" and verbally threatening President Tshisekedi.
In the immediate aftermath of the failed coup, about 50 people were arrested by Congolese authorities for their participation in the insurrection. Among these are at least three Americans, including Malanga's 21-year-old son Marcel, who traveled to the DRC from the United States to help his father overthrow the national government.
Later on Sunday, the U.S. ambassador to the DRC released a statement in French — the official language of the DRC — on the social media platform X, saying she was "shocked by this morning's events and very concerned by reports that Americans were allegedly involved. Rest assured that we will cooperate with DRC authorities in all possible ways as they investigate these criminal acts and hold accountable any American citizen involved in these criminal acts."
Another American reportedly arrested in Kinshasa for taking part in the failed coup was 36-year-old Benjamin Zalman-Polun, a Washington, D.C.-native described in the news as a cannabis entrepreneur living in Maryland. In 2014, he pled guilty to a charge in D.C. for attempting to distribute up to 50 kilos of marijuana in the capital.In addition to political connections, he was a close business associate with Malanga and was reportedly a partner with Malanga in a gold mining and e-cigarettes business in Mozambique.

For over a year, Sudan has been engulfed in one of the world's most violent civil conflicts. The war has ravaged the country and now risks spreading beyond its borders, engulfing the wider region in a destabilizing, protracted conflict.Like most international players, the United States initially responded slowly to the war in Sudan, but President Biden appears to be taking the situation more seriously, having recently appointed former Virginia congressman Tom Perriello as U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan. Perriello — who previously served as Special Envoy to the Great Lakes region during the Obama administration — will lead talks between warring factions and concerned regional parties with the goal of reaching a lasting peace agreement and paving a path for the creation of a civilian government.Since his appointment, Perriello has been pushing to restart the on-again, off-again peace talks that have been based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In an interview with Responsible Statecraft, he expressed hope that the formal peace talks would restart sometime this month. "We are eager to start them tomorrow," Perriello said. Delaying them further, he warned, risks making Sudan "look more like a failed state that could become a 10- to 20-year crisis like we've seen in Somalia, but in a country much larger and in a very strategic location."The risks of this conflict spreading arms and refugees throughout East Africa and the broader Gulf has attracted regional powers' attention to both sides of the conflict. The UAE has reportedly provided military support to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), while Egypt and Iran have reportedly supported the government's de facto military, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), including by providing drones. Alex de Waal, an expert on Sudan and East Africa and the Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation, told RS that the growing complexity of the conflict means that the African Union (AU) or other regional bodies like Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) can't solve it alone. Rather, according to de Waal, ending the conflict requires a widespread diplomatic effort involving all major actors across Africa, the Gulf, and important international bodies, like the U.N.Perriello shares this perspective, saying he and his team have "been working particularly with some of the neighboring countries and other key African leaders to help communicate to the world and to other key regional actors that this is headed to a truly disastrous situation of a more factionalized, ethnicized war that is more likely to bring in neighboring countries that have overlapping populations." "For those who focus just on the regional stability concerns," he added, "this has now crossed over into being a very serious strategic crisis."Perriello says African countries are sounding the alarm to other regional actors and beyond: "don't light this fire, don't pour fuel on this fire, this is something that could burn us all. We have got to rein this thing in before it becomes something that goes past the point of no return."Perriello also said any lasting peace deal "shouldn't be a … way for former corrupt officials or extremist elements to backdoor their way into power." "I don't think some sort of power-sharing arrangement between the two sides is in anyone's interest," he added.Ultimately, however, the United States may lack sufficient leverage to determine the makeup of a post-war Sudanese government largely due to the involvement of extra-regional actors, such as Saudi Arabia — where the formal peace talks will be held — as well as the UAE, Egypt, and Iran, all of which have provided military support, therefore implicating them in the war's outcome. As a result, Washington should expect these states to advocate strongly for their own interests during the peace process. This means that Washington may have to live with a compromise that satisfies at least some of the demands of key domestic and foreign actors.Perriello admitted that although regional and global actors are increasingly inclined to end the war, "the two fighting sides are negotiating primarily through guns" and lack strong political will to end the conflict. Indeed, the war has created one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters in years. More than 8 million people have been displaced and human rights groups have documented widespread human rights violations committed by both sides. Among these include forced enlistments, the burning of homes and other property, sexual violence, and the indiscriminate killing of civilians.With over 1.8 million Sudanese now refugees in neighboring states, the security situation is closely interlinked with the dire humanitarian crisis. De Waal says that the humanitarian system is "collapsing." In the past, he said, Sudanese refugees could expect to receive a "modicum of peace and security" in neighboring states. That's no longer the case, as those countries are now dealing with their own intense security and governance challenges, and are struggling to provide the resources needed to support the dramatic influx of recent migrants.Perriello expressed frustration that "there has just not been enough aid, enough food and medicine sent" to Sudan and the surrounding region. In response, many Sudanese have worked at a local level to increase access to humanitarian aid and deliver money through the creation and proliferation of digital cash apps to help transfer critical funds to support the purchasing power of those struggling to afford food and other necessities. The humanitarian sector is also struggling from a lack of funding. "Even in areas like Chad that have been quite welcoming of humanitarian organizations, [refugees] are not getting more than one meal a day," Perriello lamented.The need for humanitarian support seems to now resonate across the West. Just a couple weeks ago, major European governments met in Paris to discuss increasing the financial support for humanitarian aid in Sudan. They jointly announced that they had raised $2.1 billion to support the humanitarian response. Before Paris, the U.S. had provided more humanitarian aid than any other country, having provided $115 million in 2024 so far.Perriello spoke repeatedly of the importance of uplifting the voices of the Sudanese people, saying that "we think the most important thing is for the negotiation to be as centered on the Sudanese people as possible." Although this sentiment has value, the claim that the United States speaks for and represents the interests of the Sudanese people is not always a view shared by those in Africa.Tying the threads of this conflict together will prove to be a difficult task for Perriello and his colleagues. Yet, the United States deserves credit for engaging diplomatically with regional and domestic players in an attempt to end the war before it grows to an even greater scale.

On the morning of April 15, 2023 in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan,the country's de facto national army, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took up arms against one another. Through temporary ceasefires and multiple attempts by foreign countries and international bodies to mediate an end to the war, the fighting persists.
Over the past year, the civil war has created one of the world's most severe humanitarian crises. Thousands have been killed and over eight million have been displaced. With over 6.5 million people internally displaced, Sudan is home to the highest number of internally displaced people in the world. Relentless fighting has forced many to leave Sudan entirely, with 1.5 million having fled to neighboring states as refugees.
The regionalization of this conflict is risking further destabilizing the wider Horn of Africa and Gulf regions, with regional powers now becoming involved. The UAE has reportedly provided military weapons to the RSF while Egypt has reportedly supported the SAF. A recent report suggests Iran is providing drones to SAF forces, which has helped them regain lost territory in and around Khartoum.
As more players become implicated in the military outcome of the war and as the humanitarian crisis deepens, the war is becoming increasingly complex and layered. Yet, at its most basic level, this conflict is of a genre as old as war itself. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who heads the SAF, and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (commonly called "Hemedti"), who leads the paramilitary RSF, are vying for power. Each is hoping to be the sole leader of Sudan.
Though now rivals engaged in a vicious war, Al-Burhan and Hemedti were once allied military leaders. In 2019, the two worked jointly to overthrow the country's long-time dictator, Omar al-Bashir, who had led the country since 1989. Following the successful coup, street protests erupted calling for a rapid transition of power to a civilian-led government. On June 3, 2019, the SAF and RSF responded violently, killing over 100 people in Khartoum. During the massacre, over 70 men and women were raped by RSF personnel.
Following international pressure, in August 2019 the military leaders agreed to allow for the formation of a transitional military-civilian government — the Transitional Sovereign Council — with elections scheduled to be held in 2023. But in October 2021, just over two years after the formation of the transitional government, the two military leaders again worked together to overthrow the government and regained full control over Sudan.
As the two sought to establish a governing structure in the months after this second coup, differences emerged between the two leaders' visions for the future of Sudan's government.
Al-Burhan sought to allow many of the political elites formerly allied with al-Bashir to reenter government. Hemedti, a Darfuri Arab, opposed such a plan, concerned that reinstating the old political guard would eventually return Sudan to a governing structure too similar to that which they overthrew, and erode his standing in the face of political elites who look down on those, like him, who are from Darfur.
Another essential point of disagreement was in the plan to unify the two armed forces into a single national force. Al-Burhan, whose SAF serves as the de facto military of the country, demanded that Hemedti's RSF force integrate into the SAF within two years. Hemedti, however, wanted the integration period to be spread out over a decade, giving his paramilitary more autonomy in case conflict resumed.
Following months of rising tensions, Hemedti deployed RSF forces to strategic locations throughout the country, including Khartoum, in anticipation of armed conflict. In the early hours of April 15, 2023, the RSF attacked SAF bases across the capital, including at the city's airport, signaling the start of what would turn out to be the region's most devastating conflict in many years.
Despite having fewer fighters, in the year since the civil war began, the RSF has successfully gained control over much of the capital and large portions of the country's western provinces in the Darfur region.
As conflict has spread, civilian suffering has reached levels unprecedented even for a region well acquainted with war, displacement, and humanitarian disaster.
The humanitarian toll is hitting children the heaviest. UNICEF estimates that 24 million children are at risk of "generational catastrophe." Of these, 14 million are in dire need of humanitarian support and 3.7 million are acutely malnourished. With 19 million children out of school, the long-term effects on the mental development of children will continue long after the war has ended.
Despite the massive humanitarian challenges facing the Sudanese people, international humanitarian support has fallen far short of what is needed. OCHA — the U.N.'s humanitarian agency — estimates that out of the $2.5 billion needed to fund a sufficient humanitarian response in 2024, only $155.2 million has been received thus far, amounting to just 6% of the needed support for this calendar year. The U.S. has provided 10% of that humanitarian aid. For 2023, OCHA says that 51% of the total funding needed for humanitarian relief was received.
The humanitarian crisis has been augmented by both armed groups committing widespread and severe human rights abuses across the country. Both forces have summarily killed civilians and ransacked cities, looting and then destroying unwanted property, including homes. The RSF and SAF have also both forcibly enlisted men and boys, threatening to kill them if they refuse to fight.
A U.N. report determined that between May and November of last year, the RSF committed at least 10 attacks against civilians in El-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur province, killing thousands, most of whom were part of the African Masalit ethnic group. The report also reveals that by mid-December, at least 118 people — including 19 children — had suffered from sexual violence, including being raped and gang raped by members of the military and paramilitary forces.
Throughout Darfur, the RSF has demanded that women leave their homes, forcing many to flee west to bordering Chad. The paramilitary also singles out men, and sometimes boys, systematically killing them one-by-one as they try to escape. Attacks specifically perpetrated against the Masalit community have spurred conversations about whether Darfur is again the site of a genocide.
Despite the remarkable levels of devastation and widespread displacement, the international community has been slow to respond. Relative to other conflicts, many far less devastating than the war in Sudan, this war has received limited media attention and has not been prioritized by countries outside the region. Yet, as the crisis worsens and as the effects spread beyond Sudan's borders, foreign governments have increased their attention over the past few months.
On February 26, over 10 months into the war, the Biden administration announced the appointment of former congressman Tom Perriello as Special Envoy for Sudan. Tasked with leading the U.S. government's efforts to resolve the conflict, Perriello — who previously served as U.S. envoy to the Great Lakes region during the Obama administration — has traveled on multiple occasions to the region where he has engaged civil society groups and regional governments in a dialogue with the hope of restarting peace negotiations.
As the war enters its second year of heavy fighting, Perriello will find it difficult to tie the conflict's many threads together and mediate an end to the war. But with a growing chorus of Sudanese civilians and many throughout the region pleading for an end to the conflict, the Biden administration has done well to increase its focus on ending the war through diplomatic engagement — a sign to those in East Africa that the U.S. is committed to rolling up its sleeves and leading the effort to achieve long-term peace in the region.