Biden toasts Kenyan president at White House state dinner

President Biden has welcomed Kenya’s President Ruto for a state visit aimed at deepening relations between the United States and African nations, with Washington eager to counter growing Chinese and Russian influence on the continent. Both men emphasised the role Kenya plays in regional security, as well as the policing mission it is about to lead in the Caribbean in troubled Haiti, more than 7,000 miles away from the east African nation. Biden and Ruto called on nations around the globe to reduce the enormous debt burden on developing nations, with Kenya one of the five countries most indebted to China after a series of loans for infrastructure projects including a railway line between the capital, Nairobi, and the port city of Mombasa. Read more on this story: Read the best of our journalism: Subscribe to The Times and The Sunday Times YouTube channel: