Friday August 19, 2022
We reported earlier that US Senator Chris Coons is in Kenya for meetings with Deputy President William Ruto - who was declared the winner of last week's presidential election - as well as his main rival, Raila Odinga, who disputes the result. A meeting with President Uhuru Kenyatta was also arranged.
The US Embassy in Nairobi has now tweeted that the senator and Mr Ruto have met.
They discussed "the US-Kenya strategic partnership, promotion of peace and security in the region, and ways to strengthen [the two countries'] economies".As deputy president, Mr Ruto still has official duties to perform, but in the tweet there was no mention of Mr Ruto's victory or the dispute around it.
The deputy president tweeted that "the talks touched on the just concluded elections in the country".
The US has not yet congratulated Mr Ruto on his win. Earlier in the week, the US Embassy in Nairobi did note that he was declared the winner and praised the electoral commission and Kenyans for the peaceful and orderly voting process.
Senator Coons has also met Mr Odinga to discuss "shared democratic values", according to the US embassy's Twitter account. Again, there was no mention of whether the election was discussed.
The senator also met President Uhuru Kenyatta in what was described as "a courtesy call".