Theresa May pledged support for East Africa’s fight against Islamist militancy on Thursday during the first trip by a British prime minister to Kenya in 30 years.
In Nairobi, the last stop on her three-country Africa trip, May was also at pains to assure the region’s biggest economy that Kenya would not experience any trade fallout from Brexit.
“The UK’s already the largest foreign investor in Kenya. … And I’ve set out this week our ambition to be the G7’s number one investor in Africa by 2022,’’ she said.
“As Britain prepares to leave the EU we’re committed to a smooth transition that ensures continuity in our trading relationship with Kenya,” the Prime Minister added at a joint news conference with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.
May will later Thursday watch the British and Kenyan militaries training together to identify and destroy improvised explosive devices.
“This afternoon we’ve signed a new compact that will see us expand our joint work on security even further.
“The UK is no longer just training our own military in Kenya but training with Kenyans to promote stability in east Africa,” May said.
“The UK continues to support the commitment of the brave Kenyan soldiers fighting in Somalia against al-Shabaab and I will announce a new package of funding to support the African Union mission in Somalia,” she said.
Al-Shabaab, which is linked to al-Qaeda, is a Somalia-based terror group which has launched regular attacks on neighbouring Kenya, such as the assault on Nairobi’s Westgate Mall that killed at least 67 people in 2013.