,Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield’s visit, according to the Department of State announcement, will address "regional security, reinforcing commitments to democracy and human rights, strengthening food security, supporting African resilience and recovery, and mitigating the effects of climate change."
The first stop for Thomas-Greenfield, a former U.S. assistant secretary of state for Africa, is Ghana, which is in the second year of a two-year term as an elected member of the Security Council. On Jan. 25 she will meet with women leaders and civil society representatives, the U.S. mission said.
Thomas-Greenfield then heads to Mozambique, which is just starting its first-ever two-year term on the council.
There, she will meet with U.N. officials, entrepreneurs, alumni of U.S. exchange programs, international relations students and civil society members engaged in work to adapt to climate change, the mission said.
The ambassador’s final stop on Jan. 28-29 is Kenya, whose two-year term on the council ended on Dec. 31.
Thomas-Greenfield’s visit there will focus on humanitarian programs, including the regional response to drought and assistance to refugees, and on “the impact Russia’s war against Ukraine continues to have on global food security, which has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in the region.”
The ambassador will also meet refugees pending resettlement in the United States and Kenya-based entrepreneurs “at the forefront of the country’s transition to a green economy,” the State Department said.
Thomas-Greenfield’s visit follows last week’s start of a 10-day African visit by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who arrived in Senegal late Wednesday and has visited Zambia before finishing in South Africa.
U.S. President Joe Biden announced at the end of a U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in December that he will visit sub-Saharan Africa in 2023, the first trip to the region by a U.S. leader in a decade.
Biden stressed at the summit that he is serious about increasing U.S. attention to the continent and told the 49 African leaders attending the meeting in Washington that “Africa belongs at the table” in every conversation of global consequences.