Heads of intelligence in the UK and USA have visited Kenya in a week in what insiders see as a move to demand action to forestall a pending catastrophe in the region.
The latest to come to Nairobi was CIA Director, William J. Burns who met President William Ruto at State House in Nairobi on Monday.
This was the second trip to Kenya in a year.
Also present was Kenya’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director General Noordin Haji, among other top leaders.
It is not clear what prompted Burns to fly to Nairobi but officials said it must be a serious issue.
Among them is the ongoing war in Sudan and DRC Congo which the intelligence community fear may spill over to the region in the coming days.
The ongoing war in the Middle East may also have an impact on the region as terror groups or their sympathisers could be planning an attack on allies or interests in the targeted countries in East Africa.
“The trips show there is something disturbing and they come to warn and ask for swift action to forestall it,” said an insider aware of the trend.
The planned changeover from the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) to the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM), set to commence in January 2025 and involvement in Egypt is also a point of concern for the community.
After the meeting, the President said the leadership in the region will continue to remain vigilant against destabilising crimes and safeguard the gains of peace, stability, democracy and economic growth.
“The peace and security in the region have significantly been boosted by the close collaboration between us and our partners around the world. As a result, we have substantially rolled back the threat of terrorism, radicalisation, violent extremism and organised crime,” the President said in a statement on X.
Burns’ meeting comes days after the UK Foreign Intelligence agency MI6 Chief of Service Richard Moore visited Nairobi for a series of meetings touching on terrorism
He and other top officials met Ruto at State House Nairobi and discussed counter-terrorism, peace and security measures in the Eastern African region.
Also present was High Commissioner to Kenya Neil Wigan, Haji and other local officials.
There were scanty details on the meeting and trip by the UK intelligence boss.
Ruto said Kenya has a strong relationship with the United Kingdom, ranging from diplomatic, investment and business to defence and security.
“Our two countries also share common values of democracy, the rule of law and peaceful resolution of conflicts,” he said.
Terror activities in the region have been worsened by the war in Somalia, Yemen, DRC and Sudan.
Instability in parts of Ethiopia is also worrying.
Kenya is seen as the regional hope in terms of stability and many have been working behind the scenes to thwart plans to destabilise the country.
The CIA is a US government agency that provides objective intelligence on foreign countries and global issues to the president, the National Security Council, and other policymakers to help them make national security decisions.
The Agency stops threats before they happen and furthers US national security objectives across the globe.
They also collect foreign intelligence, produce objective analysis and conduct covert action, as directed by the president.
The Agency leads specialised, multidisciplinary Mission Centres to address high-priority issues, including nonproliferation, counterterrorism, counterintelligence, organized crime, narcotics trafficking, and arms control, among other duties
They also build strong partnerships between intelligence collection disciplines; produce all-source analysis on a range of topics and participate in Intelligence Community-wide efforts.
The Central Intelligence Agency further contributes to the greater Intelligence Community by managing services of common concern, like imagery analysis and open-source collection, while partnering on technical research and development.
