NAIROBI, (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama dined with his step grandmother, his sister and other extended family members after arriving in Kenya for his first presidential visit to his father’s homeland yesterday.
Obama’s plane, Air Force One, landed in the evening in the Kenyan capital, where he will co-host a conference on boosting entrepreneurs in Africa before travelling on to Ethiopia. After being greeted by President Uhuru Kenyatta and other top Kenyan officials, Obama was whisked through the capital.
Hours before Obama’s arrival, police blocked major roads and emptied streets of traffic in the usually congested capital as part of a huge security operation.
In the darkness, excited Kenyans lined parts of the route to his hotel, cheering as Obama’s motorcade passed by.
Once at his hotel, the president sat down with the woman he calls “Granny,” also called “Mama Sarah,” who helped raise his now deceased father as a child.
