Obama in landmark Kenya ‘homecoming’ visit

US president Barack Obama has landed in Kenya in his first visit to his ancestral home since his election as US president.

During his two-day visit, Obama will hold talks on trade, investment, security and counter-terrorism with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and other top officials. He will also become the first ever US president to address the African Union when he travels to Ethiopia and the AU’s Addis Ababa on Sunday.

In Kenya, Obama will attend a Global Entrepreneurship Summit, aimed at promoting businesses that promise to lift many more Africans out of poverty and help insulate societies against radicalisation.

US officials says that there are no official scheduled visits for the president to see his Kenyan relatives while in the country. Obama’s most recent personal visit to the Kenyan home of his relatives was in 2006.  

Obama has said that had "never truly known" his father, an economist who was born in a far-west Kenyan village. He walked out when Obama was just two years olf and died in a car crash in Nairobi in 1982, aged 46.

Obama’s Air Force One touched down at Nairobi’s international airport shortly before 20:10 local time, and the US president was greeted by his Kenyan counterpart with a handshake and embrace as he stepped off the plane.

At least 10,000 police officers, roughly a quarter of the entire national force, have been deployed in Nairobi.

Parts of the Kenyan capital have also been locked down and airspace was closed during Obama’s arrival, leaving some of the roads empty on Friday afternoon, usually the busiest time of the week.

Before heading off for his trip, his fourth to Africa since his election as President, Obama spoke about the promise of, and difficulties on, the African continent.

"Despite its many challenges - and we have to be clear-eyed about all the challenges that the continent still faces - Africa is a place of incredible dynamism, some of the fastest-growing markets in the world, extraordinary people, extraordinary resilience," Obama said.

Obama’s previously planned trip to Kenya was delayed by Kenyatta’s indictment for war crimes by the International Criminal Court. The charges were suspended last year - in part, prosecutors say, because the Kenyan government thwarted the investigation.

Obama's trip has come under fire by human rights groups who have voiced concerns about “grave and worsening” rights challenges in both Kenya and Ethiopia. Over 50 African and global human rights NGOs have called on Obama to publicly meet democracy activists during his Kenya trip.