US Ambassador Heading to Africa as Part of Biden’s Big Push

United States Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield becomes emotional as she gets up to speak during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Washington, Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. (AP)
United States Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield becomes emotional as she gets up to speak during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Washington, Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. (AP)
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US Ambassador Heading to Africa as Part of Biden’s Big Push

United States Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield becomes emotional as she gets up to speak during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Washington, Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. (AP)
United States Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield becomes emotional as she gets up to speak during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Washington, Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. (AP)

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, is the second Cabinet member heading to Africa as part of President Joe Biden’s big push to engage with the world’s second-largest continent.

The US Mission to the UN said Sunday she will travel to Ghana, Mozambique and Kenya starting Jan. 25 “to affirm and strengthen our partnerships with key current and former UN Security Council members.”

Thomas-Greenfield’s visit follows last week’s start of a 10-day African visit by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. She arrived in Dakar, Senegal late Wednesday and will also visit Zambia and South Africa.

Biden announced at the end of a US-Africa Leaders Summit in December that he will visit sub-Saharan Africa in 2023, the first trip to the region by a US leader in a decade.

The summit and trip are aimed at strengthening US relations with Africa, where China has surpassed the US in trade and is aiming to increase its military presence, and Russia has military ties with the authorities in Mali and Central African Republic.

Biden stressed at the summit that he is serious about increasing US 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.

The first stop for Thomas-Greenfield, a former US 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 US mission said.

Thomas-Greenfield then heads to Mozambique, which is just starting its first-ever two-year term on the council.

During her visit on Jan. 26-27, the US mission said she will meet with UN officials, entrepreneurs, alumni of US 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.

The US mission called Kenya “a key partner” and said Thomas-Greenfield’s visit 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 mission said.



Countries Tell Ukraine ‘You Are Not Alone’ after UN Adopts Neutral Stance on War

 People attend a demonstration to mark three years since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Times Square in New York City, US, February 24, 2025. (Reuters)
People attend a demonstration to mark three years since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Times Square in New York City, US, February 24, 2025. (Reuters)
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Countries Tell Ukraine ‘You Are Not Alone’ after UN Adopts Neutral Stance on War

 People attend a demonstration to mark three years since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Times Square in New York City, US, February 24, 2025. (Reuters)
People attend a demonstration to mark three years since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in Times Square in New York City, US, February 24, 2025. (Reuters)

Dozens of countries rallied behind Ukraine at a meeting at the United Nations in Geneva on Tuesday, a day after the UN Security Council adopted a US-drafted resolution that takes a neutral stance on the conflict.

The event, held to commemorate "resistance to the Russian aggression", follows the resolution adopted in New York on the war's third anniversary that reflects President Donald Trump's upending of US policy on Ukraine and his more conciliatory stance towards Russia.

"You are not alone. Norway and other countries, all the countries who are here, but also other countries, will continue to support you as you fight for your territorial integrity, your sovereignty and your human dignity," Norway's Deputy Foreign Minister Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik told a packed room of ministers and diplomats.

Thousands of Ukrainian citizens have died since Russia invaded in 2022 and more than 6 million are refugees abroad. Russia has said it had no choice but to launch what it calls its "special military operation" due to the NATO alliance's eastwards expansion.

Estonia's Minna-Liina Lind, Undersecretary for Global Affairs, told the room she was "extremely worried" by the fact that the Security Council passed a resolution that does not include long-held language on Ukraine's territorial integrity.

"But I think the European resolve is even greater. When there's someone else not as strong, the others fill in," she told Reuters after the meeting, co-organized by Ukraine and Liechtenstein on the sidelines of the UN Human Rights Council.

The US failed to convince the UN General Assembly to pass the same resolution that passed in the Security Council on Monday. The General Assembly instead adopted motions seen as more favorable for Ukraine, in a diplomatic victory over Washington.

Most countries attending the Geneva event were European and included France and Germany, but others such as Türkiye, South Korea, Australia and Japan were also present. Washington sent a delegate who did not take the floor.

Ukraine's ambassador Yevheniia Filipenko, who at one point became emotional while addressing the room, asked countries to continue their support for rebuilding Ukraine and seeking accountability for crimes committed since Russia's invasion.

"The road ahead is very challenging but when we are united we can prevail," she said.