Rwanda courts Qatar in a week Uhuru visited Saudi Arabia
TOP: Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta meets Saudi Arabia King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at the Royal Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. PHOTO | PSCU
BELOW: President Paul Kagame attends Qatar Information Technology Conference & Exhibition Opening Ceremony alongside host His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar on October 29, 2019. PHOTO | URUGWIRO
What you need to know:
President Paul Kagame’s diplomatic presence at the International Information Technology Conference and Exhibition in Doha was not wholly surprising given that Rwanda is leaving nothing to chance in becoming an advanced ICT hub in Africa.
On the other hand, President Kenyatta’s choice of Saudi Arabia was seen as a pursuit of ties with Kenya’s nascent crude oil industry as well as food processing and housing.
Kagame and Kenyatta’s presence in the Middle East came as the Saudis battle for influence in the Horn of Africa—in Somalia and Djibouti—with Qatar.
