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Kerry to visit Sri Lanka, Kenya, Djibouti

Xinhua, April 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Sri Lanka, Kenya and Djibouti early next month, the State Department announced on Monday.

Kerry's trip to Sri Lanka on May 2, his first and the first by a U.S. secretary of state to the South Asian country since 2004, includes meetings with government leaders and civil society members, department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement.

The new Sri Lankan government, which came to power in January, sent Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera to Washington in February to seek "revived and strengthened" relations, which were strained over the past few years.

During his stay in Nairobi, Kenya's capital, Kerry will discuss a range of issues including security cooperation, as the African country is a frequent target of terrorist attacks, with 148 people killed alone in the April 2 attack on a college by the extremist al-Shabaab group.

As the first secretary of state to visit Djibouti on May 5, which hosts the only permanent American military base on the continent, Kerry will visit U.S. military personnel at Camp Lemonnier, the State Department said.

Washington and Djibouti signed in May last year a long-term lease for Camp Lemonnier, a base being used to launch counter- terrorism missions, including drone attacks in Yemen and the Horn of Africa region. Endite