U.S. Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson Cancels Scheduled Events in Kenya Over Illness

The U.S. Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson who arrived in Kenya on Friday will not be proceeding with his scheduled activities in Kenya as earlier anticipated after his spokesperson revealed Tillerson was not feeling well.

Tillerson arrived in Kenya on Friday and held talks with President Uhuru Kenyatta at the State House in Nairobi, as part of his first diplomatic tour of Africa.

The U.S. top diplomat and President Kenyatta discussed regional security, particularly the terror threat of the Al-shabab militants in neighbouring Somalia as well as the conflict in South Sudan.

He has visited Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya, and was scheduled to proceed to Nigeria and Chad.

But on Satuday, Steve Goldstein, the Under-secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs at the State Department told journalists that the U.S Secretary of State had canceled events that he was supposed to partake in today because “he is not feeling well”.

“The secretary is not feeling well after a long couple of days working on major issues back home such as North Korea and has cancelled his events for the day,” Goldstein said.

He revealed that some of the events will go ahead without him, while they are looking at the possibility of rescheduling others.

Among other events, according to Reuters, Tillerson was scheduled to lay a wreath at the site of the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, in which more than 200 people were killed.

He would also hold an interactive meeting with Kenya’s Minister of Health, Sicily Kariuki at the Pumwani Maternity Hospital on Saturday morning.