The United States Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson called-off scheduled events in Kenya yesterday because he was feeling poorly. “The secretary is not feeling well after a long couple days working on major issues back home such as North Korea,” the state department said.
Tillerson, on his first official trip to Africa as Washington’s top diplomat, is in Kenya until Monday. The unexpected news came a day after President Trump shocked the world by agreeing to meet North Korea’s Kim Jong-un by May.
Officials accompanying 65-year-old Tillerson, on his five-nation tour of Africa, did not specify his illness but it is understood not to be serious.
The US secretary of state has been on the road for four days, visiting Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Kenya. He is scheduled to go on to Nigeria and Chad. “Some events will go ahead without him, while they are looking at the possibility of rescheduling others,” spokesperson Steve Goldstein told reporters traveling with Tillerson.
His planned schedule on Saturday had included a visit to a US-funded HIV/AIDS programme and attendance at a ceremony marking 20 years since Al-Qaeda bombed the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people.
