KENYA will be gripped with “Obama-mania” today as the US president flies into his ancestral homeland as part of a visit to Africa that will also include Ethiopia.
An emotional and historic moment it will certainly be, but it will also serve as a sharp reminder of so much unfulfilled promise
in terms of the Obama administration’s policies on Africa, but more of that in a moment.
Above all the US leader’s visit will be overshadowed by security concerns. Those concerns start with the president’s own safety during a stay in a country that is racked by Islamist inspired terror at the hands of al-Qaeda’s Africa affiliate the Somalia based al-Shabaab group. Given the massive security operation surrounding the Obama visit it’s unlikely that al-Shabaab will get anywhere near what for them would be a dream target.
That said, intelligence analysts over the last few days have flagged up the growing online “chatter” among al-Shabaab about the visit.
Some too have pointed to a Kenya Civil Aviation Authority bulletin announcing that national airspace will be closed for 50 minutes on arrival and 40 minutes on departure, unwittingly publicising the exact dates and timings of Mr Obama’s travel.
Such details are usually kept secret but US officials have brushed off the leak with national security house adviser Susan Rice saying it would “in no way affect our approach and plans”.
During his time in Kenya, Mr Obama’s security entourage will consist of his bespoke, bomb-proof limousine nicknamed “the beast” by secret service men. The beast is just one of as many as 60 vehicles specially flown into Kenya for the visit.
Then there are the military helicopters that have arrived reportedly from a US Special Forces facility at Kenya’s coastal Manda Bay base, which serves as a launch pad for raids on al-Shabaab in Somalia.
In Nairobi all of this is highly visible of course, but what will not been seen are the activities taking place hundreds of miles away inside Somalia itself.
Over the last week the US military has conducted nearly half a dozen air strikes there against al-Shabaab because US intelligence indicated an attack against Kenyan troops was imminent. 
While the Pentagon is remaining schtum about these operations there seems little doubt their intention is to make sure al-Shabaab keep their heads down while Mr Obama is on Kenyan soil.
This is all well and good but it will not stop the group looking for more vulnerable targets to attack in a display of defiance inside Kenya itself.
What’s most likely is not an attack against a US government official such as the president, but an attack that happens while the president is there,” points out Seth Jones, director of the International Security and Defence Policy Centre at the RAND Corporation.
Like many analysts he believes that al-Shabaab would more likely do what they have done before going for soft targets such as the Westgate shopping mall that only reopened last week after the attack there in 2013 that killed at least 67 people.
Working on the assumption that the Kenya visit goes off without a hitch Mr Obama will of course move on the Ethiopia. Again this underlines the close cooperation Washington has with these two Horn of Africa nations in the fight against Islamic inspired terror.
Earlier this month, some 3,000 Ethiopian soldiers, part of the African Union Mission in Somalia  crossed into Somalia near Dolow. Bolstered by Somali National Army units this Ethiopian offensive continues against al-Shabaab and no doubt Mr Obama will express his heartfelt thanks to Ethiopian president Mulatu Teshome
Not everyone is happy about this relationship of course. Human rights groups have criticised Mr Obama’s trip to Ethiopia because of the country’s handling of political dissent.
This is a telling detail. For despite Mr Obama’s concerted efforts to increase US ties with Africa his presidency’s track record has been patchy when it comes to policy directed at the continent. Put in blunt terms his first term in office was especially poor with initiatives on health and clean energy quickly abandoned and food security efforts limping along. Mr Obama’s second term however was much better.
He should be applauded for a number of humanitarian initiatives. Among these was the US response to crises in Central African Republic and Burundi and supporting efforts to search for the Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamist terror group, Boko Haram.
On other crucial humanitarian issues though Mr Obama’s administration has been found wanting, notably over its slow response time to the Ebola outbreak.
For the moment however it is counterterrorism that remains Washington’s main preoccupation across Africa. Using its Africa Command based out of Stuttgart in Germany the Pentagon has focused on meeting the long-term challenges of violent extremism in places such as Mali, Somalia, DR Congo, and Nigeria.
While Mr Obama’s arrival in Kenya today will see him talk business with other leaders attending the Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi, it’s a given that another agenda will see regional security and tackling Islamic extremism occupy much of the negotiations. 
There is simply no getting away from it these days.