US President Barack Obama yesterday arrived in Kenya on a trip that will also include a stop in the Ethiopian capital, and a visit to the home of the African Union.

Obama landed in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, and was greeted by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta with a handshake and embrace as he stepped off Air Force One.

At least 10,000 police officers, roughly a quarter of the entire national force, have been deployed in the capital Nairobi.

Parts of the Kenyan capital have been locked down and airspace was closed during the president’s arrival, leaving some of the roads empty on Friday afternoon, usually the busiest time of the week when streets are jammed with cars.

The landmark visit to his father’s birthplace is Obama’s first as president, and is also the first time a sitting US president will visit Ethiopia and the AU’s headquarters in Addis Ababa.

The first African-American president of the US is expected to address regional security issues and trade, and also touch on matters relating to democracy, poverty, and human rights in the region.

Joining him on the trip is National Security Adviser Susan Rice, foreign policy aide Ben Rhodes and White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

Before heading off for the trip, Obama’s fourth to Africa since taking office, he spoke about the promise of, and difficulties on, the continent.

"Despite its many challenges - and we have to be clear-eyed about all the challenges that the continent still faces - Africa is a place of incredible dynamism, some of the fastest-growing markets in the world, extraordinary people, extraordinary resilience,” Obama said.

In Kenya, Obama will attend a Global Entrepreneurship Summit, aimed at promoting businesses that promise to lift many more Africans out of poverty and help insulate societies against radicalisation.

In Addis Ababa, Obama is expected to address leaders of the African Union.

There are no official visits scheduled for Obama to see his relatives while in Kenya, officials said.

Reports said Obama is expected to meet his relatives in the capital, instead of his father’s hometown of Kogelo.

Obama has said he had "never truly known” his father, who was born in Kenya’s far west, in a village near the equator and the shores of Lake Victoria.

An economist, he walked out when Obama was just two and died in a car crash in Nairobi in 1982, aged 46.Obama has previously made personal visits to Kogelo, the home of many of his Kenyan relatives, most recently in 2006.