President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday, October 1 denied reports of the US military seeking permission to conduct drone airstrikes in Kenya.
Uhuru insisted that even if the deal from the US military came forward he would not hesitate to reject the proposal.
"There is no such situation, the authorization which has happened in the past of drone strikes on terrorist bases has been in Somalia but we are not at the level of having terrorist incursions.
"The US has not even requested for authority to launch drone strikes within the Kenyan territory," said Uhuru in an interview with France24.
Kenyatta added that the threat to the country had sharply diminished but Somalia's Islamist group al shabaab remained the main danger.
The President also noted that the country is yet to experience a major terrorist attack since the DusitD2 complex attack that occurred from 15 to 16 January 2019 in Westlands, Nairobi.
He, however, admitted that the country was suffering from regular border attacks from al shabaab but maintained that the country had a good diplomatic relationship with Somalia.
The Head of State was non-committal to a date when Kenya would withdraw their troops from Somalia.
"As we have always said, we will stay working together with Amisom and the international community but it is impossible to say when at the moment," Uhuru stated.
The drone proposal from the US came after an attack back in January 2020 on the airfield at Manda Bay that killed three Americans and caused damage worth billions of shillings.
When the US commanders immediately launched a retaliatory attack in the Manda Bay incident, they did not strike back as the militants eluded them after retreating to Somali territory.
The officials recognized that they lacked guidelines to conduct drone strikes in Kenya should another attack be launched.
