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The US State Department has announced that Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson will visit AFrica next. The visit by the top US diplomat is the first since the administration of US President Donald Trump took office in 2016.

The department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Tillerson will travel to  "N'Djamena, Chad; Djibouti, Djibouti; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Nairobi, Kenya; and Abuja, Nigeria," between March 6 and 13.

The visit will be of particular interest to Africans following January's alleged comment by Donald Trump in which he was reported to have called African nations "shithole countries".

Nauert said Tillerson will meet with leaders in each country, as well as African Union leadership based in Addis Ababa. 

The spokeswoman added, "He plans to discuss ways we can work with our partners to counter terrorism, advance peace and security, promote good governance, and spur mutually beneficial trade and investment."

Unlike the former US President Barack Obama who visited just six months into his administration with a message that Africa's destiny is in the hands of its own people, Donald Trump has shown no interest in Africa as evident in his foreign policies and campaign pledge of "putting America first."