US President Joe Biden designated Kenya as a “major non-NATO ally” on Monday, making it the first sub-Saharan African nation to receive the designation.

The move comes as Washington seeks to push back against growing Russian and Chinese influence in the region.

Biden then pointed to Nairobi’s assistance with the US’s national security priorities, including efforts to defeat the Daesh/ISIS terror group as well as al-Shabab in East Africa, what Biden described as “mutual support” for Ukraine and ongoing efforts to deploy a Kenyan security force in the instability-wracked Caribbean island nation of Haiti.