Obama in Kenya on personal and official journey

United States President Barack Obama spent the first day of his first visit to Kenya, his father's home country, combining a personal journey with a geo-political mission to reinforce a shared campaign against Islamist extremism, besides giving out tough messages about democracy and gay rights.

Obama, the first sitting American president to visit Kenya in East Africa, arrived on Air Force One, on a four-day visit, after dark.

According to a New York Times report, hee was received by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and an eight-year-old girl who handed him flowers. He then shook hands with dignitaries along a red carpet and signed a guest book before getting into his armored car.

The daily said that his motorcade ride into Nairobi was eerily quiet, without the sort of throngs often lining the route when an American president visits a country in Africa or elsewhere for the first time.

The Kenyan authorities closed all major highways at 2 p.m., and the business district was deserted for much of the day.

Kenyan media released screaming headlines that hailed the Obama visit as a son of the soil trip by the world's most powerful individual.

A billboard welcomed the American president in Swahili "Karibu (Welcome) POTUS".

Shortly after his arrival in Nairobi, President Obama had dinner with about three dozen members of his extended family, including his half sister, Auma, and his step-grandmother, known as Mama Sarah, at his hotel.

Obam will be visiting Kenya and Ethiopia to deepen trade ties, encourage economic development and bolster efforts to combat the Shabab, a ruthless affiliate of Al Qaeda based in Somalia, while nudging both countries away from the repression of dissent that has characterized recent years.