US President Barack Obama arrived in the Kenyan capital Nairobi late Friday, making his first visit to the country of his father’s birth since his election as president.

US President Barack Obama arrived in the Kenyan capital Nairobi late Friday, making his first visit to the country of his father's birth since his election as president.

Obama was greeted by Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta with a handshake and embrace as he stepped off Air Force One, at the start of a weekend visit during which he will address an entrepreneurship summit and hold talks on trade and investment, counter-terrorism, democracy and human rights.

A massive security operation was under way in Nairobi, with parts of the capital locked down and airspace also closed for the president's landing and his scheduled departure late Sunday for neighboring Ethiopia.

Top of the list of security concerns is Somalia's Al-Qaeda-affiliate, the Shebab, who have staged a string of suicide attacks, massacres and bombings on Kenyan soil, including the siege of the Westgate shopping mall in the heart of the capital nearly two years ago that left 67 dead.

The visit is the first ever to Kenya by a sitting US president.