US President Barack Obama sits alongside his step-grandmother, Mama Sarah (L) and half-sister Auma Obama (R), during a gathering of family at his hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, July 24, 2015. 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. AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

Barack Obama sits alongside his step-grandmother, Mama Sarah and half-sister Auma Obama, during a gathering of family at his hotel in Nairobi. | Getty

Obama meets with extended family on first night in Nairobi

Security concerns will prevent the president from visiting his father's ancestral village on his first official trip to Kenya.

NAIROBI — President Barack Obama sat down to dinner with a large group of family members on his first night visiting the capital of his father's homeland of Kenya.

Shortly after arriving at his hotel on Friday, the president gathered in the hotel restaurant with about three dozen relatives. Obama sat in the middle of two long tables, with his step-grandmother, known as Mama Sarah, seated to his right and his half-sister, Auma Obama, a close confidante, seated to his left.

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The two shared a warm embrace when Auma Obama met Air Force One at the airport here late Friday.

Obama is making his first official trip to Kenya as president, but security concerns prevent him from traveling to his father's village to meet with family members. First lady Michelle Obama and the president's daughters did not accompany him on the trip.

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