U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona making trip to Africa with President Obama

U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona will be among a group of lawmakers making the trip to Kenya on Air Force One with President Barack Obama on Friday.

Flake will be the lone Republican on the long plane ride. He told the Washington Post earlier this week that the White House had invited him to travel with the president to Kenya and Ethiopia.

The junior senator chairs the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on African Affairs.

“I am coming along,” he told the newspaper. “I don’t know which plane I will be on, whether I’ll be in the luggage compartment or on some ancillary plane.”

A list tweeted out had Flake on Air Force One.

Ahead of Obama’s evening arrival, large numbers of security forces patrolled in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. Several U.S. military aircraft were spotted flying around the city.

There have also been significant military attacks on Islamic militant targets in Somalia in recent weeks.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.