President Uhuru Kenyatta has traveled to Djibouti for the 38th Extra-Ordinary Summit of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). – By Gerald Gekara.
The president was pictured along side Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo, who recently withdrew his diplomatic staff.
The Horn of Africa state announced cutting its diplomatic ties with Kenya, accusing it of meddling in its internal affairs ahead of the general election.
The country’s information minister Osman Dube ordered all his diplomats in Nairobi to return to Mogadishu while Kenyan diplomats in Somalia are leaving this week.
Arman said that Kenya has for decades meddled in Somalia’s affairs undermining its sovereignty.
“Kenya, like Ethiopia, has been meddling in Somalia’s political and security affairs both overtly and covertly, legally and illegally, and the successive Somali governments during that period have remained submissively diffident, thus emboldening both front-line states to engage in activities that are not in Somalia’s best interest,” he said.
However, the IGAD meet is expected to solve the rising tension in order to support ongoing peace-keeping activities and keeping the outlawed terror group Al-Shabaab at bay.
Analysts say the diplomatic tension was unnecessary, being that Kenya has been instrumental in stabilizing the country over the years.
“This diplomatic cut-off will affect Somalia’s ordinary citizens especially those who are seeking medical treatment, as well as the business community and education in Kenya,’’ Hassan Sheikh Ali Nur a teacher at the Somali National University in Mogadishu said.
