Kenyan Foreign Affairs minister Moses Wetang'ula speaking at the Presidential Villa in Mogadishu on October 18, 2011. With him are Kenya's Defence minister Yusuf Haji (left) and his Somali counterpart Husein Arab (right).
Friday, October 21, 2011
advertisements
The East African security bloc Igad has called an emergency ministerial meeting to discuss the recent incursion of Kenyan troops to Somalia. The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development's secretary-general, Mr Mahbub Mualem, told the Africa Review the meeting aims to adopt a common position against al Shabaab rebels.
"It’s a consultative meeting meant to take a common position on the current security developments," Mr Mualem said in a telephone interview.
According to the official, the meeting also set to discuss a report on peace-building efforts in Somalia.
Foreign Ministers from the six member countries - Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda – are scheduled to hold the meeting in Addis Ababa today (Friday) afternoon.
Militiamen
Igad had endorsed Ethiopia’s military intervention in Somalia in 2006 which was directed against radical Somali Islamists.
Top Kenyan officials were in Addis Ababa early this week to seek diplomatic support in its anti-Shabaab campaign from Ethiopia and the Africa Union.
Earlier, they had visited Mogadishu to confer with Somali’s Transitional Federal Government authorities.