Wednesday August 17, 2022
Mogadishu (HOL) - Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud called Kenya's President-elect, William Samoei Ruto, to congratulate him and his Deputy, Rigathi Gachagua, on Kenya's elections.
The phone call marked the first time the two leaders spoke in their official capacities as heads of state.
Relations between Somalia and Kenya reached an all-time low during the immediately preceding administrations of Kenya's Uhuru Kenyatta and Somalia's Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo. Mogadishu accused Kenya of interfering in Somalia's internal affairs by hosting leaders from the breakaway state of Somaliland in December 2020 and severed diplomatic ties with Nairobi.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud publicly congratulated Kenyan President-elect William Ruto on his election victory on Monday, and expressed his desire to work with Ruto to strengthen bilateral relations and closer cooperation between Somalia and Kenya.
According to Villa Somalia, Mohamud praised Kenya's political parties, security agencies, and candidates for holding peaceful elections, citing it as an example of the region's democratic process.
President William Ruto, for his part, thanked President Hassan Sheikh for his congratulations and praise for his party's election victory.
The two Presidents agreed to strengthen the relationship between the two peoples and cooperate between the two governments in areas such as development, regional stability, economic growth, and counter-terrorism.
Kenya's elections chairman declared Deputy President William Ruto the winner of a close presidential race on Monday after he received more than 50% of the vote. However, four of the seven election commissioners rejected the result, telling journalists that the chairman's final tally totalled 100.01% and that the extra votes would have made a "significant difference" in the close race.
Raila Odinga, Kenya's leading opposition figure, said Tuesday that he would use "all constitutional and legal options" to challenge the results of the close race between him and Deputy President William Ruto, who was declared the winner.
The United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidate, William Ruto, received 7,176,141 votes (50.49 percent), narrowly defeating Azimio's Raila Odinga, who received 6,942,930 votes (48.85 percent).