Security chiefs in Ethiopia, Somalia meet over terrorism
Director of the Somali National Security and Intelligence Agency Mahad Mohammed Salat (right) and the Deputy Director of the Ethiopian Intelligence AgencySisay Tola (left).
Security chiefs in Ethiopia and Somali have agreed to continue their joint efforts in fighting terrorism.
The leaders, including Mahad Mohamed Salad, the Director of the Somali National Security and Intelligence Agency, and Sisay Tola, the Deputy Director of the Ethiopian Intelligence Agency, held a meeting in Mogadishu, the Somalia capital, and signed an agreement on cooperation and exchange of information.
This follows an agreement by the neighbouring countries to collaborate in a bid to snuff out terrorism in the region.
Mr Salad, also thanked the Ethiopian government for its brotherly support and the recent medical donations delivered to Mogadishu.
Kenya President William Ruto last week also delivered a plane load of food donations to Somalia
Mr Sisay Tola expressed his regret over the recent terrorist attack in Mogadishu, and pointed out that in order to reduce the fear of such incidents, cooperation and the fight against terrorism in East Africa should be strengthened.
The meeting of the security leaders follows a similar engagement by Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, and Prime Minister of Ethiopia Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital.
The two leaders discussed among other the cooperation between the two countries to combat the threat of terrorism.
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The Somali National Security and Intelligence Agency has increased vigilance of the agency's security officers and the connection between them and the community thus enabling the country's intelligence officers to get information about Al-Shabaab more easily than before.
100 dead
Last week, two car bombs exploded at Somalia's education ministry next to a busy market intersection, killing at least 100 people and wounding 300 others.
It is the deadliest since a truck bomb exploded at the same intersection in October 2017, killing more than 500 people.
The al Qaeda-linked Islamist group al Shabaab claimed responsibility, saying the ministry was at the centre of a "war on minds" that teaches Somali children using a Christian-based syllabus.
Members of security forces were among those killed and injured in the attack.
A few days later, Somalia's army and allied clan militias announced they had killed 100 al Shabaab fighters in heavy clashes in the central Hiran region.
