Uhuru lands in Mogadishu for Somalia's new president inauguration
Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta signs a guest book at the Villa Somalia in Mogadishu as other leaders sit by. They include incoming Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, outgoing President Mohamed Farmaajo, Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed and Djibouti leader Omar Ismael Guelleh. Mohamud will be inaugurated on Thursday. Courtesy Photo/Office of Somali Prime Minister.
Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has joined several leaders in Mogadishu to witness the inauguration of Somalia’s new President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
President Kenyatta landed in Mogadishu shortly after 10am local time, accompanied by Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo, Agriculture’s Peter Munya and Eugene Wamalwa of Devolution.
Kenyatta will join other regional heads like Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Djibouti leader Omar Ismael Guelleh. Those in attendance include South Sudan 2nd Vice President Taban Deng Gai, Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Kamal Madbouly and Uganda’s Defence Minister Vicent Bamulangaki.
Other delegations that have in Mogadishu for the event included officials from the UAE led by Shakhbout Bin Nahyaan, the state foreign minister, as well as from Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.
Other countries like Uganda, Egypt, South Sudan, UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have also sent strong delegations in a signal of relations ahead.
For Kenyatta, this trip is significant because it is the first time in Mogadishu since Somalia resumed diplomatic ties with Kenya last year in June, following six months of a spat between the two countries.
Kenya and Somalia also have a maritime dispute which the International Court of Justice last October ruled in favour of Mogadishu but whose decision Nairobi rejected.
Incidentally, the case was filed in Mohamud’s first term in office in 2014 when he led the country between 2012 and 2017.
Mr Munya’s attendance of the ceremony is also significant. Back in 2016, as Meru Governor, he had controversially approached the breakaway region of Somaliland to buy Kenyan miraa, banned in Somalia, in exchange for lobbying to have the region recognised as independent.
Somalia, then under Mohamud’s administration, accused him of trying to break up Somalia.
Mohamud has, however, promised to lead a Somalia “at peace with itself and the world,” signaling a conciliatory tone.
Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Djibouti are also troop contributors to the AU forces, ATMIS, in Somalia.
