President Uhuru Kenyatta wants Africa to focus on fighting Al-shabaab

President Uhuru Kenyatta (Left) with Uganda's Museveni at Munyonyo Speke Resort, Kampala

By Kazungu Chai

KAMPALA, UGANDA: President Uhuru Kenyatta has urged Africa to remain focused on rooting out Al Shabaab and stabilizing Somalia.

President Uhuru said he saw no room for wavering or distraction on the objective of curbing Al Shabaab's heinous acts of terrorism in which people, mainly in East Africa, had lost lives and property destroyed.

"Our first, second and third priorities must remain to root out Al Shabaab and fully stabilize the Somali state. There can be no wavering or distraction from that clearly and openly stated objective," President Uhuru told a summit of states contributing troops to the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

The tough-talking President told the Somali Federal Government that it needed to match the Troop Contributing Countries' sacrifices by deploying all its energies to AMISOM’s success.

"This is an imperative from which we cannot walk away. Failure is not an option," he said.

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"We have all made enormous sacrifices towards this course. We are determined that those sacrifices will not be in vain," he added.

AMISOM’s intervention in Somalia had made it one of the successful peace-keeping operations by Africa for Africa, Uhuru told the summit at Munyonyo Resort, on the shores of Lake Victoria.

He strongly pushed for AMISOM to continue operating independently of the UN Peace-Keeping Operation in Somalia. Folding AMISOM under the UN force would render the gains it had made invisible, he said.

President Uhuru called on the United Nations and the international community to avail adequate funding for AMISOM to fulfill its objective of stabilizing Somalia.

"We appeal to the international community to offer continued support through provision of adequate resources to facilitate effective and efficient operations," the President said.

President Kenyatta said Kenya would continue to partner with all the stakeholders to achieve the AMISOM's goal of restoring normalcy in Somalia.

"It is through our concerted efforts that we can restore peace, security, stability and ultimately, hope and prosperity in our region," he said.

Noting that military intervention alone was not adequate to stabilize Somalia, the President told the summit that political processes both at local and national levels were necessary for real progress to be made.

President Kenyatta expressed concern over the continued insecurity in some parts of Somalia: “This state of affairs is detrimental to the envisaged reconstruction, development of Somalia and the eventual return of the Somali Diaspora.”

Kenya is home to more than a million refugees. Government has made it known that it wants them sent back to their homes to help build their country. President Kenyatta said he wanted to see appropriate measures put in place to encourage more Somalis to go home and contribute to the development of their country.

The summit, chaired by President Yoweri Museveni, was also attended by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of Somalia and Ethiopia's Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn. It was preceded by a meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Ministers of Defence of the countries contributing troops to