President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday arrived in Somalia to witness the inauguration of Somalia’s new President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
Mohamud was elected in the just concluded presidential polls, which attracted more than 36 candidates including the incumbent Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed aka Farmajo.
He will rule the country for the next four years, a position he had held between 2012-2017 before losing to Farmajo.
Kenyatta is accompanied by Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary (CS) Raychelle Omamo, Agriculture’s Peter Munya and Devolution’s Eugene Wamalwa.
Some of the leaders expected to attend the inauguration are Djibouti’s Omar ISmale Guelleh and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Others are Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Kamal Madbouly, South Sudan 2nd Vice President Taban Deng Gai, Uganda’s Defence Minister Vicent Bamulangaki and delegations from the UAE, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.
Kenyatta’s visit comes a year after Somalia resumed diplomatic relations with Kenya after a spat between the two countries and a maritime border dispute.
Somalia took Kenya to the International Court of Justice over the dispute and in October 2021, the court ruled in favour of the former a decision that Kenya rejected
