Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has said that the Kenyan Defence force in Somalia under the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) will remain in the country until it is secure, reports the Daily Nation.
“Amisom is not there because we have any other agenda but security,” said Uhuru, adding “Amisom is a forum that neighbours entered to provide security. [Of course] Somalia should be defended and protected by the Somalis themselves, but you cannot exit without securing Somalia. That is an objective which we set ourselves to achieve.”
President Kenyatta argues, despite his opponents’ call to an earlier withdrawal of troops, that leaving Mogadishu without a proper security system will create room for the return of terrorists.
The President has left the country for London to attend a conference on Somalia. Kenyatta is expected to meet with various other leaders within the UN and donor countries supporting Somalia’s rebuilding programme which targets 2020 as the year Somalis should have one-person-one-vote elections.
Amisom had indicated it would start a progressive withdrawal from Somalia ahead of 2020, as donors support the training and re-establishment of Somalia’s security agencies.
