Farmaajo, Kenyatta meet for the first time since ties cut-off

Presidents Mohamed Farmaajo and his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta Sunday met in the sidelines of the IGAD regional summit amid an ongoing diplomatic tussle between the two countries.

Pictures from Djibouti showed the two leaders alongside host president Omar Gelleh and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in a closed-door meeting.

The meeting between the two leaders is the first since Somalia expelled Kenya’s ambassador Lucas Tumbo late November and subsequently went ahead to cut diplomatic ties with Kenya.

Somalia announced last week it had dispatched a letter to IGAD chairman Abdalla Hamdok to discuss the matter.

However, speaking during the opening session of the 38th extraordinary summit, Hamdok did not make reference to the Kenya-Somalia issue but instead referred to the political situation in South Sudan and the conflict in Ethiopia.

A communique of the meeting is expected to be released later in the day when the meeting ends.