NAIROBI, Kenya – Amid the hustle and bustle of a typical day at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Somalia’s charismatic Foreign Minister Ahmed Moallim Fiqi found himself in a brief yet significant tête-à-tête with Kenya’s Deputy President, Professor Kithure Kindiki. Following their quick exchange, both leaders went their separate trajectories—an intersection of diplomatic journeys in the same terminal, albeit fleeting.
Minister Fiqi, fresh from his diplomatic dice roll in Cairo, was en route to Mogadishu, making Nairobi a pleasant pitstop. Meanwhile, Professor Kindiki was preparing to jet off to Maputo, donning his official hat to witness the inauguration of Mozambique’s President-elect, Francisco Chapo. It’s a small world indeed where airport lounges turn into temporary conference rooms and where a simple layover becomes the runway for international dialogue.
In a world where major happenings often kick off with a simple tweet, Kindiki took to social media, stating, “Departure for Maputo, to represent Kenya at the inauguration of President-Elect Daniel Francisco Chapo, Republic of Mozambique.” As cool as a cucumber, he continued, “At the airport, held discussions with Somalia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Ahmed Moalim Fiqi who was on transit from Cairo, Egypt to Somalia.”
Kenya boasts a pivotal role as a security partner to Somalia, an alliance that finds its roots in the recently established African Union Support and Stabilization Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM). This partnership is more than just pen and paper; it’s a testament to the strong security and diplomatic sinews that bind the two nations. Besides, let’s not forget the icing on the cake—Kenya’s robust trade ties with its neighbor Somalia.
While the Foreign Minister’s brief encounter with Prof. Kindiki was the talking point of the morning, back home in the Kenyan corridors of power, another clarion call was being made. In a snug press room, Kindiki’s successor, Kipchumba Murkomen, played the triumph card, detailing how Kenya thwarted nearly 50 terrorist attacks over the past couple of years, with fingers pointing towards Somalia.
“Our administration has thwarted over 50 terror attacks in the last two years. Terrorists are no longer waging attacks in Lamu and Northern Frontier Districts and this is hugely credited to the endless potential of our security agents,” Murkomen bared with unabashed pride.
Meanwhile, across the borders in Somalia, a different narrative was playing out. The landscape of terror is being reshaped as Al-Shabaab militants and their ISIS adversaries lose ground, bit by bit. For instance, Northeastern State security forces, with commendable grit, eliminated over 26 ISIS militants in the Bari region alone over the last two years. The wheels of change move slowly, but they do cast the shadow of progress.
In this high-stakes game of diplomacy and security, each meeting, each conversation, however brief, threads into a larger tapestry of regional stability. As the adage goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” but it certainly began with moments like these.
Report By Axadle
