Terrorism threatens East Africa region: Kenya FM

Kenyan Minister of Foreign Affairs Amina Mohamed Jibril said Tuesday that terrorism poses a threat to East Africa region.

"Terrorism has become a threat to the region," Jibril told Anadolu Agency on the sidelines of the meeting of the African Union (A.U.)'s Executive Council in Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea.

She said Kenya has taken the brunt of terrorism as the country was hit by attacks in recent years.

"Terrorism is expanding to East African countries and this requires joint efforts to put an end to it," Jibril said.

She said that militant groups as Boko Haram in Nigeria, Al-Shabaab in Somalia and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) "are posing a threat to the region.

The top Kenyan diplomat said that the agenda of the A.U. summit, which is due to open on June 26, will be devoted largely to terrorism-related issues.

Kenya has been hit by a spate of recent attacks that the authorities blame on Somalia's militant Al-Shabaab group, which demands that Nairobi withdraw its troops – dispatched in 2011 – from Somalia.

By Mohammed Taha Tewekel

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