President Uhuru Kenyatta joined African leaders in Ethiopia and vowed Sunday to never allow terrorism to destabilise any country in Africa.
The leaders discussed the January 15 terrorist attack at the dusitD2 complex in Nairobi, where Al-Shabaab militants killed 21 people.
President Kenyatta and other Heads of State and government are attending the 32nd African Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Newly elected AU chairman, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said terrorism should be eradicated and its sponsors identified and shamed.
The Egyptian leader described the scourge of terrorism as a cancer that continues to affect African nations and destroy important structures.
“There is need to identify the sponsors of terrorism and address its root causes while putting counter terrorism measures in place,” the new chairman said in his acceptance speech that also marked the official opening of the summit.
The PLO leader called on the world to reject all forms of terrorism, including the religious kind.
“We are ready to fight terrorism and extremism in all our capitals. We should all abhor all forms of terrorism and extremism,” Mr Abbas said.
On electoral matters, the African leaders vowed to silence all guns in the continent by 2020.
They also noted the new Africa where democratic elections and peaceful transitions have replaced political takeovers and the resultant turmoil.
Several countries including Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea, DR Congo, the Central African Republic and Libya were recognised for choosing peace and initiating dialogue to resolve conflicts in their countries.
Progress made towards the ratification of the African continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) was also praised as a major step forward and more countries were encouraged to sign up to the pact.