An international meeting held in Washington DC to discuss on security matters targeting ISIS. Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Cabinet Assistant Secretary Ababu Namwamba was in attendance.
Kenya has in the recent past be a hit target of terror attacks from the dreaded Al-Shabaab who are mainly linked to hail from the immediate East bordering state, Somalia. This has resulted into the government’s heavy spending to fund the fight in the war torn country.
On Wednesday, Kenya was officially welcomed into the 79-member Global Coalition Against ISIS at a conference of Foreign Ministers in Washington, DC.
A section of delegates attending the global conference
The meeting by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and attended by President Donald Trump.
“I welcome our newest members, Kenya and Fiji to this family of nations committed to defeating ISIS and its affiliates. Let us do this together”, Pompeo mentioned in his opening remarks at the conference.
The Global Coalition is committed to tackling ISIS on all fronts, to dismantle its networks, counter its global ambitions, degrade and ultimately defeat ISIS and its affiliates.
Mike Pompeo, United Secretary of States.
The meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Coalition reviewed progress of the past year and discussed the next stage in the campaign to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS.
Kenyan delegation was led by Foreign Affairs Cabinet Assistant Secretary, Ababu Namwamba.
Namwamba indicated that the Kenya was motivated to join the group so it could air some grievances that result from frequent terror attacks from Al Shabaab.
The CAS disclosed that he pitched for the Al Shabaab to be officially classified as a terrorist group by the UN Security Council and the US, who currently categorise the group only as a militia.
“Inconsistent with the current classification by the United Nations Security Council, Al Shabaab is no longer a militia but an organization that has metamorphosed into a hydra-headed monster.
Its reach through Africa, in Somalia, eastern Congo, and northern Mozambique demonstrates the catastrophic dimension of its ambition and speaks to its potency as a raging terrorist group,” Ababu told the conference.