African Summit on Somalia Kicks Off

Posted on Jul 25, 2010

AP / Stephen Wandera

Ugandan Defense Minister Crypus Kiyonga, right, welcomes Mauritius President Anerood Jugnauth, center, on his arrival at the African Union summit in Uganda.

African leaders from 53 countries began meeting Sunday in Uganda for an African Union summit about the recent attacks by Al-Shabab fighters. Those attacks, which killed at least 74 people earlier this month, were said to be a reaction to the killing of several Somalians by African Union peacekeepers.

Al-Shabab, which the U.S. alleges is affiliated with al-Qaida, has promised additional attacks if Ugandan troops do not leave Somalia. —JCL

Al-Jazeera English:

Leaders from 53 countries across Africa are meeting in the Ugandan capital for an African Union (AU) summit expected to focus on security in Somalia.

Being held two weeks after Somalia’s al-Shabab fighters bombed Kampala in an attempt to force Uganda to withdraw its troops from their country, the summit opened on Sunday with a solemn two-minute silence for the victims of the attack.

Yoweri Museveni, the Ugandan president, urged African leaders to defeat “the terrorists” and “sweep them out of Africa” during his address.

Bingu wa Mutharika, the chairman of the AU and president of Malawi, joined him in condemning the perpetrators of the Kampala blasts “in the strongest terms”.

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