Kenya lauds world support for bid to stabilize Somalia

  A floral gun is made to mark the International Peace Day at Trafalgar square in central London, capital of the United

Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Kenya on Friday praised the international community for supporting efforts to stabilize Somalia and urged for more to ensure that the Horn of Africa
nation enjoys peace and stability.

Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Richard Onyonka said also commended the great role of the church, civil society and community leaders in building and cementing peace
at the local level in different parts of the world. "We commend the international community for the significant progress achieved thus far in Somalia, and encourage sustained
focus on and coordinated support for Somalia in a bid to ensure that the cycle of conflict is broken completely, and that a culture of peace takes root there," he said during the
celebration of mark the International Day of Peace.

Onyonka said Kenya is convinced that peace and stability at the regional level is essential for its own well-being. "Kenya has therefore been an active proponent of peace
within the region and beyond, and has embraced peace diplomacy as a key pillar of its foreign policy," he said during the celebrations held in Nairobi. The lawlessness in the
Horn of Africa nation forced Kenya to deploy its troops in the southern region where Al-Shabaab militants had been staging bomb and grenade attacks including abductions of
foreigners on the Kenyan soil.

The deployment of the Kenyan troops in the southern regions have so far helped to prevent the movement of explosives from the strategic towns of Husingo and Badhade,
the conduit points for the Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), the counterfeit electronics and contraband sugar smuggling across the region.Military officials said these
regions are crucial to the stabilization of Kenya's coastal and northeastern provinces, which have been targeted by attackers preying on soft civilian targets.Onyonka said the
East African nation firmly believes that the success of peace initiatives, particularly in the Horn of Africa, is through sustained action such as peacekeeping and peace-
enforcement programs that support peace.He said the momentum built towards stabilizing Somalia and setting the country firmly on the road to peace, reconstruction and
development are a testament to this fact. He said the International Day of Peace provided an opportunity to reflect on past experiences and learn from them.