Hiiraan Online
Thursday October 24, 2019
NAIROBI (HOL) - The US. Embassy in Kenya has confirmed a visit to Mogadishu by Ambassador Kyle McCarter but noted the ambassador did not meet with President Mohamed Farmaajo as reported by a section of the Kenyan media.
In a response to HOL following an earlier article indicating there was no official response from the embassy, the Nairobi based embassy affirmed the meeting but noted Ambassador McCarter did meet with his counterpart in Somalia together with President Farmaajo’s advisors.
“As I said in a recent interview, when I traveled to Mogadishu earlier this year, Ambassador Yamamoto and I met with advisors to President Farmaajo,” the response read in part.
The United States, the embassy said is a strong partner of both countries and ‘we encourage both parties to resolve their dispute peacefully – given their shared interests as neighbors – and instead focus their efforts on the fight against al-Shabaab and building the blue economy’.
Somalia’s ambassador to Kenya Mohamed Tarsan also confirmed the U.S diplomat did not meet with President Farmaajo but indeed visited Mogadishu.
"There was no meeting between President Mohamed Farmaajo and the U.S ambassador to Kenya when he was in Mogadishu a few months ago. The Kenyan newspaper which made this claim should verify what they are publishing," ambassador Tarsan said.
Kenya’s Daily Nation in an interview with ambassador McCarter published October 22 said the ambassador had met with President Farmaajo and urged him to withdraw the ongoing maritime case at the International Court of Justice.