President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo has flown out of the country to Burundi for an official visit on the invitation of his Burundi counterpart, Pierre Nkurunziza. President Farmaajo and Burundi’s President Nkurunziza are scheduled to discuss strengthening and developing relations between the two countries as well as enhancing security cooperation.
Burundi, is one of the African countries contributing to peace and stabilization in Somalia through their troops, which are part of the African Union’s Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) peacekeeping force. The Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) is committed to strengthening its relations with African countries with a view to address the challenges and constraints currently experienced by the Horn of Africa nation.
The AU has separately asked Burundi to reduce its contribution to the peacekeeping force in Somalia by a thousand soldiers under a progressive pull out from the country. he AU made the request through a diplomatic document “note verbale”, requesting that the reduction be completed by February 28. Burundi has the second-largest contingent in AMISOM with 5,400 troops, after Uganda, which has 6,200 men. Other contributing countries are Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya.
