G7 leaders pledge support for Amisom

A meeting of the world's seven most powerful leaders ended yesterday with a strong declaration to support Kenya and her neighbours in the fight against terrorism.

The G7 leaders, led by Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said fighting terrorism was one way of boosting stability and security of the affected countries.

Other leaders at the meeting were from the US, UK, France, Italy, European Union and Germany.

The leaders pledged their continued support for African countries in terrorism-prone areas. "We will continue to assist the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) and support the development of the Somalia security forces," read a communique from the meeting.

Already, 198 Somali police officers have undergone a three month training by Amisom, and have been deployed in Kismayu.

The training was part of the UK's Department for International Development Fund that targets to train 600 officers from Jubaland.

Though the communique did not specify exactly what kind of assistance these countries will be getting, Prime Minister Abe said later at a press conference to close the summit that the leaders will be engaging more in discussions on the agreements they had made.

Burundi, Ethiopia and Djibouti are the other African nations with forces in Somalia under Amisom.