Kenyan VP attends Goodluck's Inauguration

Written By:VPPS ,    Posted: Mon, May 30, 2011

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, left, takes the oath of office before Justice Sunday Olorundanusi, center, and Chief Justice of Nigeria Katsina Alu. Photo AP

Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka has called on the international community to remain engaged in Somalia and seek a permanent solution to the long running instability that has rocked the horn of Africa country for decades.

Instability in Somalia, he said, was responsible for the high prevalence of incidences of piracy along the coast of Somalia and called for deepening of regional and international cooperation to deal with the problem.

The vice president was speaking in Abuja, Nigeria on Sunday when he met the British Minister for Africa Mr Henry Bellingham who paid him a courtesy call at his hotel.

The VP was in the Nigerian capital to attend the inauguration ceremony of President Goodluck Jonathan on behalf of President Kibaki.

Responding to a proposal by Mr Bellingham that countries along the eastern shores of the Indian ocean coastline affected by the piracy menace should sign a regional naval treaty and the prisoner transfer agreement to fight piracy, the VP said:

"We need to attack the root cause of instability in Somalia instead of focusing more on the symptoms even as we consider other options."

Mr Musyoka called for tougher action on pirates noting that piracy is a major threat to regional peace and economic stability in the region. He urged countries that  pledged to deploy troops to the UN effort in Somalia to honour their commitments in order to restore order in the war ravaged country.

Earlier, Mr Musyoka held talks with Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni.

Their talks centered on bilateral issues affecting Kenya and Uganda. He congratulated President Museveni on his recent election and inauguration as Uganda's head of state.

Over 30 African heads of state attended the colourful ceremony held at the Eagle Square grounds in central Abuja, among them Jacob Zuma of South Africa, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Allasane Outara of Ivory Coast.

Mr Musyoka represented President Kibaki at the event in which President Goodluck took the oath of office with a pledge to transform his country and heal the wounds that emerged during the April elections.

President Goodluck won the hotly contested elections with over 58% of the votes in the first round of polling.

The ceremony was both historic and symbolic as it marked 12 years of civilian rule during which power has been transferred peacefully after every four years.

The VP was accompanied by assistant ministers Gideon Ndambuki, Bifwoli Wakoli and Orwa Ojode, MPs Johnstone Muthama and Maina Kamau, and Kenya's high commissioner to Nigeria Francis Sigei.

Jonathan, 53, was declared the winner of last month's presidential election after receiving 57 percent of the votes, or 22,495,187 votes out of a total valid votes cast of 38,209,978.

He had been handed the power to handle state affairs while President Umaru Yar'Adua was hospitalized in Saudi Arabia in January 2010, but upon Yar'Adua's return, Jonathan continued as acting President and officially succeeded him after his death in May 2010