Kenya discusses UN on Plans to convert AMISOM into  UN peacekeepers

Plans to convert the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) troops into to a United Nations peacekeeping force are in an advanced stage.

The deal is set to be finalised during a meeting this week between President Uhuru Kenyatta and United Nations (UN) secretary-general Ban Ki-moon in Brussels, Belgium.

Kenya’s Ambassador to Belgium and the European Union (EU), Johnson Weru, said on Tuesday that the talks to transform Amisom started last year.

President Kenyatta is expected in Brussels on Wednesday at the invitation of EU President Donald Tusk to address a post–United Nations General Assembly meeting on Sustainable Development Goals adopted last year.

Kenyatta has strongly opposed the EU plan to cut funding to AMISOM troops by 20 percent saying it is not only in Kenya’s interest to crush the Al Shabaab terrorist group, but a global gain.

He will address during the opening of the 10th edition of the European Development Days forum, which takes place on Wednesday and Thursday, to bring his concern over the funding right to the doorstep of the European Commission.