Kenyan president, top U.S. official discuss regional conflicts

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki on Wednesday held talks in Nairobi with the visiting United States Assistant Secretary for Africa Affairs Jendayi Frazer focusing on conflicts in the region.

A statement from Kibaki's office said during the talks, Frazer hailed the east African nation which chairs the seven nation regional mediation body, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) for its peace initiatives in the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region.

"They also discussed the current situation in Darfur region of Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo and expressed their hope that challenges, which have arisen, will be resolved amicably, " the statement said.

The Nairobi meeting comes as foreign countries trying to bring normalcy in war-torn Somalia are scheduled to meet in Nairobi Thursday with rival Somali groups to forge ways of ending the conflict.

Regional diplomats said the 11 members of the International Contact Group on Somalia meeting in Nairobi would urge the UN- backed government and increasingly powerful Islamists to go ahead with a third round of talks in Sudan at the end of the month.

Sources said the group will meet President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed of the Somali transitional government and Ibrahim Hassan Addow, the foreign affairs coordinator for the Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia (SICS).

The talks are expected to be attended by Frazer.

Source: Xinhua