NAIROBI (Dow Jones)–The East Africa Community has expressed support for the Somali transitional government’s request to extend its tenure by one year before elections in order to allow for the maintenance of the security and stabilization efforts, the EAC said in a statement.

“The summit supports the Africa Union and IGAD [Intergovernmental Authority on Development] position on [a] one-year extension for the transitional federal government of Somalia to enable the government to draft a new constitution and intensify its war against the Al-Shabaab terrorist insurgency,” the EAC said in communique released Tuesday at the end of an extraordinary summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. “The summit expressed support for the Africa Union and IGAD positions backing the request by the transition government of national unity to extend its tenure by one year before elections in order to allow for the maintenance of the security and stabilization efforts.”

The EAC appealed to the international community, in particular the U.S. and the European Union, to enhance their support for the Africa Mission in Somalia.

Somali has had no central government since the ouster of its then strongman Said Barre in 1991. The transitional government supported by AMISON is fighting Islamic militants in the horn of Africa nation for control.

The instability in Somalia is threatening maritime operations in the Indian Ocean, with Somali pirates seizing ships and demanding huge ransoms.

-By George Mwangi, contributing to Dow Jones; +254 735 781 853; [email protected]

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