NAIROBI - Kenya and Ethiopia on Thursday appealed to the Somali leaders to resolve their existing political differences amicably for the sake of their country.

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and visiting Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said in a joint statement issued after a bilateral meeting in Nairobi that sustainable peace and political stability in their country will only be achieved if the leaders resolve their disputes peaceful.

"The two leaders noted with appreciation that the ongoing operations by the Kenya Defense Forces jointly with their Ethiopian and Somali counterparts to diminish the threat posed by Al-Shabaab insurgents is paying off," said the communique which was read by Kenya's Minister for Foreign Affairs Moses Wetangula after fruitful bilateral talks in Nairobi.

Kenya sent troops and tanks to Somalia mid last October to crackdown on members of Al-Shabaab blamed for a series of terror attacks on its territory.

The Kenyan troops have so far driven out Al-Shabaab fighters from several command bases near the border in a joint operation with Somali soldiers.

Kenya has said it will hunt the fighters they accuse of being behind several recent kidnappings of foreigners.

During the talks in Nairobi on Thursday, both Kibaki and Zenawi emphasized that while regional and international leaders have collectively helped to restore peace, order and political stability in Somalia, the destiny of the country rests in the hands of the Somali nationals themselves.

"The welcomed the emerging growing interest of the international community as demonstrated in the recently concluded London conference on Somalia which emphasized the need to seize the unique opportunity created to usher in an area of peace and stability in that country," the two leaders said.

The leaders also welcomed the decision of the UN Security Council to expand the logistical package for AMISOM from 12,000 to 17,731 uniformed personnel and to include reimbursement of contingent owned equipment including force enablers and multipliers.

This, they said, would allow deployment to the liberated areas to facilitate establishment of administrative systems by the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia as well as provision of humanitarian support and return of internally displaced persons and refugees to their homes.

The pan African force, currently comprising 9 700 troops from Uganda and Burundi, is tasked with protecting the government from the extremist Shaba militia.

The AU has repeatedly called for the swift deployment of 3,000 more troops authorised by the UN last year, especially after Al- Shabaab pulled out of fixed positions in the war-torn capital Mogadishu in August.

The UN Security Council on February 22 voted to increase the size of AU peacekeeping force in Somalia (AMISOM) by almost 50 percent to deal with continued insecurity in the impoverished country.

Since 2007, AMISOM has been trying to bring peace to a country that has had no functioning central government for the past 20 years, during which it has been torn apart by factional fighting and has faced a series of humanitarian crises.

And both leaders expressed strong commitment to continue working together on African Union matters with a view to promoting African unity and integration, as a basis for strengthening the continental body.