By Chris Muhizi for MCN.
The expected gradual reopening of Kenya’s border with Somalia has been postponed in order to deal with the current spike in cross-border crime and terrorist assaults.
The decision was made, according to Kenya Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki, who was at the Dadaab Refugee Camp, as a result of persistent Al Shabaab strikes in border counties.
More than fifteen terrorist assaults, most of which targeted security personnel, were reported in Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, and Lamu counties in June alone.
Kenya and Somalia have been discussing reopening their border crossing points in Mandera, here in Liboi, Kiunga, and other places close to the border. The plan will go, but for the time being we are postponing it, Kindiki stated.
Kenya stated on May 15 that it would reopen its border crossings with Somalia in Mandera, Lamu, and Garissa in full within 90 days.
High-level talks between Kithure Kindiki and his Somalian counterpart Mohamed Ahmed Sheikh in Nairobi led to the declaration.
By reopening the border, a 12-year blockade that started in 2011 when Kenya launched Operation Linda Nchi to stop the influx of Al Shabaab fighters into the nation would virtually come to an end.
“We have decided to reopen the border between Kenya and Somalia in stages. Bula Hawa in Mandera will open first in 30 days, followed by Liboi in 60 days, and Ras Kamboni in 90, according to Kindiki at the time.
The two nations had said they intended to restore the border in July 2022 following discussions between Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Somali colleague Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, but this never happened.
But on May 15, after a high-level ministerial conference in Nairobi, representatives from the two nations decided to gradually restore three border crossings.
Within 30 days after the declaration, Mandera was anticipated to reopen, followed by Garissa in 60 days and Lamu in 90.
However, on June 13, an improvised explosive device caused their car to collide with another, killing eight Kenyan police officers in Garissa. In an attack in Lamu, Kenya, close to the Somali border on June 24, five individuals had their throats slit; some of them were beheaded. Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility.
Al-Shabaab is battling the international community-supported federal government of Somalia in an effort to impose Islamic law in the nation in the Horn of Africa.
Since its military involvement in southern Somalia in 2011 and its participation in the African Union force in Somalia (Amisom, now Atmis) established in 2012 to quell this uprising, neighboring Kenya has also been a target of this group, which also recruits among local youth.
The opening of the border would not be simple. People are profiting from the smuggling of products, and the Al Shabaab is obtaining taxes from these companies inside of Somalia, according to Mr. Ali Abdi, a resident of Mandera.
Kindiki did not provide any additional information when announcing the border’s ongoing closure, choosing instead to focus solely on terrorism.
The extremists have been able to freely cross, assault, and then return across the porous border.
Another factor contributing to the influx of terrorists into Kenya is the ongoing conflict in Somalia. After the Somali government declared an all-out war on the Al Shabaab in August of last year, Kenya’s government increased border security to stop an influx of escaping terrorists into its territory.
