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Interior Minister of Kenya Kithure Kindiki said that the phased reopening of Mandera, Lamu, and Garissa border posts could not take place as announced in May
Kenya is postponing the reopening of its border with Somalia after recent attacks on its soil by radical Al-Shabaab Islamists. Interior Minister of Kenya Kithure Kindiki said that the phased reopening of Mandera, Lamu, and Garissa border posts could not take place as announced in May.
The move comes after the deaths of five civilians and eight police officers in separate incidents near the border last month. It was blamed on the al-Qaeda -affiliated group Shabab. The border points will remain closed until the situation improves. The border was officially closed in October 2011 due to attacks by Al-Shabaab, who have been waging an insurgency against the federal government in Somalia for more than 15 years.
The two countries had announced in July 2022 their intention to reopen the border during talks between Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Somali counterpart Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, but this never materialized. But, on May 15, following a high-level ministerial meeting in Nairobi, officials from the two countries agreed to the gradual reopening of three border crossings. Mandera was expected to reopen within 30 days of the announcement, followed by Garissa within 60 days and Lamu within 90 days.
Recently, eight Kenyan police officers were killed in Garissa when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device. On June 24, five civilians had their throats slit in an attack claimed by Al-Shabaab in Lamu near the Somali border; some were beheaded.
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Al-Shabaab is fighting Somalia’s federal government, backed by the international community, to establish Islamic law in the Horn of Africa country.
