Kenya and Somalia have agreed to reopen their common border crossings after more than a decade, amid warming ties between the two neighbors following years of tensions. Kenya has decided to reopen its border crossings with Somalia at Mandera, Lamu, and Garissa, effectively ending a 12-year barricade that began in 2011, Kenya’s interior minister said on Monday (15 May). The announcement came after a high-level joint ministerial meeting in Nairobi on cooperation including on security, as well as trade and the movement of people. The border crossings had been officially closed in October 2011 because of attacks on Kenyan soil by the radical Islamist Somali group Al-Shabaab, which has been waging an insurgency against the central government in Mogadishu for more than 15 years. They also talked about strategies for building modern, safe border infrastructure that would ease trade, mobility, and human movement.

Source: The North Africa Journal May 17, 2023 11:02 UTC