Kenya’s Interior Minister, Kithure Kindiki, had on Wednesday, July 3, stated that the country would delay re-opening its shared border with Somalia because of a “wave of fresh attacks”. These attacks have been linked to al Qaeda-al Shabaab militants.
Recall that in May 2023, the two governments had agreed to reopen several borders within 90 days. The border posts included Mandera, Liboi, and Kiunga, which have been shut since 2011 when Kenya sent its battle troops into southern Somalia to aid in the fight against al Shabaab.
Recently, over a dozen people have been killed along this shared border in the last month. Security analysts reckon that these attacks were part of the continuous efforts by al Shabaab to pressure Kenya into removing its troops from peacekeeping missions in Somalia.
Meanwhile Kindiki had tweeted on his official Twitter page saying that the government would postpone the planned phased-out reopening of the Kenya-Somalia border points so as to ease the extensive and conclusive handling of the recent wave of terror attacks and cross-border crime.
Terror group Al Shabaab has been battling for over a decade to overthrow Somalia’s central government and set up its own rule based on its own strict interpretation of Islamic law.
