President Ruto Announces Opening of the Kenya-Somalia Border

The government has announced the reopening of the Mandera Border Post scheduled for this coming April after a fifteen-year closure.

Speaking during the disbursement of NYOTA funds in Wajir Stadium, the President emphasized that this decision comes after years of closure that left residents in Mandera isolated from their kin and neighbors in Somalia.

“It is unacceptable that fellow Kenyans in Mandera remain cut off from their kin and neighbours in Somalia due to the prolonged closure of the Mandera Border Post,” Ruto said.

He added, “We cannot trade with closed borders. For that reason, I will be returning here in April to officially open the border post linking Kenya and Somalia.”

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President William Ruto noted that the border post will be reopened in April, in order to restore connectivity and revitalise cross-border trade for the mutual prosperity of Kenyans and the neighboring Somali people.

“Accordingly, we will reopen the border post in April, restoring connectivity and revitalising cross-border trade for the mutual prosperity of our people,” Ruto said.

Ruto further appealed that the government will deploy enough security to give traders from both communities adequate working conditions to transact their businesses.

“We will deploy adequate security to ensure that criminals and insurgent groups do not infiltrate, while giving traders from both regions the freedom to operate. Leave the insurgents to us; we will deal with them,” Ruto said.

Border Closure

After Al Shabaab’s repeated attacks, the Kenya-Somalia border was closed in October 2011. For more than 15 years, the group has waged an insurgency against the federal government of Somalia.

Numerous discussions to reopen the crossing have taken place since then.

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Following talks between former President Uhuru Kenyatta and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, Kenya and Somalia announced plans to resume border operations in July 2022; however, the plan never materialized.

Kenya and Somalia had agreed to gradually reopen three border crossings: Mandera–Beled Hawo, Garissa–Liboi, and Wajir–Elwak in May 2024 but the plans stalled following deadly attacks in June that left eight police officers killed in Garissa when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device.

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Mandera Border Control Post in Mandera County. PHOTO/Courtesy