Kenya-Somalia border locations to stay shut, Raymond Omollo stated

Kenya will not reopen its border places with Somalia anytime soon because of the security consequences of doing so at a time when the African Union peacekeeping operation in the neighboring nation is winding down.

Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo to Nation.Africa in an interview that the proceeding was notified by the necessity to safeguard the nation at all entry and exit locations.

Dr. Omollo’s disclosure comes nine months after his superior Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki, and his Somali colleague Mohamed Ahmed Sheikh Ali declared their intention to reopen the borders following high-level discussions in Nairobi, which would have ended a 12-year blockade that began in 2011. 

With Kenya sharing some 500 miles of border with Somalia, a distance approximately comparable to the trip from Mombasa to Busia, Omollo admitted that the route had evidenced very challenging to secure.