Nairobi: Kenya and Somalia have agreed to reopen their common border after more than a decade, Kenya’s interior minister said on Monday as ties warm between the two neighbours following years of tensions.
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 frontier 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.
“We have resolved that the border between Kenya and Somalia will be reopened in a phased manner within the next 90 days, effective today,” Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said, adding that a first crossing should be opened in 30 days. –Agencies
