MOGADISHU – Kenyan President William Ruto said that security concerns and political instability in Somalia have delayed plans to fully reopen the Kenya-Somalia border, despite his desire to boost cross-border trade and regional integration.
Speaking during a media roundtable in the northeastern town of Wajir, Ruto said he had hoped the border would already be open but stressed that security considerations remained paramount.
“It is my wish. I really thought I would have opened those borders by now,” Ruto said. “But unfortunately, there is always a delicate balance between security and commerce. And we must protect both.”
The Kenyan leader said Nairobi had invested heavily in securing its frontier with Somalia, including maintaining troops inside Somalia as part of regional efforts to combat militant threats.
“We have our own men, gallant soldiers in Somalia, protecting our country from within Somalia,” he said.
Ruto said the absence of a coherent security strategy and sustainable international funding for Somalia had complicated efforts to stabilize the Horn of Africa nation and move forward with border reopening plans.
“Today we do not have a predictable funding model that is supported by the international community to secure Somalia,” he said, adding that troop-contributing countries had in some cases been forced to use their own resources to sustain deployments.
The president also pointed to ongoing political disagreements within Somalia, saying divisions among federal and regional authorities were undermining efforts to improve security.
“There is an ongoing process that is not quite agreeable to all the states in Somalia,” Ruto said. “If you do not have unity of government in Somalia, it becomes much more difficult to provide security.”
Despite the challenges, Ruto emphasized the importance of trade and regional economic integration, citing the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as initiatives aimed at removing barriers to commerce.
“I appreciate that there would be a lot of commerce between Kenya and Somalia,” he said. “Cross-border trade is a thing that we all aspire to.”
Ruto said Kenya would continue assessing conditions before making a final decision on reopening the border.
“We are still looking at opportunities to see how we can open the border, but that is a delicate balance that we must always keep in check to make sure that we do not do one and lose the other,” he said.
Kenya and Somalia share a border stretching more than 680 kilometres (420 miles). In 2011, Kenya deployed troops into Somalia to fight the Al-Shabaab militant group before later integrating its forces into African Union-led peacekeeping missions.
Nairobi has periodically tightened border controls following militant attacks on Kenyan soil, while successive governments have sought to balance security concerns with efforts to boost trade and movement between the two neighbouring countries.
