Three border points between Kenya and Somalia that have been closed for close to 12 years are set to be opened this month, officials said.
The three border points-Handera-Bulahawa in Mandera County, Liboi-Harhar in Garissa County, and Kiunga-Daresalam in Lamu County -were closed in 2011 at the height of invasions and attacks masterminded by the al-Shabaab terror group.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki is set to hold a meeting with his Somalia counterpart Mohamed Sheikh Doodishe Monday, May 15 to deliberate on the roadmap to reopening the three border points.
The meeting will also involve Defence CS Aden Duale, and Foreign Affairs CS Alfred Mutua, and his Somalia counterpart.
It comes after the launch of the Kenya-Somalia-Ethiopia border project last week in Mandera.
During the launch, officials pledged to work together and address security issues in the region.
Officials from both countries will discuss ways to address common security threats, border management, infrastructure, and trade facilitation.
Kindiki said the meeting will also focus on the actions necessary to ensure security before the reopening.
“It was agreed that this project will proceed, subject to the three partner states-Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia-sitting down together with the UK to agree on the action plan and the detailed activities so that we walk together, to ensure that we leave no detail unattended because of the sensitivities and complexities of security matters in the region,” Kindiki said.
He also called upon officials from the three governments to work together to implement the security project.
During his visit to Kenya last week, United Kingdom security minister Tom Tugendhat signed a security pact that, among others, lists the opening of the Kenya-Somalia border as an issue of priority.
The Kenya-Somalia-Ethiopia Borderpoint project is funded by the UK.
The implementation of the Sh1.7 billion per year project will be subject to consultation and consensus with the three countries.
The shutdowns have not stopped people from crossing the border illegally or smuggling goods.
In the last five years, Kenya’s northeast has experienced a long series of attacks by al-Shabab fighters.
In the deadliest attack, the Islamist militant group killed nearly 150 people at Garissa University College in 2015.
Somalia-based al-Shabab has been active in Kenya since 2011 when Kenya first contributed troops to the African Union-led peacekeeping mission in Somalia.
