Mandera’s closed Kenya-Somalia border point may soon reopen after officials said security has improved enough to support a return to normal cross-border movement. The update came during an inspection of the border fence, whose construction began in 2015 and has so far covered nearly 20km.
The visit took place on 21 November 2018, when a security delegation led by parliamentary Committee on Defence and Foreign Affairs chair Katoo ole Metito and Defence Principal Secretary Torome Saitoti toured the completed section of the barrier. They were joined by senior military officers, including Vice-Chief of Kenya Defence Forces Lieutenant General Robert Kibochi.
Mandera town was heavily secured during the exercise, with armoured vehicles and a tank among the convoy that moved from the airstrip to the county headquarters and then on to River Dawa. The show of force briefly slowed activity in town as the team assessed the situation on the ground.
Deputy Governor Mohamed Arai, who represented Governor Ali Roba, told the delegation that Mandera had not suffered an Al Shabaab attack in three years. He said the fence was helping to stabilise the area and was expected to extend for more than 50km.
Arai also argued that reopening the border would restore formal trade between Kenya and Somalia and reduce the smuggling of low-quality goods into the country. He said products being brought in from Kismayu included sugar, rice, spaghetti, cooking oil and petroleum products.
According to him, Mandera County was losing an average of Sh2 billion every month because of the closure, with the national economy losing even more. He said the border shutdown had handed business to smugglers who moved goods through informal routes.
Metito said his committee would press for the border to be reopened as soon as possible, but he warned residents not to relax on security. He said the fence would only work if communities cooperated by reporting suspicious people to the authorities.
He also urged Kenya and Somalia to resolve the diplomatic dispute that had interrupted construction at Bulahawa, where Somali settlements spill into Kenya. “We want that diplomatic impasse sorted out so that the gap left can be sealed to further bolster security.”
Maj E.M Kasura, speaking for the army, said fibre optic cable would run along the fence and surveillance cameras would be installed to improve monitoring and prevent vandalism. Residents, meanwhile, asked for quarry work to resume, saying it remained a major source of jobs in the county.
Former councillor Suleiman Mohamud Isaak called for KDF troops to be pulled back from the interior of Somalia and redeployed to the borders of Mandera, Wajir, Garissa and Lamu counties to guard against infiltration in areas not yet covered by the fence.
The delegation also visited the abandoned Kenya Revenue Authority, Immigration and Kenya Bureau of Standards offices, where they found signs of neglect. Many of the offices and nearby houses still bore bullet holes, a reminder of the insecurity that once gripped the border town.
