Fifteen years after Kenya shut its border with Somalia, it remains closed. President William Ruto says two forces stand in the way: a shortage of international funding and a deepening political fracture inside Somalia that no one has yet managed to close.
Speaking in Wajir County after Madaraka Day celebrations on June 1, Ruto acknowledged that he had expected to move faster.
“I really thought I would have opened those borders by now. But unfortunately, there is always a delicate balance between security and commerce,” he said.
The Cost Kenya Has Absorbed Alone
Kenya’s deployment of the Kenya Defence Forces in Somalia to support stabilisation efforts has drained public resources, Ruto said, with little consistent relief from international partners.
“We have gone out of our way as a country to make sure that we secure that border at huge cost, by the way,” he told reporters.
The absence of a coherent international plan over the past two years has stalled what his administration described as steady progress toward normalising cross-border movement and trade. Ruto pointed to that funding vacuum as a structural problem, not a temporary setback.
Somalia’s Internal War on Itself
The deeper obstacle sits inside Somalia. In March 2026, Parliament approved constitutional amendments extending both parliamentary and presidential terms from four to five years, postponing elections until 2027. Critics, including the Somali Future Council, an opposition coalition, rejected this outright, describing it as a “constitutional coup.”
Fighting between federal forces and regional forces in Jubaland has led to reported unlawful killings and displacement of civilians. The Jubaland crisis stems from a constitutional dispute between the Somali Federal Government and the semi-autonomous state of Jubaland, following Ahmed Madobe’s re-election to serve a third term as Jubaland’s president. Puntland has also suspended recognition of federal institutions.
Ruto said this fracture makes effective security guarantees impossible.
“We are trying to assist them to create some understanding, because if you do not have unity of government in Somalia, it becomes much more difficult to provide security,” he said.
Security analysts warn that Somalia’s political class is dangerously polarised and unable to forge a united front against their common enemy, Al-Shabaab, which appears content to wait while its enemies quarrel and international partners cut back on security and development assistance.
What the Border Closure Has Cost Both Countries
The economic stakes are significant. Kenya exported US$154 million worth of goods to Somalia in 2023, according to UN COMTRADE data, with tobacco products (US$45 million), edible preparations (US$27 million) and cereal and flour products (US$13 million) among the top categories. Against that, Kenya’s imports from Somalia stood at just US$345,000 in 2023.
Kenya ranked as the fifth largest exporter of goods to Somalia in 2019, accounting for 3.2% of Somalia’s imports, behind the UAE, China, India and Turkey. Goods flowing from Kenya to the Middle East are frequently re-exported to Somalia, meaning Kenya loses direct trade value it could otherwise capture.
The volume of informal cross-border trade between Kenya and Somalia recorded goats at 5,282 and sheep at 1,583 as imports in the first quarter of 2021 alone, representing increases of 51% and 90% respectively from the same period in 2020. That trade continues regardless of the official closure, conducted informally and largely beyond the reach of customs authorities.
A Border Built on Crisis
On October 15, 2011, Kenya launched Operation Linda Nchi — “protect the nation” in Kiswahili — sending troops into southern Somalia to create a buffer zone against Al-Shabaab following a series of kidnappings of foreign tourists and aid workers inside Kenya. The border closure followed as a security measure tied to that military campaign.
A 12-year barricade that began in 2011 appeared to end in May 2023 when Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki and his Somali counterpart announced that the border would reopen in phases, starting with Bula Hawa in Mandera within 30 days, followed by Liboi and Ras Kamboni. That timeline collapsed. In February 2026, Ruto again announced the reopening, only for the escalation of war between the Somali National Army and rebel Jubaland forces to halt it once more.
What Comes Next
Ruto reaffirmed Kenya’s commitment to removing trade barriers while insisting that security must move alongside commerce rather than yield to it. Further negotiations on a phased reopening will take place during the 11th Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa and Kilifi Counties from June 14 to 18.
The border sits at the intersection of a regional security architecture that has repeatedly promised resolution and repeatedly fallen short. Until Somalia’s federal states reach workable agreement on governance, Ruto’s position is that reopening would trade short-term commerce for long-term instability — a bet Kenya, after 15 years, remains unwilling to make.
