Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06NAIROBI799
2006-02-23 09:53:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Nairobi
Cable title:  

KIUNGA: A BORDER TOWN WITHOUT A BORDER

Tags:  PTER ASEC MARR PGOV PREL PINS KISL KE 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO6435
OO RUEHROV
DE RUEHNR #0799/01 0540953
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 230953Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9786
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NAIROBI 000799 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/22/2026
TAGS: PTER ASEC MARR PGOV PREL PINS KISL KE
SUBJECT: KIUNGA: A BORDER TOWN WITHOUT A BORDER

REF: 05 NAIROBI 4764

Classified By: Political Counselor Michael J. Fitzpatrick, reasons 1.4
(b,d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NAIROBI 000799

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/22/2026
TAGS: PTER ASEC MARR PGOV PREL PINS KISL KE
SUBJECT: KIUNGA: A BORDER TOWN WITHOUT A BORDER

REF: 05 NAIROBI 4764

Classified By: Political Counselor Michael J. Fitzpatrick, reasons 1.4
(b,d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: The impoverished hamlet of Kiunga is where
Kenya ends -- and Somalia and the Indian Ocean begin.
Security, especially cross-border banditry by Somalis, is the
prime concern of local officials. USG-provided assistance is
designed to enhance security, border controls and maritime
patrols. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) Poloff accompanied CJTF-HOA Civil Affairs (CA) team
to Kiunga January 26 to meet with local officials and engage
in conversations about border security, development needs and
coastal politics. Kiunga is a small, extremely poor border
town in north Lamu District, Coast Province. It lies 14
kilometers south of the Somali border and is one of only
three official border towns along the approximately 900
kilometer Kenya-Somalia border. A sleepy town with little to
no contact with the rest of the country, Kiunga is also a
major marine conservation area and home to the Kiunga Marine
National Reserve.

--------------
Security is Top Priority
--------------


3. (C) The District Officer (DO),head of the Administration
Police (AP) and Kenya Police Officer in Command of Station
(OCS) each separately told poloff that security is their top
concern for Kiunga. Historically, Kiunga,s major security
concern has been Somali banditry, particularly after the Siad
Barre regime fell in 1991. Between the 1960,s and mid
1990,s, the majority of the population fled the area.
However, the GOK has made strides since 2000 to improve
security in the area, particularly through deploying police
and KDOD forces, and some of the population has begun to
return to Kiunga. The DO said there are currently 5020
residents in greater Kiunga, with 2000 residing in the town
itself.


4. (C) The OCS office has made concerted efforts to
establish contacts with villages on the Somali side of the

border in efforts to foster peace. He said his office was
trying to help the people of Raas Kamboni, Somalia, improve
their economic welfare in order to curb cross-border
banditry. (NOTE: A variety of sources, including open media,
have reported on the existence of Al-Itihaad Al-Islamia
militant training camps in the Raas Kamboni area,
particularly in the years immediately following the 1998 U.S.
Embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. END NOTE).
After assuring Poloff that security has improved in the area
and that his officers have strong ties with their Somali
neighbors, he then cautioned that Somalis are all
&hypocrites8, offering no further explanation. Clearly,
suspicions and hostilities remain.


5. (C) The Kenya Police,s capability to counter any actual
threat is, at best, limited. The OCS has one HF radio, which
works some of the time. He communicates with the district
police chief in Lamu via hand-written letters. Although he
admits that people can easily &stray8 and &disappear8
within the 14 kilometers separating the actual border from
the Kiunga entry point, he claims to have officers patrolling
the land route. The head of the AP in Kiunga, who has 14
officers under his command, openly admits there is no real
security at the border. He relies on informants to learn of
illegal border crossings, but has no phones or vehicles at
his disposal to react. (NOTE: There is no cell phone
reception in Kiunga. END NOTE). The OCS said the waters are
where the true risk lies. The Navy radar station in Kiunga
cannot detect wooden boats, which he says are the sources of
any contraband or illegal activities. Even if it could
detect them, however, there are no Navy boats stationed at
Kiunga.


--------------
Border Security: A True Oxymoron
--------------


6. (C) Poloff and the CA Team, accompanied by at least 10
Kenyan Army soldiers, traveled to the actual border point. At
the edge of Kiunga Town, there is an immigration office and a
broken gate, which opens to 14 kilometers of &no man,s
land8. There are two villages along the way to the border,
one completely abandoned, and one housing at most a few dozen
residents. The actual border is demarcated by a medium-sized
rock in the road, which veers off towards the beach. There
was no security presence or facility anywhere past the Kiunga

NAIROBI 00000799 002 OF 002


gate. The Kenyan soldiers were visibly nervous, and one told
Poloff he did not feel comfortable in the area because of
Somali bandits.


7. (C) The Kiunga border is similar to Liboi, one of the
other three official border crossings between Kenya and
Somalia, located in Garissa District, Northeastern Province.
Pol Counselor and Poloff visited Liboi in June 2005. Like
Kiunga, that border is at least a 20 minute drive from town,
where the immigration and customs office is actually located.
There are no signs demarcating the border at either Liboi or
Kiunga. In fact, the area councilor who accompanied us in
Liboi pulled a bumpy log out from under a thorny bush and
stated that was the border marking. There was no police
presence at the border, but the ground was scattered with
bullet casings. On our drive back to Liboi town, several
taxis and matatus -- public transportation vans that legally
carry 12 passengers -- packed with people and luggage drove
past us, heading directly for the border. The immigration
officer in Liboi told us less than five people register with
his office a day. He admitted that people can easily cross
illegally elsewhere along the border and said that as many as
hundreds could be doing so without his knowledge.

--------------
U.S. Coastal Security Initiative Progressing
--------------


8. (C) The visit to Kiunga reinforced the dire need for
coastal security assistance (reftel). The Anti Terrorism
Assistance (ATA) Office is moving forward with their coastal
security initiative to provide boats and training to enhance
capacity for joint coastal patrols. A Memorandum of Intent
(MOI) is being reviewed by the GOK. Upon signature, ATA will
begin a comprehensive program with the Kenya Police Service,
Administration Police, Kenya Wildlife Service and Kenya Navy
to address this need. Poloff and ATA officials met with the
Lamu District Commissioner and key members of his security
council on February 13 to discuss the program. All the
relevant organizations are on board with the program and view
it as addressing a critical need.


9. (C) Currently, the Kenya Police only have two patrol
boats for the entire Lamu District, one of which is broken
and the other barely operational. ATA plans to purchase 4
boats for the police. As mentioned reftel, the OCPD believes
it is key to have police presence felt by increasing their
visibility on the waters. Even if they do not succeed in
adequately patrolling all the waterways, the OCPD believes
this presence will act as a deterrent to criminals and
possible terrorists.


10. (C) COMMENT: Being on the ground in Kiunga confirmed
the assessments made in reftel, mainly that it is a vital
area for coastal and border security assistance. The CA
teams have increased their presence in the area and are
planning civic action projects in the town. This has helped
the USG gain a foothold into this strategic, but largely
untouched area by creating goodwill on the ground. With the
launch of ATA,s program, Kiunga should benefit from improved
law enforcement capabilities, which in turn will improve
Kenya,s overall border management and security. END COMMENT.

BELLAMY