Somalia: Border Security Near Mandera, Kenya

C O N F I D E N T I A L NAIROBI 002257 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/E AND A/S FRAZER E.O. 12958: DECL 09/17/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL EAID PINS SO SUBJECT: Somalia: Border Security Near Mandera, Kenya REF: Nairobi 2164 Classified by Special Envoy John Yates, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) Summary: Members of the Somalia Unit spent nearly ten days on the Kenya-Somalia border in late August 2008. Although the border remains officially closed, we experienced first-hand the border security challenges Kenya has with Somalia. We also heard several anecdotes demonstrating the porous nature of the officially-closed border. End summary. -------------- Allowing the Somalis to Cross -------------- ¶2. (C) After consultation and cooperation between the Embassy's Somalia Unit and local Kenyan officials, 45 Somali youth were allowed to cross into Kenya and remain for five days for the Somalia Unit's August Youth Enrichment Program (YEP). While we were grateful to have the opportunity to 'host' the Somali youth in Kenya, the procedures by which the teenagers and young adults entered Kenya evinced an ad hoc and haphazard approach to protection of the border. ¶3. (C) During planning for the YEP, officials on each side of the border required only the agreement of the other side's officials to allow the crossing. At the crossing itself, the students and young adults all arrived as a group. Once the group arrived at the Kenya checkpoint, having crossed the "no-man's land" between Somalia and Kenya, the Kenyan immigration officials simply called names from the list. Once a participant raised his or her hand, a teacher or elder vouched for that person's identity, and the person was allowed to enter Kenya. Several journalists who were not on "the list" were allowed to enter after the Somalia Unit Foreign Service National (FSN) vouched for the journalist and the Kenyan officials recorded the FSN's biographical details, implying that the FSN would be held responsible for any Somali who failed to return. Several of the Somali officials who had been slated to attend the opening ceremony were not allowed to cross. We were told that those individuals were held back due to interpersonal conflicts between them and the Mandera officials. ¶4. (C) After the YEP, the participants, each of whom had been issued a uniform jersey during the program, were allowed to proceed unhindered from Kenya, as long as he or she was wearing a YEP jersey. There were no name checks and no apparent headcounts on the departure. -------------- -- Anecdotes and Physical Appearance of the Border -------------- -- ¶5. (C) The Embassy team visited the border crossing at the conclusion of the YEP. The gates through the checkpoint were all open, except for the final gate, a common chain link fence gate held together by an ordinary chain. The checkpoint was staffed by several Kenyan officials, none of whom appeared armed and all of whom remained in their offices while we drove our vehicles to the fence. The checkpoint, secured by a single chain link fence, was otherwise noteworthy for a series of broken down vehicles, and garbage strewn throughout the 'no-man's land' on the far side of the fence. The fence on each side of the checkpoint appeared to run for approximately two hundred yards in each direction. ¶6. (C) Contacts in the Mandera area indicated to us that any Somali could cross the border. If a person was caught crossing the border at any location other than the checkpoint the Kenyan official patrolling the border could be made to look the other way for a payment of 50 Kenyan shillings (less than USD 1). Contacts also indicated there were requests for bribes to allow the YEP participants to cross, even though the process had been coordinated with officials on both sides of the border. RANNEBERGER