The government originally closed the Mandera Border Post in 2011 as part of heightened security measures.
The crossing is located in Kenya’s far northeastern region and has remained largely sealed since.
Al-Shabaab has waged a long-running insurgency against Somalia’s government and has repeatedly targeted Kenya.
In 2013, gunmen carried out the Westgate shopping mall attack in Nairobi, killing an estimated 71 people during a four-day siege.
Two years later, militants stormed Garissa University College in northeastern Kenya, killing 148 people and injuring dozens in one of the deadliest attacks in the country’s history.
Security incidents tied to the group have continued in recent years. In November 2025, two Kenyan Border Patrol Unit officers were killed when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device planted by Al-Shabaab near the Somalia border in Garissa County.
In a post on X on Thursday, Kenyan President William Ruto said the border will reopen in April to restore connectivity and revive cross-border trade.
“It is unacceptable that fellow Kenyans in Mandera remain cut off from their kin and neighbors in Somalia due to the prolonged closure of the Mandera Border Post,” Ruto wrote.
He said the decision follows extensive security assessments and that a significant deployment of security forces will be in place when the border reopens to ensure safety is not compromised.
Kenya and Somalia have periodically discussed reopening the border in recent years. In 2023, the two countries agreed to a phased resumption of operations, but the plans were postponed following renewed security incidents near the crossing.
