Kenya Delays Reopening Somali Border Over Attacks

The Kenyan government says it’s delaying the reopening of its border with Somalia, after attacks on its soil attributed to the Islamist militant group al-Shabab.

Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said the phased reopening of border posts along the lengthy frontier would not go ahead as announced in May.

He said the decision has been informed by the “recent incidents of threats and cases of insecurity in the frontier counties”.

It comes as five civilians and eight police officers were killed in separate incidents near the border last month.

The border was initially closed in 2011, because of attacks by al-Shabab, which has been waging an insurgency against the central government in Mogadishu.

The minister also announced Kenya would in a few weeks begin integrating refugees who have been staying in camps, as part of a new way of managing them.

He said the new system would allow authorities to weed out “agents of terror and criminals who are exploiting the available refugee spaces to hurt host communities”.

BBC/Jide Johnson.