Aid in Action

Kenya/Somalia Border: Challenges of Moving Food into Somalia

Disruptions and delays in border clearances impact food distribution

 | Thursday, March 29, 2007

Trucks waiting at the Kenya/Somalia border to cross

Courtesy WFP

Trucks waiting at the Kenya/Somalia border to cross into Somalia with food aid.

The Kenya Government officially closed its border with Somalia in early January following the upsurge of conflict in Somalia after Ethiopian troops arrived. This resulted in CARE and WFP trucks being stuck at the border, unable to bring emergency food aid into Somalia, and trucks returning from Somalia not being able to reload inside the Kenya border. Warehouses for Somalia food aid are maintained inside Kenya rather than Somalia because of better security situation. USAID/East Africa Regional FFP Advisor traveled 20-22 February to Mandera and El Wak, Kenya, to assess the Somalia border closure on WFP and CARE/Somalia food deliveries. WFP utilizes El Wak for its cross-border dispatches, while CARE uses both Mandera and El Wak crossings.

Uncertainty over the border clearance procedures resulted in WFP and CARE trucks being held up for over two weeks at the border, impacting on food distributions to vulnerable populations in Somalia. In Mandera, CARE had 4,300 MT food in the Kenya National Cereal Board Warehouse, which was finally released by mid-March. It is now being moved into Gedo, Somalia for the March distribution. WFP also faced long delays at the El Wak border crossing. 2,400 MT has recently moved into Somalia without incident. CARE and WFP believe that procedures at the border now have been worked out satisfactorily, and expect commodities to transit smoothly.

 

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