President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya has met the President of the neighboring restive Federal state of Somalia, Mohamed Faarmajo, the 1st face to face meeting since March 2019. The meeting was facilitated by the current African Union Chairman, Egyptian President General Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil El-Sisi. Securing the meeting couldn’t have been easy, however, Villa Somalia media office was quick to break the news of the tripartite meeting at the sidelines of ongoing United Nations General Assembly at the United States.
So far, media reports indicate both Somalia and Kenya Presidents have agreed to work towards normalizing relations. However, both leaders must form task forces to follow though this preamble. Mogadishu maintains that, the decision to normalize diplomatic ties will have zero implications on the maritime case at the ICJ. This desire to quickly reference the maritime row is meant to look down Nairobi while attempting to achieve a geopolitical hold diplomatically. Kenya remains un-offended, with its sights still on retaining its hegemony in the region where it’s the powerhouse and not losing an inch of its land and sea boundary.
What can be seen in the rush to report the meeting at the sidelines of UNGA by both Somali media and Villa Somalia, is an attempt to maintain a status quo back home. Faarmajo is still not sure if his hostile stance will pay off on both short and long term. To trade off sociopolitical status quo against diplomatic and security threats is suicidal, thus the quest for normalization of diplomatic ties. This gives Kenya an upper hand in the near future. Somalia is not making gains against terrorists, in fact, the threat of militancy and economic recession is multiplying and Somalia is both the axis and epicenter of the menacing regional terrorism. Kenya is a key pillar in the war on terror and Somalia’s sociopolitics, having housed and funded previous Somali governments that birthed the current hostile administration.
While both East African countries have maintained fully staffed embassies, the maritime row has stabbed confidence. The Faarmajo political advisors have maintained a bellicose stance blaming Kenya’s top diplomats over the escalation and at the same time, citing sociopolitical ramifications back home if they cede to negotiated armistice. However, both reasons are largely political tools to whip emotions of nationalism back home and while at it, improve re-election chances.
