Moi bans cross-border trade

President Daniel arap Moi of Kenya on 28 July declared a ban on cross-border trade between Kenya and Somalia, the Kenyan ‘Sunday Nation’ newspaper reported on 29 July. The decision had been made to curb the influx of arms into Kenya, said the paper. This is the second time in three years that Moi has imposed a ban on trade with Somalia. In August 1999, he also banned trade with Somalia, citing similar reasons. The ban was lifted six months later. The paper quoted Moi as saying Kenya would only deal with Somalia after a legitimate government had been installed in Mogadishu.

The Kenyan MP for Fafi in northeastern Kenya, Elyas Barre Shill, said the move would not solve Kenya’s security problem. He suggested that Moi should instead extend more support to the Transitional National Government (TNG) in Somalia, which would then deal with the arms problem from its side of the border, according to Monday’s ‘Daily Nation’. Meanwhile, the Kenyan assistant foreign minister, Mohamud Abdi Affey, told IRIN that the Kenyan government had recognised the TNG as Somalia’s legitimate government, and that the president’s statement had been “completely misinterpreted”. Moi was actually referring to certain factions engaged in business activities between Kenya and Somalia who had “no interest in the establishment of a strong administration in Somalia”, he said. Affey said the intention of the Kenyan government was “to exert pressure on these factions to rally behind the interim administration so that we can have a strong administration to deal with”.