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Kenya, Somalia deal paves way for local banks to set up in Somalia

Hassan
Deputy President William Ruto, Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago and Foreign Affairs CS Amina Mohamed welcome Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud at the Eldoret International Airport on January 27, 2016. PHOTO | CHEBOITE KIGEN | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

By AGGREY MUTAMBO

Kenyan banks could soon venture into Somalia following the signing of a bilateral agreement with Mogadishu on cooperation in financial regulation, investments and security.

It is an ambitious plan which Kenya also says would eliminate any foreign policy mistakes it may have committed when dealing with Mogadishu.

Last week, Somalia’s Foreign Minister Abdusalam Omer and his Kenyan counterpart Amina Mohamed signed a Joint Commission on Cooperation Agreement, a deal that seeks to address gaps in immigration, security, banking, trade and other areas.

“Kenya and Somalia are strong allies and partners. More importantly, the agreement will have the mandate to plan and implement bilateral programs for cooperation between the two brotherly states,” Mr Gamal Hassan, Somalia’s Ambassador to Nairobi, told theSunday Nation on Friday.

It was the first time such an agreement was being entered into since Somalia was embroiled in a civil war, even though a deal agreement on a limited number of issues was signed during the transitional government in 2005.

Ms Mohamed said the deal had taken into account recent developments between the two countries, like the end of the Transitional Federal Government in 2012, increasing threat of Al-Shabaab and the need to expand economic ties.

“The JCC agreement will be a platform for enhanced cooperation between the two countries because it covers a wide range of issues,” Ms Mohamed said after meeting with her Somali counterpart.

The deal emphasises the need for coordinated policies on security, trade, investment, finance, immigration, health, education, agriculture and infrastructure.

HOW DEAL WAS SEALED

It is Kenya’s departure from the past where most issues with Somalia were addressed through the Intergovernmental Authority on Development or Igad.

Though Somalia has maintained an embassy in Nairobi since the Transitional Federal Government was formed in 2005, Kenya only opened its embassy in Somalia in July 2015.

The country’s ambassador to Mogadishu used to operate from Nairobi.

Sources at the Foreign Ministry told the Nation that the agreement was a result of consultations that began in August last year.

It was also was inspired by recent public disagreements between Kenya and Somalia.

Since war broke out in Somalia in the early 1990s, there has been no sufficient border control on movement of people.

The deal supports free movement but seeks to establish a proper system of managing it.

In 2014, Kenya, for example, launched the controversial ‘Operation Usalama Watch’ to fish out illegal immigrants, seen as terrorism sympathisers.

The operation was condemned by rights activists who saw it as targeting members of the Somali community.

Somalia has sued Kenya at the International Court of Justice over the two countries’ maritime boundary.

“JCC offers respective governments a timeline to start working on these areas of mutual interest, be it be in border control, regulations on financial business or even natural resources. It is a blank cheque,” a Kenyan diplomat who was part of a team that negotiated the deal told the Nation on Tuesday.

The agreement, the diplomat added, gives both sides three months to plan its implementation.

Source: Daily Nation

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