The Impact of Border Management Strategy in Advancing Regional Security in Africa: a Case Study of Kenya and Somalia

Abstract

In the twenty-first century effective border security is the taken as the effective management of border procedures and border processes. The study aims to analyze the impact of border management strategy as way of advancing regional security in Africa. The research case studies are based from Kenya and Somalia. The research employs Realism Theory as way of examining the study topic. For Kenya, the country has two maritime boundaries, one between Tanzania which is already settled, and the other between the country and Somalia, which as a dispute. Somalia on the other hand, lacks a proper system of governance, where the locals hence settled for local forms of conflict resolution which include religious, civil and customary laws. The research design used for the study is application of the case study, where there is both the use of primary and secondary sources. For primary sources, there was the use of data from mainly interviews, then from questionnaires. On the other hand, for secondary data, there was the use of publications such as books, journals, articles and periodicals. The findings of the established that border related conflicts are a major percentage of large proportion of all conflicts that most African nations have encountered over the years. The study further established that it is prudent for border management to consider the future of border security, identify the shifting trends and what issues and strategies each nation is likely to be confronted wit in the future. In conclusion, the research concluded that Somalia in particular clearly lacks effective government, a factor that complicates the problem, and limits the application of border procedures to a single nation. Somalia also lacks mandatory documents and proper screening of foreigners and goods, due to the lack of proper travel documents from their country of origin. This research further concludes that securing country borders, sea or air, is one of the top priorities of governments in the African context, in particular Kenya and Somalia. While the number of travelers is ever increasing and the forms of trans-border criminality is diverse, infrastructure, budget and resources continue to be scarce. Despite this challenging environment, maintaining trans-border security is an absolute must. Lastly in order to appreciate the impact of border management strategy in advancing regional security in Africa particularly Kenya and Somalia. A major recommendation of the study is to have more multiagency and multi-stakeholder efforts as way of arresting any individual who want to access a country illegally and also manage to impound on nay contraband goods. This requires for more effective border use patrols and surveillance strategies. Finally, there is a need for strengthening of cooperation and networking of the border management agents that could result into sharing of security information.