Illegal migration thriving at far-flung border with Somalia

• Aliens pay well for their entry and many people are said to benefit from this cash

Along Kenya’s border with Somalia is a point where illegal immigration thrives.

At the Liboi Border Control in Lagdera, one should not be misled by the implied function of the Immigration office at this far-flung part of the country.

Within a time-span of 30 minutes, the Nation crew came face to face with an illegal immigration syndicate of a mind boggling scale this week.

Everybody, it appears, benefits from this business.

Kenya closed its border with Somalia in January, 2007.

Five kilometres away from the Immigration offices, we bumped into a rusty matatu with no number plates. It stood right in the middle of the road.

Although the vehicle looked like it had escaped a bomb attack and been abandoned months ago, a close examination told a different story. Inside there were clean benches. The occupants had vanished on seeing our vehicles.

Puncture

Two kilometres later, we encountered another car transporting Somali immigrants. This time, however, the security officers caught up before the group could escape. Their Kenyan accomplice gave up without a fight.

Surprisingly, the police, led by the Liboi officer commanding station, forced the driver of the station wagon with a Somali registration number to take his “cargo” back to Somalia.

The security team commandeered the Kenyan driver to offload his human cargo on the Somali side of the border. At the security blockade manned by Rapid Deployment Unit staff, the officers said they had cleared no such vehicle.

But 300 metres past the blockade, the car suddenly had a “puncture”. A few minutes of waiting and the Immigration officials gave up and instead detailed two Administration police officers to keep an eye on the group as the puncture was fixed.

The events that followed later all but confirmed that securing Kenya’s volatile borders and ending illegal immigration is like a wild goose chase.

Our arrival at Har-Har, where Beacon Two that marks Kenyan border with Somalia stands, raised the alarm among the Isbul-Islam militiamen guarding the Somalia side.

A battle scene unveiled in a matter of seconds: Kenyan security at the ready, some taking vantage positions under a lorry, in the thickets and on their bellies. The Islamists divided themselves up into two groups on either side of the road which runs through the two borders.