Kenya-Ethiopia: their border was demarcated in the 1950s and approved in 1970; in 2012, Kenya and Ethiopia agreed to redemarcate their boundary following disputes over beacons and cross-border crime; that process is ongoing as of 2023
Kenya-Somalia: the Somali-based terrorist group al-Shabaab has infiltrated the border and conducted attacks in Kenya; clan and militia fighting amongst ethnic Somali peoples separated by the Kenya-Somali border has periodically threatened to spread across the border, which has long been open to nomadic pastoralists; in 2021, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) gave Somalia control over a disputed ocean area where the seabeds are believed to hold vasts oil and gas deposits; the ICJ ruling gave Somalia the rights to several offshore oil exploration blocks previously claimed by Kenya; Kenya did not recognize the court’s decision
Kenya-South Sudan: two thirds of the boundary that separates Kenya and South Sudan's sovereignty known as the Ilemi Triangle has been unclear since British colonial times; Kenya has administered the area since colonial times; officials from Kenya and South Sudan signed a memorandum of understanding on boundary delimitation and demarcation and agreed to set up a joint committee which launched in 2023
Kenya-Tanzania: maintain good relations and have no border disputes; in 2021 began a joint process to complete a modern, re-demarcation of the border
Kenya-Uganda: Kenya and Uganda began a joint demarcation of the boundary in 2021; Kenya and Uganda have a small, managed dispute over the small Migingo Island in Lake Victoria, although Kenya has had de facto control since 1926; the dispute has centered on the surrounding waters surrounding the island, which are known for fishing
refugees (country of origin): 21,847 (Ethiopia), 5,756 (Sudan) (2023); 298,117 (Somalia), 176,776 (South Sudan), 58,844 (Democratic Republic of the Congo), 8,665 (Burundi) (2024)
IDPs: 30,000 (election-related violence, intercommunal violence, resource conflicts, al-Shabaab attacks in 2017 and 2018) (2022)
stateless persons: 16,779 (2022); note - the stateless population consists of Nubians, Kenyan Somalis, and coastal Arabs; the Nubians are descendants of Sudanese soldiers recruited by the British to fight for them in East Africa more than a century ago; Nubians did not receive Kenyan citizenship when the country became independent in 1963; only recently have Nubians become a formally recognized tribe and had less trouble obtaining national IDs; Galjeel and other Somalis who have lived in Kenya for decades are included with more recent Somali refugees and denied ID cards
a transit country for illicit drugs and precursor chemicals; domestic drug consumption of cannabis and miraa (khat) is growing; heroin enters Kenya via Tanzania and in shipments across the Indian Ocean from Southwest Asia mostly destined for international markets, principally Europe; cocaine enters Kenya primarily via transshipment through Ethiopia
NOTE: The information regarding Kenya on this page is re-published from the 2024 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Kenya 2024 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Kenya 2024 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.
This page was last modified 04 May 24, Copyright © 2024 ITA all rights reserved.
