Somalia has appointed former presidential candidate Jabril Ibrahim Abdulle has been appointed as its ambassador to Kenya.
Jabril, who run in the 2022 presidential elections in 2022, succeeds Ambassador Mohamed Nur Tarzan who completed his tour of duty last week.
Jabril has worked in Kenya for over 10 years and will have a huge task of improving Kenya-Somalia relations, which have been rocky during Nur’s tour of duty, a period in which the two states cut ties in 2020. Relations resumed in July 2021 and the two states reopened their embassies.
He will seek also to have the Somalia-Kenya border reopened, even as Mogadishu was admitted to the East African Community on Saturday as the eighth member.
He will also be coming at a time both countries are fighting Al Shabaab, a terror group that has been a security concern in parts of Kenya such as Northeastern and Lamu.