52. A. Abdullahi, Kenyan Somalis are Treated Like Second-class Citizens, Daily Nation, 12 April 2014. http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/Kenyan-Somalis-treated-like-second-class-citizens-/440808-2277348-pj74alz/index.html. The majority of ethnic Somalis lived in the eastern half of the Northern Frontier District (NFD),Footnote11 a semi-arid region governed as a closed district by the British, keeping its mainly pastoral inhabitants away from the southern part of the colony.Footnote12 Outside of the Northern Frontier District ethnic Somalis, mainly from British Somaliland, were living in the newly developed towns. This notion laid the basis for rendering all Kenyan Somalis as non-native Africans after independence.Footnote81 In the late 1990s and early 2000s Somali Members of Parliament spoke about a policy of apartheid and of biological nationalism.Footnote82 The only other group having such an in-between status are Nubians,Footnote83 who have to go through a similar vetting process when applying for national identification documents, which includes not only the presentation of numerous documents (such as parents birth certificates), but also the recognition by a chief to indeed belong to the local community.Footnote84, The racial component also plays out in the daily life of Kenyan Somalis. The most credible attempt at talks to end decades of armed conflict in Ogaden may soon . The movement of people from Somalia to Kenya intensified at the end of the 1980s, resulting in new efforts to distinguish citizens from non-citizens. )from petroleum and other liquids: 16.459 million metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est. 54. When applying for a passport Kenyan Somalis had to complete a special form for applicants claiming citizenshipwho do not belong to an African tribe indigenous to Kenya. Hansard (Parliamentary Debate), April 28 1994, House of Representatives Official Report 1 (22), Republic of Kenya, p. 579. Full article: Who are Kenya's 42(+) tribes? The census and the Even though Kenyan Somalis have been treated as ambiguous citizens since independence, the question for many of them is not so much if they belong to Kenya, but rather how. Although 80% of Kenya is Christian, its Muslim populationwhich accounts for about 9-10% of the populationis largely concentrated on its eastern coast as well as on the border with Somalia. Research Reports. ), total population: 70.04 yearsmale: 68.31 yearsfemale: 71.82 years (2023 est. . )proven reserves: 0 cubic meters (2021 est. They were not only associated with insecurity and later terrorism, but also to perceptions that refugees were a burden who took away commercial opportunities from Kenyans.Footnote31 There were also widespread accusations that they acquired Kenyan passports illegally. Interviews with Mzee Jamal and with Nabiil, Nakuru, October 2010. They did so out of feelings of alienation, but also due to the perception that they were losing out to Kenyan Somalis from the northeastern region, who at this time acquired higher positions in the Kenyan administration.Footnote102 Furthermore, the economic situation of Kenya deteriorated in the 1990s and many families feared to lose their (lower) middle class status which they had preserved after independence.Footnote103 Renewed interest in moving away resulted from the securitized policy of the Kenyan state since 2013.Footnote104 To go to Europe, the two brothers had to become more Somali by learning the language properly. On the massacre see also TJRC, Final Report 2A, 221367, and Sheikh, Blood on the Runway. Not only the Kenyan secular system is therefore creating bonds, but also religious education taking place within the country. [8] In particular, the ONLF operates in Ogaden areas. Interview with Cawo, Kopenhagen, August 2015. Even though the High Court nullified parts of the bill, especially those concerned with the freedom of press and a clause limiting the number of refugees in the country to 150,000, most of its sections remain in place.Footnote77 This last step taken by the government indicates that security measures targeting Kenyan Somalis are part of a wider political landscape, encompassing not only the global war on terror,Footnote78 but also changing political structures within Kenya. Starting with the elections in 2013 there has been a roll-back of reforms adopted after the post-election violence of 20072008,Footnote79 often under the rubric of securitization. One main step in this process was drafting a new constitution.Footnote42 The idea of Kenya as a nation of diversity was, however, not only a political project, but also fostered in popular culture in music (eg. This country has a population size of a little over 102.4 million, making it the second most populated country in Africa. (English)The World Factbook, Chanzo cha Lazima Kuhusu Habari ya Msingi. People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read. The position of Kenyan Somalis is, to speak in Yiftachel terms, situated in gray spaces, between the whiteness of legality or approval, and the blackness of eviction or destruction. However, fellow Kenyans at times treat him essentially as (ethnic) Somali. The establishment of counties, provided for in the new Constitution as an outcome of the post-electoral violence of 20072008, aimed at decentralizing power.Footnote57 Thereby the right of communities to manage their own affairs and to further their development was recognized.Footnote58 Minorities cautiously welcomed devolution, hoping for more control. 45. There are (limited) interlinkages between these groups, and there are many who do not fit into these artificially drawn categories. 41. Furthermore, some elements of this meta-image are linked to Somalian refugees the increase in numbers as well as the idea of economic strength, the latter concerning a small, but visible, minority. )5.11% (2019 est. Schlee, Territorializing Ethnicity.. He is working as a project manager in an IT company, even though had never gone to university due to financial reasons. 49. Lind et al., Killing a Mosquito, 1516. )forest: 6.1% (2018 est. Their perception of religious, economic and political marginalization partly derives from the feeling of lost power, which emerged with colonialism and intensified after independence. 240.71$ billion vs 190.97$ billion 18.01% fewer people living below the poverty line? Wiesmann, Kiteme and Mwangi, Socio-Economic Atlas, 122128. 22. 13. ), China 27%, India 11%, United Arab Emirates 7%, Japan 4%, Saudi Arabia 3% (2020), refined petroleum, palm oil, broadcasting equipment, packaged medicines, cars (2020), $9.491 billion (31 December 2021 est. Numbering 2.4 million, they were now the sixth biggest ethnic group. 15. My thanks go to James Carrier, David OKane, John Eidson and Keren Weitzberg for their fruitful comments and to Fatma A. Hassan for her help during fieldwork in Kenya. This status was similar to that of Nubians, see Sarre, The Nubians of Kibera.. Interview with Ibrahim, Nairobi, September 2010. Amina, a young woman in her early 20s, was born in Nakuru. )nuclear: 0% of total installed capacity (2020 est. For Somalians, Kenyan Somalis are Somali sijui, Somali who do not know (neither Somali language nor culture), brothers and sisters, but not real Somalis. ), English (official), Kiswahili (official), numerous indigenous languagesmajor-language sample(s): The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information. )$4,600 (2019 est. note: data are in current year dollars$11.471 billion (2019 est. )exports: 16 million kWh (2019 est. Why Ogaden War In 2013, presidential elections coincided with the new county-level elections, intensifying this feature of Kenya politics. ), electrification - total population: 85% (2019)electrification - urban areas: 99% (2019)electrification - rural areas: 79% (2019), installed generating capacity: 3.304 million kW (2020 est. We use cookies to improve your website experience. These developments, however, are overshadowed by the securitization discourse in the Kenyan public sphere. According to Human Rights . ), water pollution from urban and industrial wastes; water shortage and degraded water quality from increased use of pesticides and fertilizers; flooding; water hyacinth infestation in Lake Victoria; deforestation; soil erosion; desertification; poaching, party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whalingsigned, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements, particulate matter emissions: 25.85 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est. In 2013 it was merged with the Ministry of Devolution and Planning. Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine. Typically, the concrete emergence of stubborn informalities is handled [] by a range of delegitimizing and criminalizing discourses. )101.991 (2019 est. 100. In the multi-ethnic state of Kenya, there are other groups as well who are ambiguous citizens including Asians, Whites, Nubians and Arabs for whom two main dimensions along which Kenyanness is constructed come into the foreground: a racial dimension and a cultural dimension. Anderson, Remembering Wagalla, 662663. The figures concerning the North Eastern Province, where most Kenyan Somalis lived, were later nullified, following claims that they were not reliable. ), municipal: 500 million cubic meters (2020 est. 11 Mainly . Differences in the identification process can also occur over time. )geothermal: 46.2% of total installed capacity (2020 est. This term can be seen as a derivation from a Somali greeting (Carrier, Little Mogadishu, 81), but also as originating from the english term warrior in contiuation with colonial representations (Abdi, Accidental Citizens, 27). For the next two centuries Abyssinia defined the limits . AIAI's goal was to establish an Islamic government in Somalia and the Ogaden region of Ethiopia. In 1977, the Somalia National. The Portuguese were pushed out in the late 1600s by the combined forces of Oman and Pate, an island off the coast. Daily Nation, Security laws illegal, declares High Court, 23 February 2015. http://www.nation.co.ke/news/politics/Security-laws-illegal-declares-High-Court/1064-2633342-jw2qp1/index.html. Both of his parents come from families urbanized during colonial times. According to Human Rights Watch in 2008, the Ogaden is the largest Darod clan in Ethiopia's Somali Region, and may account for 40 to 50 percent of the Somali population in Ethiopia. McIntosh argues that one way for white Kenyans to claim Kenyanness is to appeal to a cosmopolitan ideal, a civic nationalism, in which all groups invested in the nation are equally welcome.Footnote113 As it was shown, the citizen-making instruments of the state in the last decade discussed with taking the example of the census and the elections reflect in content and usage the imagination of Kenya as a nation of diversity. 28. 61. 77. Due to the years of war and negligence by the Ethiopian government, the quality of life in the Ogaden region has deteriorated. )-$4.792 billion (2020 est. The 2009 census was accompanied by plans for the devolution of power and resources, strengthening the importance of the local. With his brothers, he plans to start an agricultural business. 110. 28 Apr 2023 12:38:55 See Balaton-Chrimes, Counting as Citizen.. When asked how they would identify when having to choose between the two, Kenyan Somalis were not only among those groups with the highest rates of choosing a national (Kenyan) over an ethnic identity, this trend deepened between the years 20052006 (about one-third of the Somali respondents) and 20162018 (about two-thirds of the respondents).Footnote108 In the same period, their feeling of being (often or always) treated unfairly by the government because of their ethnicity declined in the opposite direction (from about 70% to about 40%). Somalia - Clans 0-14 years: 36.45% (male 10,447,425/female 10,349,611)15-64 years: 60.26% (male 17,196,347/female 17,185,035)65 years and over: 3.28% (2023 est.) 67. (Kiswahili), Christian 85.5% (Protestant 33.4%, Catholic 20.6%, Evangelical 20.4%, African Instituted Churches 7%, other Christian 4.1%), Muslim 10.9%, other 1.8%, none 1.6%,don'tknow/no answer0.2% (2019 est.). Even though these statistics do not allow conclusions to be drawn about identification processes in daily life, they hint at the desire by Kenyan Somalis to be accepted as ordinary citizens of the state. Kenyan Somalis are not the only ambiguous citizens of Kenya. )note: data represents median age at first birth among women 25-49, 530 deaths/100,000 live births (2020 est. Walaal means sister or brother in Somali and is, similar to warya, a reminder of difference. The Somalis who live in North Eastern Province of Greater Somalia in the present day Kenya are close to three million (3,000,000) in the 2019 Kenya National Census with another 400,000 Somalia refugees in several Kenya refugee camps. Before moving to Nakuru as a teenager, he lived in a small town at the coast. Shocking Sexual Violence Against Women in Ogaden Talking Peace in the Ogaden. 88. On the one hand Kenyan Somalis are in a particularly vulnerable position as they are under threat of arrest and deportation, on the other hand they are perceived as overwhelming in numbers and as more dangerous to the status quo due to their greater visibility in the economic and political sphere. Demographics of Kenya - statistics & facts | Statista Ambiguous citizenship, as a concept, not only hints at the changing politics of the Kenyan state concerning its Somali citizens and the manifold ways in which Kenyan Somalis react to it, but it also takes into consideration the various roles Kenyan Somalis play in society. This argument was already raised in 1974 during a discussion about the motion Compulsary birth registration for Isiolo and Marsabit Somali (Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, May 17, 1974, p. 1408). )solar: 1% of total installed capacity (2020 est. North Eastern Province (Kenya) - Wikipedia This means: at an individual level, an Ogaden from there might feel the urge or need or might be compelled . In addition, archival sources about the history of urban Somali presence were gathered. Menkaus, Conflict Assessment, 3839. No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. relatively successful government counter-insurgency campaign - have exhausted the local Ethiopian-Somali population sufficiently to push the ONLF back to the table. See for instance the 2016 exhibition Who I Am, Who We Are in Nairobi and an article in the Daily Nation discussing this exhibition. ), Uganda 14%, Pakistan 8%, Netherlands 8%, United States 8%, United Kingdom 7% (2020), tea, cut flowers, refined petroleum, gold, coffee (2020), $21.853 billion (2021 est.) Intersectionality, Citizenship and Contemporary Politics of Belonging. Even the existence of Somali heroes, as seen in the Westgate Mall AttackFootnote100 or initiatives against that image (#KenyaImNotATerrorist)Footnote101 do not seem to change this picture. In addition, the Security Laws (Amendment) Act was passed in 2014. A prominent figure of the Muslim Association of Nakuru, for instance, spoke about our Somalis as opposed to Somalis when talking about conflicts in the Muslim community (interviewed September 2012). The adjusted numbers published later are still considered dubious by many.Footnote53 Weitzberg has shown how problematic census results were already in colonial times.Footnote54 For nomadic populations, underreporting was observed frequently, as the census logic is linked to a sedentary lifestyle. P. Leftie and J. Otieno, How North Eastern Figures Went Wrong, Daily Nation, 1 September 2010. http://www.nation.co.ke/news/How-North-Eastern-figures-went-wrong-/1056-1001530-1d3tow/index.html. )permanent pasture: 37.4% (2018 est. Register to receive personalised research and resources by email. )crude oil estimated reserves: 0 barrels (2021 est. )exports of goods and services: 13.9% (2017 est. Kenya is a source of emigrants and a host country for refugees. UNPO: Ogaden: International Unawareness About Genocidal Campaign In The situation of an Ogaden born in Kenya is very different from the one of an Ogaden born in Kismayo from one born in Region 5. )permanent crops: 0.9% (2018 est. By around the 9th century, the mix of Africans, Arabs, and Persians who lived and traded there became known as Swahili ("people of the coast") with a distinct language (KiSwahili) and culture. On average, around 7 people live in each house; access to drinking water is very limited (barely 38% of the population). They share this cleavage with other Kenyan Muslims, especially coastal Arabs and Swahili. And when he talked about marginalization, Kenya was the point of reference, not Somalia. Their figures rely on the (problematic) census 2009. Horn of Africa. . [] This [] move tends to preserve gray spaces, activities and populations in permanent temporariness concurrently tolerated and condemned, perpetually waiting to be corrected.Footnote111. )5.24% (2019 est.). In Ogaden, there is no protection from rape and sexual assault of women and girls. Although some of these instruments potentially open new spaces for the socio-political involvement of the Somali inhabitants of Kenya, those spaces are constricted by securitization discourses persistent othering of Kenyas Somali communities. 4. )spirits: 0.81 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est. Mohammed, from the Dhadhaab (or Dadaab) camp in Kenya, described to Ogaden Online (OO) 1/12/2012 how he was captured by the Ethiopian military, accused of being a supporter of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and mercilessly tortured. )$9.116 billion (31 December 2019 est. Whittaker, A New Model Village, 120. The Ongoing Struggle for Kenya and Ethiopia's, Is There a Solution? Because I realized this land was different from the land we were born in.Footnote94 Even though he often spoke about the marginalization of urbanized Kenyan Somalis, he emphasized attending public celebrations of Kenyan national holidays, such as the Madaraka day (in commemoration of Kenyas internal self-rule in 1963). Lochery, Rendering Difference Visible, 617. The Ogaden is the historical name for much of the current SNRS. 68. The cruelty with which the sexual violence is committed by Ethiopian army in Ogaden defies all description and that goes far beyond rape according to the testimonies recently collected from the Ogaden refugees in Kenya. These fears were at the core of two discussions I was present at, taking place during the Coast Regional Peace Summit, Mombasa, 2011 and among Kenyan participants of a Conference on Refugees and Forced Migrants, Kilifi, 2016. Nobody questions the connection of Kenyan Somalis to the soil of the northeastern region, where most of them live: what is disputed is the question of whether or not this makes them Kenyan. ), total: 674,191 (2020 est. During the Wagalla massacre in 1984, for instance, between 1,000 and 5,000 Somalis were killed by security personnel, demonstrating a continuity of military and state policy towards the north.Footnote23 Yet despite the violence of the Kenyan state in the northeastern region, Lewis could write in the late 1980s The large Somali community in Northern Kenyatends tobe quite firmly integrated into Kenya.Footnote24. 12. There are 18 countries and 2 dependencies in East Africa. Ogden, Utah Population 2023 - worldpopulationreview.com The movement of people from Somalia to . Ogden is currently growing at a rate of 0.08% annually and its population has increased by 0.25% since the most recent census, which recorded a population of 86,726 in 2020. Kenyas Somalis, however, occupy the most ambiguous situation of all. Nairobi Development and the Somali Question in Kenya, c. 191517. In 1890, Germany and the UK divided up the region, with the UK taking the north and the Germans the south, including present-day Tanzania, Burundi, and Rwanda. In contrast to the above-mentioned groups, however, their ambiguousness has a more severe impact. Terrorist Attacks in Kenya Reveal Domestic Radicalization About 95% of them are Muslim. Chau, The Fourth Point, 308. The intriguing conflicts which have been smoldering for a long period in the Horn of Africa erupted as Somalia invaded Ethiopia's Ogaden Province through subversion and direct aggression in an. Candidates aimed at maximizing the numbers of their own group, either by registering their voters in their area, or by driving others out.Footnote59 Even though the territorialization of ethnicity already started in colonial times, it was strengthened with re-introducing the multi-party system in 1992, and further intensified with devolution.Footnote60 The 47 county governments furthermore control about 30% of national revenue, divided between them in part according to population size, deepening discussions about the census figures of 2009.Footnote61. Almost 40% of Kenyans are under the age of 15 as of 2020 because of sustained high fertility, early marriage and childbearing, and an unmet need for family planning. PDF The Jubbaland Project and the Transborder Ogadeen - London School of While the government aimed at confining Somalian refugees to camps far away from central Kenya, it lifted the emergency regulations governing the North Eastern Province in 1991.Footnote32 This move, which allowed more Kenyan Somalis to take part in the countrys socio-political structures, was not only inspired by constitutional reforms in the 1990s and the introduction of multi-party politics, but probably also out of fear that the conflict in Somalia could spill over into Kenya.Footnote33, The crisis in Somalia and the changes in the Kenyan political framework (in combination with a drought) resulted in a transformation of the economic and political structures in the northeastern territories. Echoes of nationhood in the Silent Room, 24 January 2016. http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/lifestyle/Echoes-of-nationhood-in-the-Silent-Room/1214-3046604-shee9bz/index.html. ), urban population: 29.5% of total population (2023)rate of urbanization: 4.09% annual rate of change (2020-25 est. Fellow Kenyan Somalis label them siju(i),Footnote105 in the same way as Somalians categorize all Kenyan Somalis as neither knowing Somali language nor culture. )106.451 (2020 est. 3099067 31. Ibrahim, The Checkered History, 1617; Interview with Nabiil, Nakuru, October 2010. East African Countries - WorldAtlas Citizenship does, however, not only mean a formal affiliation to the state. ), number of registered air carriers: 25 (2020)inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 188annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers: 5,935,831 (2018)annual freight traffic on registered air carriers: 294.97 million (2018) mt-km, total: 16over 3,047 m: 52,438 to 3,047 m: 21,524 to 2,437 m: 2914 to 1,523 m: 6under 914 m: 1 (2021), total: 1811,524 to 2,437 m: 14914 to 1,523 m: 107under 914 m: 60 (2021), 4 km oil, 1,432 km refined products (2018), total: 3,819 km (2018)standard gauge: 485 km (2018) 1.435-m gaugenarrow gauge: 3,334 km (2018) 1.000-m gauge, total: 161,452 km (2018)paved: 14,420 km (2017) (8,500 km highways, 1,872 urban roads, and 4,048 rural roads)unpaved: 147,032 km (2017), (2011) none specifically; the only significant inland waterway is the part of Lake Victoria within the boundaries of Kenya; Kisumu is the main port and has ferry connections to Uganda and Tanzania, total: 25by type: oil tanker 3, other 22 (2022), major seaport(s): Kisumu, MombasaLNG terminal(s) (import): Mombasa, Kenya Defense Forces (KDF): Kenya Army, Kenya Navy, Kenya Air Force (2023)note 1: the National Police Service maintains internal security and reports to the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government; it includes a paramilitary General Service Unit and Rapid Deployment Unitnote 2: the Kenya Coast Guard Service (established 2018) is under the Ministry of Interior but led by a military officer and comprised of personnel from the military, as well as the National Police Service, intelligence services, and other government agencies, 1.2% of GDP (2021 est. 10.9% vs 4.9% 36.62% lower obesity rate among adults? )services: 47.5% (2017 est. Interview with Tusmo, Mombasa, August 2017. [3] I met only a few Kenyan Somalis who had family networks spanning across the border to Somalia or who had moved for work reasons to Somalia. His grandfather served as Sergeant in the colonial-era Kenya Police. note: data are in current year dollars$9.709 billion (2020 est.) Political competition linked to the re-introduction of multi-party politics as well as tensions between local communities and refugees over environmental degradation, jobs, and access to servicesFootnote34 led to several violent conflicts. Cheeseman et al., Decentralisation in Kenya, 3. 30. )other alcohols: 0.03 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est. For example, R. Warah, Census data on Kenyan Asians raises more questions than answers, Daily Nation, 5 September 2010, http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/Census-data-on-Kenyan-Asians-raises-more-questions-than-answers-/440808-1004396-v1yqaw/index.html; See also Jerven, Poor Numbers, 73. The possibilities the new Constitution concedes are slowly finding their ways into laws and thereafter into practice. 81. 10. One Imam in Nakuru,Footnote97 for instance, who was born nearby Garissa, went to a local state primary school and then to different Islamic educational institutes on the coast, in Garissa and in Nairobi. Interview with Mzee Jamal, November 2010. With nearly 53.8 million inhabitants, Kenya ranks among the 10 most populated nations in Africa. Weitzberg, The Unaccountable Census, 419. )3.09% of GDP (2020 est. Somalis in Kenya - Wikipedia During the 2011 drought in the northern regions of the country, for instance, there was a wave of solidarity with people donating to campaigns such as Kenyans for Kenya. Lonsdale, Soil, Work, Civilization, 308. She was curious about him and argued that the good thing about him was that he came from the country of her father: from home, from Somalia. KHRC, Foreigners at home, 42. 19. Not only are they singled out by the police because of their physical appearance, but when walking along the street people whisper terms like warya,Footnote85 strengthening feelings of not-quite belonging. Most Samaal clans are widely distributed pastoralists, although a . )1.2% of GDP (2020)1.2% of GDP (2019)1.3% of GDP (2018)1.4% of GDP (2017), approximately 24,000 personnel (20,000 Army; 1,500 Navy; 2,500 Air Force) (2022), the KDF's inventory traditionally carried mostly older or second-hand Western weapons systems, particularly from France, the UK, and the US; however, since the 2000s it has sought to modernize and diversify its imports, and suppliers have included more than a dozen countries including China, Italy, and the US (2022), no conscription; 18-26 years of age for male and female voluntary service (under 18 with parental consent; upper limit 30 years of age for specialists, tradesmen, or women with a diploma; 39 years of age for chaplains/imams); 9-year service obligation (7 years for Kenyan Navy) and subsequent 3-year re-enlistments; applicants must be Kenyan citizens (2022), 260 Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO); 3,650 Somalia (ATMIS) (2022)note: in November 2022, Kenya sent approximately 1,000 troops to the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as part of a newly formed East Africa Community Regional Force (EACRF) to assist the DRC military against the rebel group M23; the force is led by Kenya, the KDF is considered to be an experienced, effective, and professional force; it has conducted operations in neighboring Somalia since 2011 and taken part in numerous regional peacekeeping and security missions; it is a leading member of the Africa Standby Force; the KDF trains regularly, participates in multinational exercises, and has ties to a variety of foreign militaries, including those of France, the UK, and the US; its chief security concerns and missions include protecting the countrys sovereignty and territory, regional disputes, the threat posed by the al-Shabaab terrorist group based in neighboring Somalia, maritime crime and piracy, and assisting civil authorities in responding to emergency, disaster, or political unrest as requestedthe Army has 5 combat brigades, including 3 infantry, an armored, and an artillery brigade; it also has a helicopter-equipped air cavalry battalion and a special operations regiment comprised of airborne, special forces, and ranger battalions; the Navy has several offshore patrol vessels, large coastal patrol boats, and missile-armed craft; the Air Force has a small inventory of older US-origin fighter aircraft, as well as some transport aircraft and combat helicopters Kenyan military forces intervened in Somalia in October 2011 to combat the al Qaida-affiliated al-Shabaab terrorist group, which had conducted numerous cross-border attacks into Kenya; in November 2011, the UN and the African Union invited Kenya to incorporate its forces into the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM); Kenyan forces were formally integrated into AMISOM in February 2012; they consist of approximately 3,600 troops and are responsible for AMISOMs Sector 2 comprising Lower and Middle Jubba (see Appendix T for additional details on al-Shabaab; note - as of May 2022, AMISOM was renamed the AU Transition Mission in Somalia or ATMIS)the Kenya Military Forces were created following independence in 1963; the current KDF was established and its composition laid out in the 2010 constitution; it is governed by the Kenya Defense Forces Act of 2012; the Army traces its origins back to the Kings African Rifles (KAR), a British colonial regiment raised from Britain's East Africa possessions from 1902 until independence in the 1960s; the KAR conducted both military and internal security functions within the colonial territories, and served outside the territories during the World Wars (2023), the International Maritime Bureau reported no piracy attacks in the territorial and offshore waters of Kenya in 2022; although the opportunity for incidents has reduced, the Somali pirates continue to possess the capability and capacity to carry out incidents; in the past, vessels have also been targeted off Kenya, Tanzania, Seychelles, Madagascar, Mozambique, as well as in the Indian ocean, and off the west and south coasts of India and west Maldives; generally, Somali pirates tend to be well armed with automatic weapons, RPGs and sometimes use skiffs launched from mother vessels, which may be hijacked fishing vessels or dhows; the Maritime Administration of the US Department of Transportation has issued a Maritime Advisory (2023-003 - Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, Gulf of Oman, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, Bab al Mandeb Strait, Red Sea, and Somali Basin-Threats to Commercial Vessels) effective 23 February 2023, which states in part that "Regional conflict, military activity, and political tensions pose threats to commercial vessels operating in the above listed geographic areas" that shipping in territorial and offshore waters in the Indian Ocean remain at risk for piracy and armed robbery against ships, al-Shabaab; Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)/Qods Forcenote: details about the history, aims, leadership, organization, areas of operation, tactics, targets, weapons, size, and sources of support of the group(s) appear(s) in Appendix-T, 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, Kenya-Somalia: Kenya works hard to prevent the clan and militia fighting in Somalia from spreading 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 courts 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; as of July 2019, the demarcation process was to begin in 90 days, but was delayed due to a lack of funding, Kenya-Sudan: Kenya served as an important mediator in brokering Sudan's north-south separation in February 2005, Kenya-Tanzania: Kenya and Tanzania were conducting a joint reaffirmation process in November 2021 to ensure the border was visibly marked with pillars, Kenya-Uganda: Kenya and Uganda began a joint demarcation of the boundary in 2021, refugees (country of origin): 21,620 (Ethiopia), 8,159 (Burundi), 5,540 (Sudan) (2022); 281,319 (Somalia), 157,402 (South Sudan), 72,192 (Democratic Republic of the Congo) (2023)IDPs: 190,000 (election-related violence, intercommunal violence, resource conflicts, al-Shabaab attacks in 2017 and 2018) (2021)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 a variety of illicit drugs, including heroin and cocaine; transit location for precursor chemicals used to produce methamphetamine and other drugs; transshipment country for heroin from Southwest Asia destined for international markets, mainly Europe, and cocaine transits shipped through Ethiopia from South America; cultivates cannabis and miraa (khat) for both local use and export, total population growth rate v. urban population growth rate, 2000-2030, Children under the age of 5 years underweight, International law organization participation, Gini Index coefficient - distribution of family income, Household income or consumption by percentage share, Civil aircraft registration country code prefix, Military and security service personnel strengths, Military equipment inventories and acquisitions, Refugees and internally displaced persons, Center for the Study of Intelligence (CSI).