BILATERAL RELATIONS BETWEEN SOUTH AFRICA AND KENYA AND SOMALIA

The Nairobi Mission is accredited to both Kenya and Somalia.

KENYA

South Africa and Kenya enjoy long standing mutually beneficial and cordial relations that were re-established in 1994. South Africa values Kenya as a strategic partner in the East African region and the continent. The two countries are committed to: democracy, good governance, and respect for human rights including the emancipation of women and full realization of gender equality; Pan-Africanism and a common vision for the development and Renaissance of Africa as encapsulated in the Agenda 2063. The strategic importance of the bilateral relations between the two countries underlines South Africa’s intentions to elevate the nature of the relationship to that of a Strategic Partnership.

There is therefore the need to deepen bilateral economic cooperation utilizing existing platforms such as the Joint Commission for Cooperation (signed in 2007 and launched in 2021), as well as the Joint Trade Commission and the Business Forum.

South Africa and Kenya have to date signed 28 Agreements and MoUs in various fields including, Agriculture, Sports, Education, Home Affairs, Defence and Correctional Services, Water and Sanitation, Government Printing Works, Tourism, Trade Industry and Competition, Transport and Environment.

The two countries have undertaken reciprocal State Visits in 2021 and in 2022 respectively.

Kenya is one of South Africa’s largest trading partners in Africa, outside of SADC. There are more than 60 South African companies operating in Kenya, with investments in various sectors of the economy.

Regionally, Kenya is a member of the East African Community (EAC) customs union (CU) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) free trade area (FTA), while South Africa belongs to the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) FTA. Both countries have ratified the Agreement establishing the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) between EAC, COMESA and SADC member states (not yet in force). The two countries are also party to the Africa Continental Free trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and have in 2023 started trading under the AfCFTA. So, the two countries are strategic to each other in their respective regions.

SOMALIA

South Africa and Somalia enjoy cordial and friendly relations through their respective Embassies in Pretoria and Nairobi and in the various multilateral fora including the United Nations, the African Union as well as through their respective regional groupings, such as Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the Southern African Development Community, (SADC).

South Africa established formal diplomatic relations with Somalia in 2012 and committed R100-million to help the then Transitional Somali Government build adequate institutions of governance. The South African government had continued to work with Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and international partners to ensure that Somalia has institutions of governance that will be sustainable beyond the TFG’s mandate. The former Minister of International Relations then, Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane met with her Somali former counterpart, Abdullahi Haji Hassan, in Pretoria and signed an agreement for the establishment of diplomatic relations – a move that has coordinate interaction between the two countries.

The South African High Commission in Nairobi, Kenya is accredited to Somalia. In October 2022, Mr MJ Mahlangu, High Commissioner of the Republic of South Africa to Kenya undertook a visit to Mogadishu, Somalia to present his Letters of Credence as South Africa’s Non-Resident Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to H.E. President Hassan Sheikh MOHAMUD, President of the Federal Republic of Somalia. The ceremony took place at the Villa Somalia (Presidential Villa) in Mogadishu the capital of Somalia. Due to the persistent security situation in Somalia, it had been challenging for previous High Commissioners to present their letters of Credence.

DIRCO, in cooperation with other government departments, is leading the process of identifying projects through which to assist in capacity building activities for key Somali ministries, as well as supporting reconciliation and nation-building processes and developing Somali’s infrastructure.

South Africa trained 25 senior Somali diplomats during March 2013. The former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Somalia, Mr Jamal Barrow, attended the opening of the course. South Africa hosts an estimated 300 000 Somali refugees and asylum seekers according to statistics from the local Somali Community Board in South Africa. Somali refugees are concentrated in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

South Africa is of the view that a political solution is the only option to resolving the situation in Somalia and continues to encourage all stakeholders, who remain outside of the peace process, to participate in the talks to ensure an inclusive Somali owned process and solution. Consequently, South Africa was instrumental in the process of exploring ways to assist in capacity building activities for the various key Somali Ministries in the areas of governance, peacebuilding, constitution building and capacitating the judiciary.

In 2023, The two Foreign Ministers of South Africa and Somalia signed a Bilateral Agreement on General Cooperation in the Margins of the UN General Assembly in September 2023.

There is great appetite from the Somali side to enhance interactions between South Africa and Somalia in the fields of Security, Education, Agriculture, Oceans Economy etc. the presentation of credentials by High Commissioner Mahlangu has paved a way for interaction between the two countries to be activated.