PRESS RELEASE : Security Minister travels to Kenya to agree new partnership [May 2023]

The press release issued by the Home Office on 12 May 2023.

The UK and Kenya have signed a new security compact to keep our two countries, peoples and region safe, in a major agreement.

The agreement covers the full spectrum of security cooperation between the UK and Kenya, and represents a significant milestone in the security relationship between our 2 countries.

The Security Minister, Tom Tugendhat MP, signed the new agreement with Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for the Interior and National Administration, Professor Kithure Kindiki, in Nairobi this week.

The security compact includes £10 million a year of funding to support counter-terrorism programmes, as well as commitments on defence, international cooperation, community security, law enforcement and criminal justice, cyber security, and bilateral, multilateral and regional coordination.

The UK has also launched a major new stabilisation programme to support local communities in Somalia’s Borderlands in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia to tackle the causes of instability. Worth £10 million over the next 3 years, the Deris Wanaag, or Good Neighbourliness, programme will drive collaboration and collective progress, to improve regional security and counter the extremism of the Islamist terror group al-Shabaab.

Security Minister Tom Tugendhat MP said:

Kenya matters to Britain. Seeing Kenyan troops march alongside other Commonwealth forces at HM The King’s Coronation was a reminder of our shared history and the promise of a strong future. By working with Kenya, our key security partner in East Africa, we are helping to keep both our peoples safe and strengthen global security.

Together, we’re countering al-Shabaab and tackling the growing threat from regional Daesh affiliates, fighting serious organised crime, and tackling the flow of dirty money. Our security partnership is growing ever stronger.

I’m delighted to be able to announce this comprehensive new agreement, as well as our new Somalia Borderlands programme, which will tackle the root causes of instability to help end the scourge of al-Shabaab.

Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Administration, Professor Kithure Kindiki, said:

The friendship between Kenya and the United Kingdom is longstanding, entrenched and long-term.  We appreciate what the UK has done to support Kenya on the basis of mutual respect and reciprocity over the years.

We will make sure that we sustain this relationship so that the peoples of our 2 countries can enjoy shared prosperity as we look into the future.

The UK has remained a key partner for Kenya in the fight against corruption, and the fight against illicit financial flows.

The Borderlands area of Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia shares communities challenged by drought, resource conflicts, arms proliferation and violent extremism.  The UK will partner with these 3 nations to collectively focus on the root causes of instability and the shared opportunities offered by an open border, including through trade and revenue generation.  By driving collaboration and collective progress and building resilience, the partnership aims to mitigate the drivers of instability and violent extremism to bring peace to the region.

During his time in Nairobi, Minister Tugendhat was also able to visit the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, which hosts Kenya’s Transnational Organised Crime Unit and Anti-human trafficking and Child Protection Unit.

Both units work closely with the UK’s National Crime Agency, an operational relationship which protects our 2 nations and the world against serious organised crime and terrorism, and supports Kenya in its role as regional leader in the fight against child sexual exploitation and online abuse.

Kenya is the UK’s key partner on security and peace in East Africa, from joint diplomatic efforts on Sudan to tackling al-Shabaab in Somalia and across the region. This continued close partnership will continue through the new Annual UK-Kenya High Level Foreign Policy and Security Dialogue, the first of which will be held in London in September 2023.