Abstract:
From the onset of colonialism, the “Somali Question” has been a big headache to Kenyan administrations. This
is because of the issue of Somali ethnic nationalism question; a creation of the European arbitrary partition of
Africa during the Berlin Conference of 1884-85. The drawing of boundaries did not take into consideration the
political, social and economic realities that existed where the Somali ethnic community occupied the larger part
of the Horn of Africa. The colonial powers shared the Horn among themselves scattering the Somali into four
states. Since then, Somalis developed a desire to exist in one state popularly known as the “Greater Somalia”
through agitations and creation of movements both armed and political. This festered into the post-colonial
period where the “Somali Question” was responsible for incessant strained relations between Kenya and the
Federal Republic of Somalia (FRS). This reality prompted Kenya to invent strategies of de-puzzling the menace.
The study examined the historical dynamics in Kenya- Somali relations with special focus on diplomatic
strategies used by both countries to address the issue of border disputes. It was found out that Kenya and FRS
pursued similar diplomatic strategies (deterrence, spats and negotiations) in an attempt to resolve their
cartographic disputes. A common strategy used by both countries is negotiation while Kenya leveraged on
deterrence while Somalia preferred diplomatic spats
