Emerging Regional Competition in the Horn of Africa and its Implication on Kenya – Somalia Territorial Threats

Emerging regional competition, in the Horn of Africa, between Kenya and Somalia directly affects diplomatic reciprocity of these two neighboring states. The red flag is raised by constant antagonism and regional partisan upsurges that tend to escalate into active armed confrontations. This study sought to establish key and emerging areas of regional competition between Kenya and Somalia and its influence on Kenya-Somalia territorial threats. The study adopted liberal and rational choice theories to underpin the theoretical discourse. This study utilized descriptive survey design. Foreign policy expert were purposively sampled for interviews. Thus interviews were the primary method of data collection. Previous published literature formed the sources of secondary data used to corroborate the findings. The study was conducted in Nairobi City County since it houses the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Assembly of Kenya and Somalia embassy where approximated 55 participants and key informants in foreign policy formulation and analysis. The study’s data collected was analyzed qualitatively. The findings indicated that emerging regional competition over power, resources, territories and war on terror has adverse effect on the territorial dispute between Somalia and Kenya. The discovery of blue-economy resource and emergency of new regional actors are responsible for the enhanced regional completion between the two countries. Moreover, the threats presented by this enhanced regional competition complicate the implementation of Kenya’s five-decade foreign policy of good neighborliness that has contributed largely to the peaceful co-existence between Kenya and its neighbors.