Somalia has named former presidential candidate Jabril Ibrahim Abdulle new ambassador to Nairobi, tapping into the experience of a man who has lived and worked in Kenya to tie up the relations between the countries.
Abdulle will be coming to Nairobi at a time Kenya has also replaced its envoy in Mogadishu, just a year after Maj-Gen Thomas Chepkuto reported for duty, appointed by former president Uhuru Kenyatta.
Chepkuto will be replaced by Kiringo Kubai, a former legislator from Igembe Central in Meru County. He was among new envoys recently approved after nomination by President William Ruto.
Both states have since accepted the new envoys, each offering a consent note normally known as agrément that acts as official permission for the new diplomat to report to duty.
In Abdulle, Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is sending a man who has worked in Kenya for most of the past decade.
He is replacing Mohamed Nur Tarzan, a former Mayor of Mogadishu who had been appointed by former Somalia president Mohamed Farmaajo in 2018. His past five years in Kenya included an incident in which the two sides cut ties in 2019 and twice suspended direct flights between them. Tarzan had replaced Gamal Hassan who went on to become the minister for planning.
