Kenya to drop visa requirement for Djibouti
President William Ruto received by his Djibouti counterpart Ismail Oguelleh at the Presidential Palace in Djibouti City.
Kenya on Sunday announced it was dropping visa requirements for Djibouti, adding yet another country from the Horn of Africa for which Nairobi will allow free travel of its people.
The decision was announced after President William Ruto of Kenya met with his Djibouti counterpart Omar Ismael Guelleh in Djibouti city on Sunday.
A dispatch from State House in Nairobi said the move is meant to improve trade and air traffic between the two countries.
“To promote people-to-people interactions, trade, and investment, I am firmly committed to eliminating the barriers imposed by visa requirements for Djiboutian citizens traveling to Kenya,” Dr Ruto said at a joint press briefing with his host.
“Therefore, Kenya has concluded necessary procedures to enable visa-free visits for citizens of Djibouti to Kenya.”
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It means Djiboutians travelling to Kenya will no longer be required to apply for online visas as has been the tradition.
Kenya says it wants to remove immigration barriers as part of the effort to improve trade with neighbours.
In February, Kenya also removed visa requirements for Eritreans.
The actual implementation of the new policy shift will, however, depend on the Immigration Department and it will not exempt travellers from other requirements such as entering the Kenyan territory through legal channels and carrying valid passports.
“This is part of our contribution to easing the movement of people, goods and services in Africa,” Ruto added, explaining the policy shift is reciprocal. In October, Kenya also negotiated the abolition of visa requirements with South Africa. Djibouti’s decision means Kenyans can now visit 45 African counties without a visa or at least get visas on arrival.
In Djibouti, Dr Ruto also said the two sides will revise their bilateral air agreement to boost traffic and resume direct flights between their capitals.
Ruto is in Djibouti to also attend the 14th Ordinary Session of Heads of State and Government of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a regional bloc of 7 member states in the Horn.
The conference due on Monday will “discuss a range of issues critical to the region’s peace, security and development,” according to a notice by the IGAD secretariat in Djibouti.
With Sudan, the current chair, at war with itself, the Summit of IGAD is expected to discuss a regional solution to a conflict that has seen seven ceasefire deals broken. IGAD also includes Somalia, Ethiopia, Uganda and South Sudan.
