Back to Africa Check

Yes, gunfight at Kenya-Somali border by Somali rival forces

A Facebook post shared in Kenya claims that the Somali army battled “the militiamen” of a “Jubaland warlord” near the Kenya-Somali border on 2 March 2020. 

“Heavy gunfire in Mandera border as Somali National Army battle with the militiamen of the Jubaland warlord Abdirashid Janaan who is alleged to be under the protection of the Kenyan government,” the post reads.

It was flagged as potentially false by Facebook’s fact-checking system, so we investigated. 



Fighting reported, presidents talked


News of fighting near the border towns of Mandera in Kenya and Bula Hawa in Somalia was extensively covered by Kenyan media.

President Uhuru Kenyatta later chaired a meeting with the Kenyan National Security Council, and in a statement on 4 March confirmed that there had been a battle and Kenyan territorial borders were violated.

“The National Security Council noted with concern the violations of Kenya’s territorial integrity and sovereignty by the Somalia National Army on Monday the 2nd March, 2020,” said the statement in part.

The Somali government later confirmed that Kenyatta and the Somali president Mohamed Farmajo spoke on the phone to ease tensions.  On 8 March, top Kenyan government officials also visited Somalia to discuss security with Farmajo. – Dancan Bwire




 

Republish our content for free

Please complete this form to receive the HTML sharing code.

For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false

A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?

Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.

Publishers guide

Africa Check teams up with Facebook

Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.

The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.

You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.

Add new comment

Restricted HTML

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a href hreflang> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote cite> <code> <ul type> <ol start type> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <h2 id> <h3 id> <h4 id> <h5 id> <h6 id>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
limit: 600 characters

Want to keep reading our fact-checks?

We will never charge you for verified, reliable information. Help us keep it that way by supporting our work.

Become a newsletter subscriber

Support independent fact-checking in Africa.