NAIROBI, Kenya—Jan 29, 2026—The Kenyan government has stepped up efforts to promote peace, food security and economic development in the drought-prone tri-border region after convening a ministerial briefing on the Daua River Basin development initiative in Nairobi.
The meeting, held on Wednesday at the Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs, brought together senior government officials, leaders from Mandera County and representatives of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to advance plans for a large-scale cross-border investment linking Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia.
The talks were chaired by Prime Cabinet Secretary and Foreign and Diaspora Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi. It was attended by Mandera Governor Mohamed Khalif alongside county leaders from the region. IGAD was represented by its Head of Mission to Kenya, Dr Fatuma Ibrahim Adan.
At the centre of the discussions was the proposed Daua River Dam project, which is expected to become Kenya’s second-largest dam with a projected storage capacity of about two billion cubic metres of water. The project is estimated to have the potential to irrigate up to 1.2 million acres of land across the Daua River Basin.
The Daua River Basin supports more than three million people living in the arid and semi-arid areas of Mandera County and neighbouring border regions in Ethiopia and Somalia, which are frequently affected by drought, food shortages and cross-border resource-based conflicts.
Government officials said the initiative is aimed at enhancing food security, improving livelihoods and strengthening regional resilience through shared water infrastructure and cross-border investment, while also promoting peace and cooperation in the Mandera Triangle.
If implemented, the Daua River Dam is expected to transform agricultural production, support livestock-dependent communities and reduce competition over scarce water resources in the region.
