Kenya, Somalia face off in airspace row

A fresh diplomatic row is simmering between Nairobi and Mogadishu after the Federal Government of Somalia filed a complaint at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) against Kenya over violation of its airspace. This is after Kenya allowed a flight to fly from Nairobi directly to Kismayu Airport against Somalia Civil Aviation Authority’s (SCAA) regulations that all flights must make stopovers at Aden Abdulle International Airport in Mogadishu, before proceeding to their final destinations. SCAA, according to media reports in Mogadishu, filed the petition at the ICAO on Saturday, in what is likely to escalate the faltering relations between the two neighbours. When reached by the People Daily for comments yesterday, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Chief Administrative Secretary Ababu Namwamba, in what would mean that the government already has a wind on the complaint, though not officially, said he had not “formally” heard of it, but promised to get back to us, but he did not. “It’s (SCAA complaint) not something that I have seen or heard formally, but it’s something I will check,” Namwamba said on the telephone. The two countries are locked in another fight over the Indian Ocean border in a case that was launched by Mogadishu at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague after bilateral talks to break the stalemate flopped. The fresh tiff is said to have been triggered by the landing of an aircraft a Folker 50, registration number 5Y-JXJ which operates under Air Operator License (AOC) from Jubba Airways which was ferrying some Somalia members of parliament and opposition leaders. Onboard, were politicians who are said to include former South West president Sharif Sheikh Adan and former Galmudug president Abdikarin Guled, who is said to be part of those who will attend the inauguration of Jubbaland President Ahmed Madobe. Last month, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo-led government, through the Ministry of Transport and SCAA, directed that all international and local flights to the war-torn country must, unlike in the past, happen via Mogadishu. The move was seen as a calculated plot to tame Kenya’s association with federal states in Somalia and also frustrate the swearing-in of Madobe, whose victory the federal government has refused to recognise. Madobe, according to Somali-based Hiiraan Online, is expected to be sworn into office this week after the event was postponed September 26 following travel restrictions to Kismayu by the federal government. The tension between the two nations appears to be rising despite President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Somalia counterpart meeting last month on the sidelines of the 74th United Nations General Assembly convention in New York, signalling possible dialogue over the maritime border dispute. But a day after the meeting, President Farmaajo, in his inaugural address to the United Nations, shattered any hopes for dialogue after he maintained that his administration would wait for the outcome of the case. “Somalia has pledged to comply with the court’s final judgment and to accept the boundary delimited by the court. As a matter of international law, the court’s judgment will be binding on Kenya as well and we trust that when that judgment is issued and the boundary is established, a lasting settlement on this lasting dispute will finally be achieved,” Farmaajo told world leaders.

Kenya, Somalia face off in airspace row

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Kenya, Somalia face off in airspace row

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