NAIROBI, Kenya, May 11- Barely five days after Kenya and Somalia restored diplomatic ties in a deal brokered by Qatar, Nairobi on Tuesday effected a ban on flights from the neighbouring country, without giving reasons.
The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) confirmed the move, without divulging further details.
Sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs linked the move to failure by Mogadishu to lift a ban on miraa, that has greatly hurt Kenyan farmers.
Somalia Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) Director General Ahmed Moalim Hassan said, “nothing has changed.”
“Somalia Civil Aviation Authority has the honour to inform all the operators that carrying Miraa to Somalia is still prohibited, and the policy of the federal government on Somalia did not change regarding the transportation of Miraa to Somalia airports,” he said in a statement.
He warned that transporting Miraa without SCAA clearance will “be considered an unlawful act and violation of Somalia’s airspace.”
Shahidi News has also established that SCAA had on Monday suspended a Kenyan airline from operating in Somalia, for allegedly sneaking in miraa to the country.
The ban on the flights is however exempted to those offering medical evacuation services and United Nations Flights on humanitarian missions only.
-Frosty Relationship-
Kenya and Somalia are engaged in a maritime dispute, that has left a bitter relationship between the two countries.
Kenya believes that there is an existing maritime boundary that was established in 1979.
In a statement addressed to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) registrar early this year, Kenya pointed out that the boundary as established has been respected by both Countries until 2014 when Somalia attempted to repudiate the agreement by dragging Kenya to the International Court of Justice seeking to appropriate Kenya’s maritime space.
“The Government and People of Kenya feel betrayed that Somalia had brought the case before the ICJ after repudiating a maritime boundary that it had consented to for over 35 years. Somalia has incited hostility against Kenya, and actively contributed to the climate that encourages attacks against Kenyan civilians and against Kenyan forces in Somalia and even threatening their ability to continue to support AMISOM. Somalia has also undermined the fundamental need for stability and predictability of boundaries among States,” the country submitted.
On March 11 2021, Kenya formally withdrew from presenting oral submissions to the judges, and expressed her dissatisfaction with the court not looking into matters that it had considered key in the case.
The nationality of judge Abdulqawi Ahmed, was also a major bone of contention, a matter that some analysts felt wasn’t a ‘strong’ reason.
Somalian president Mohammed Farmaajo Abdullahi also accused Kenya of interfering with her internal politics earlier this year with the country yet to hold elections despite a September 2020 agreement stipulating the date of the election.
Farmaajo had last month extended his term in office despite global condemnation that the decision would threaten the gains made over the years in the volatile country.
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