SECURITY CONCERNS CITED AS DIRECT FLIGHT SUSPENSION INITIALLY LASTS UNTIL AUGUST
(Posted 12th May 2019)
The Somali Federal Government responded with a degree of anger to the decision by Kenya, to have flights from their territory to Kenya first land in the north eastern town of Wajir for a thorough security check, before being allowed to travel on to Nairobi or other Kenyan destinations. They also suggested ulterior motives were behind the move by Kenyan authorities, something which in return attracted a sharpish denial from Kenya.
Kenya’s Civil Aviation Authority’s Director General Capt. Gilbert Kibe was clear that only security concerns prompted the decision in the interest of aviation safety. This of course also suggests that Kenyan aviation authorities are not entirely satisfied with the screening processes at Mogadishu or other airports from which aircraft would leave for Kenya and subsequently opted for a first point of entry check of aircraft and passengers in Wajir, similar to what had been in place in the past.
Somalia’s central government relies to a good part on the presence of Kenyan troops under AU and UN auspices for their own security but has of late ruffled feathers when instigating an international court case against Kenya over their border extending into the Indian Ocean.
Meanwhile has piracy once again reared its ugly head when a recent case became known that Somali pirates had captured a dhow and used it as a mothership to commit attacks on shipping before being pursued and captured by international naval forces. The Somalis were then taken to the port of Victoria in the Seychelles where they will stand trial for piracy.
