Somalia has officially summoned Kenya’s ambassador, Lucas Tumbo, after a Kenyan-registered airplane landed at Kismayo airport without “official permission.”
The Minister of foreign affairs, Abdulkadir Ahmed-Kheir Abdi, handed Mr Tumbo a letter protesting what it termed as a violation of its airspace by Kenya.
On Saturday, October 5, 2019, a Kenyan-registered Fokker 50 plane, 5Y-JXJ, carrying politicians, landed in Kismayo, the capital of Jubbaland State, without stopping over in Mogadishu as required.
In September, Somalia directed that all civilian aircraft to first stop in the capital Mogadishu before proceeding to Kismayo.
A statement from Somalia’s foreign affairs ministry read “Somalia strongly protest this violation and will not accept any encroachment on its air, sea and land borders, and calls on Kenya to respond to this breach while its troops stationed in the Lower Jubba region are part of the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom),”
Kenyan soldiers are part of the African Union-backed Amisom, mandated by the United Nations, to combat the Al-Shabaab terrorist group in Somalia.
Mogadishu describes the action as a contradiction of all principles of good neighborliness and non-interference in the internal affairs of the state.
This comes amid a simmering maritime-border dispute between Kenya and Somalia, and even as Somalia summoned the Kenyan envoy, Mogadishu had reportedly lifted the travel restrictions that required all flights heading to Kismayu to the first land in Mogadishu before proceeding.
On Thursday, another Jubba Airways flight landed in Kismayu, carrying various politicians including former federal presidents Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. Also on board were former Planning minister, now the leader of Wadajir Party, Abdishakur Abdirahman.
Mr Abdirahman is the man who signed the controversial agreement with Kenya’s former Foreign minister Moses Wetang’ula to resolve the maritime border through negotiations at the United Nations.
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