Kenya Airways plane at Jomo Kenyatta Airport (JKIA), Nairobi. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]Plans to launch direct flights to Hargeisa, Somaliland from Kenya’s capital Nairobi are on hold. On Tuesday, May 11, Kenya banned all flights to and from Somalia with immediate effect, without reason, days after Qatar brokered a deal that saw Mogadishu and Nairobi restore their diplomatic relations. The direct flight agreement between Nairobi and Hargeisa was reached in a deal between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Somaliland’s Muse Bihi last year in December. Until his (Bihi’s) highly publicised visit, Kenya did not have any diplomatic presence in Somaliland, unlike her neighbours Ethiopia and Djibouti.

Source: Standard Digital May 12, 2021 12:21 UTC