Tension between Somalia and Kenya reinstate after Nairobi’s ban on Somali flights just a week after restoring diplomatic ties

As the easternmost country in Africa, Somalia is located in the region known as the Horn of Africa. It borders Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya and holds a crucial geopolitical position within the Gulf of Aden, with many of the countries of the Arabian Peninsula nearby. Somalia’s capital is the city of Mogadishu, in the southern region of the country. Besides this, Somalia’s majoritarian religion is Islam, and great amount of its population following a nomadic way of life practicing pastoralism, with agriculture at the base of its economy. 

Due to the large-scale armed conflict that has taken place in Somalia and still goes on until today, insecurity, lack of state protection and recurring humanitarian crises that continue to severely affect Somalian population. According to the UN, more than two million people face acute food insecurity, with more than 2,5 million people internally displaced, of which 300,000 were displaced just in 2019 due to the insecurity caused by ongoing armed conflict and drought, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council.

In this context, a break of diplomatic ties took place last December with Somalia’s Southern neighbor, Kenya, after accusing Nairobi of meddling in its internal affairs by hosting the leader of Somaliland, a breakaway state not recognized by the central government in Mogadishu. Further, the month before Somalia had expelled Kenya’s ambassador and recalled its own from Nairobi after accusing Kenya of interfering in the electoral process in Jubbaland, one of Somalia’s five semi-autonomous states.

However, Somalia’s Ministry of Information informed a week ago informed that these diplomatic ties had been restored, after nearly six months, and that the countries had restored friendly relations. The announcement also thanked Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Than, as having played a key role for the reconciliation of both parts. 

These tensions were also the result of territorial disputes on the possible ownership of oil and gas deposits that lie off the coast of Jubbaland, that awaits for the World Court to adjudicate the maritime boundary dispute in which both Mogadishu and Nairobi are present before.

After this recent restoration of diplomatic ties, surprising news reported earlier this week that Kenya had issued a three-month suspension on flights from Somalia last Monday, and that only humanitarian deliveries and medical evacuation flights will be allowed into the country, according to a notice by the aviation regulator, the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA). According to these news sources, that could be indicative that the relations were not as thawed as announced. In fact, Duran Farah, Somali Minister for Air Transportation, communicated the following day that his government had only learnt of the decision in press reports, as Kenya has not officially informed Somalia, and that and appropriate response would be issued.

All of this restored tense diplomatic situation comes at a time when Somalia’s internal security and political situation have been recently reported to be highly uncertain.This is due to persisting armed conflict and the Somali lower house of parliament decisionto extend President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed's term for another two years to let the country prepare for direct elections.