Kenya breaks direct flight ban by dispatching delegates to Kismayu

A delegation led by the majority leader of Kenyan parliament, Aden Bare Duale has arrived in Kismayo, the administrative capital of Jubbaland state of Somalia on Saturday.

Members of parliament from Kenyan-Somalis mainly from the North Eastern are part of the officials from a neighboring state who accompanied Aden Duale.

Mr. Duale and his delegation were welcomed by the Jubbaland regional leader, Ahmed Mohamed Islam upon arrival at Sayyid Mohamed Abdulle Hassan International Airport in Kismayo.

During their stay, they will take part in the inauguration ceremony of the state President whose election results were rejected by the Federal government of Somalia.

The plane transiting the officials landed in Kismayo direct from Kenyan capital without stopover at Aden Abdulle International airport in Mogadishu as per the requirement of the Somali civil aviation authority directive issued to airlines on Friday.

Somali government filed a complaint against Nairobi last week with an international civil aviation organization (ICAO) following a violation of its airspace by a Kenyan register Fokker aircraft that breached civil aviation rules.

The diplomatic relations between the Mogadishu and Nairobi is not good shape over the maritime dispute that is currently at ICJ since 2014.

Attempts by Kenya to convince Somalia to settle the case out of court was not successful.