Somali government suspends flights from Somaliland
By: Ahmed Mohamed (Ahmed Arab)
Director-General of Somali Immigration and Naturalization Department, Abdullahi Gaafow Mohamoud has issued on Monday an official letter in which the suspended all flights from Hargeisa, capital of the breakaway Somaliland to Mogadishu.
The letter calls all airline companies that operate in Somalia to bring the flights between Mogadishu and Hargeisa to an end within the course of 21 days.
All domestic flights between the two towns will be stopped on 22nd of this month.
The decision comes after the administration of Somaliland issued ultimatum to all non-Somalilanders including Somalis from Southern Somalia to leave Somaliland before the 1st February 2016 else to register themselves as foreigners with the breakaway Somaliland authorities.
Somaliland has informed all citizens from Somalia to apply for visa or face the deportation into the south Somalia.
Somaliland interior minister Ali Mohamed Waran-Adde said “ Any Somaliland citizen caught assisting non-Somalilansders to stay in Somaliland illegally or without proper permission, will be prosecuted together with the foreigner.
General Abdullahi Gaafow Mohamoud has stated that the suspension will remain in place until a resolution will be reached over the constraints.
Somali federal government has the control over Somali space.