Somaliland: The Airspace Control Saga is now Airborne

The Silanyo Administration Tango UN and SFG in the Skies

By: Yusuf M Hasan

The airspace control tango between the UN and Hargeisa administration is now being played in the skies of the yet to be recognized country.

Dr M A Omar flight ban is real

" on the 18th of this month a plane whose flight emanated from Djibouti and destined for Hargeisa was refused landing at the Egal international airport" the minister of foreign affairs said during an interview with Dawan newspaper.

Justifying the landing rejection of the SS34 aircraft the minister Dr Mohamed Abdilahi Omar said it was because it did not have proper permission having received authorization from the Somalia federal government-SFG in Mogadishu.

"Somaliland is a sovereign country thus shall reject any and all aircrafts that do not have prior permission from aviation authorities in Hargeisa" Said Dr Omar

This action follows the government of Somaliland's decision to ban all UN operated flights as well as those granted permission by Mogadishu after UNDP granted Somaliland's airspace control to the SFG.

While it is yet to be established which airline the plane belonged to it was not only the first to try and breach the ban but also become the first ever to be rejected and ordered off the country's airspace.

Many including Journalist Latifa Yusuf Masai of Somalilandsun believe that the plane and its full load of passengers were a ploy by the UN and the SFG of testing Somaliland's resolve on the flight ban.

If that is so then the two authorities are now fully aware that the ban is for real thus the world body which has only been permitted to fly in Humanitarian services flights should make a quick rethink on its stance on engagement with the sovereign nation it refuses to recognize.

In its attempts to subdue the will of the Hargeisa administration ad all landers in a bid to have the SFG acknowledge as the federal authority UN flights have not only been banned but the world body has also been denied operational bases for its newly created UNSOM.

While the flight ban was announced by the aviation minister Mahmud Hashi and subsequent negotiations with the UN conducted by the foreign minister Dr M.A. Omar the denial of an operational base for UNSOM was told to Amb. Nicholas Kay by none other the president of Somaliland H.E Ahmed Mahmud Silanyo.

While the minister of foreign affairs Dr Mohamed Abdilahi Omar said that the landing rejection saga of the SS34 aircraft was accomplished peacefully this should not be misconstrued to mean that the muscle nor will to forcefully land and confiscate any future transgressing aircraft does not exist.

Somalia airlines assets wanted

Meanwhile, continued claims by the SFG that the republic of Somaliland is an administrative region of Somalia in addition to the covert approval of this tact by some western government might if left uncheckeSomalia airline's assets wanted reverse the prevailing security situation in the Horn of Africa.

The war drum beating emanating from Mogadishu not withstanding ongoing talks sanction by the International community between the Hargeisa and Mogadishu administrations meant to resolve long standing issues should be cease to discuss politics and turn to reparation to Somalilanders.

Marere sugar factory

When the voluntary union was broken in 1991 what assets did the Somalia government own? i.e. Somalia airlines, merchant navy, Marere sugar factory, Berbera factory cement, Somalia university, Villa Somalia, Match and Cigarette factories, schools, Armed forces paraphernalia, ports, schools and all assorted state infrastructures etc. just to mention a few.

To show that landers mean business and not that of seeking recognition but REPARATION thus total divorce with Somalia the Jawhar Alcohol Factory should top the list.


The assets in question should ONLY be those accrued during the two decades of union 1st July 1960 to 18th May 1991, period, and undertaken in the exact procedures that were effected in Czechoslovakia thus the peaceful birth of two entities of CHEZCH and SLOVAKIA ON THIS SOMALILANDERS SHOULD GIVE NO QUARTERS NOR REQUEST FOR ANY THUS  NOTHING BUT a Velvet Divorce

Having changed tact from political to COMPENSATION dialogue Somaliland needs a rethink of its foreign policy and its quest for recognition as a sovereign nation, a quest that has become elusive for two decades.

Somaliland Airways launching soon