Kenya bans unaccompanied cargo from Somalia

Hiiraan Online
Wednesday May 29, 2019

Foreign Affairs Secretary Monica Juma. FILE PHOTO | NMG

NAIROBI (HOL) - The Kenyan Government has announced that it will not allow unaccompanied cargo to be ferried into the country on flights from Somalia.

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In a statement on Tuesday, the Kenyan Government said that it will destroy all luggage that arrives unaccompanied from Somalia.

“The government of Kenya has noted with concern many pieces of unaccompanied baggage on flights emanating from Somalia. This contravenes international air transport regulations and poses a security threat,” said the Kenyan government.

The Kenyan Government said that any airline found transporting such luggage will be punished.

In addition, the Kenyan Government doubled down on their previous statements, insisting that they did not deny lawful entry to Somali officials.

According to Kenya's Foreign Affairs Ministry, four Somali nationals were denied entry on May 20, 2019, because they did not have the appropriate visas upon arrival despite carrying diplomatic passports.

This announcement appears to be the latest episode in the deterioration of diplomatic relations between Somalia and Kenya.

In February of this year, Kenya recalled her ambassador in Mogadishu and ordered the Somali envoy out of Kenya over the alleged auctioning of oil and gas blocks in the disputed maritime territorial. The Somali government has denied auctioning the oil blocks.

A narrow 100,000 square kilometres (62,000 square miles) triangle off the Indian Ocean is the bone of contention between neighbouring Kenya and Somalia.

Negotiations on the maritime boundaries between the two east African neighbours broke down and in 2014, Somalia asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague to rule on the dispute.

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