Somalia to lift domestic flight restrictions on 8 June


A ban on domestic flights that has been in place for two months now will be lifted on 8 June, government officials have said.
The ban was part of a raft of measures imposed by the federal government intended to limit the spread of coronavirus in the country.
One flight will be allowed for each region a day, with the flights to the Jubbaland regional state going to Gedo Region instead of Kismayo.
The reason Kismayo has been singled out is not clear. The federal government has in the past imposed flight restrictions on Kismayo to punish the administration of Ahmed Madobe, who has been involved in a protracted dispute with the federal government.
Minister of Transport and Aviation, Mohamed Abdullahi Salad Oomar, said travellers and flight workers will be required to follow instructions on the prevention of coronavirus issued by the ministry of health.
The suspension of the ban on local flights was previously expected to take effect before May 3 according to officials.
The development comes despite continued spread of the coronavirus pandemic in the country, with the total number of cases exceeding 2000 a few days ago.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cinema of Somalia

Image
Cinema of Somalia  Storytelling is an ancient custom in Somali culture. Love of cinema in Somalia is but a modern, visual incarnation and continuation of this well-established oral tradition. The earliest forms of public film display in Somalia were Italian newsreels of key events during the colonial period in Italian Somaliland. Examples of such works include Somalia: Gheledi (1913), Somalia italiana (1913), Somalia: Le bellezze del fiume Nebi (1913), Sotto la Croce del Sud - Somalia Italiana (1926), Visioni della Somalia italiana (1929) and Viaggio di S.M. il Re in Somalia (1934) In the late 1950s there was some collaboration between Rome's Cinecitta and the first Somali directors. As a consequence, in 1963 Hajji Cagakombe's Miyi Iyo Magaalo ("The Countryside and the City" or "Town & Village"), a Somali-Italian co-production, was the country's first full-length feature film Somaliwood A new generation of more entertainment-o
Read more

Heavy fighting erupts in Somali town near Kenyan border

Image
  Heavy fighting broke out overnight in a Somali town near the Kenyan border between Somali forces and those from the state of Jubbaland, as Somalia’s election troubles spill over into violence. Somalia’s information ministry in a statement early Monday accused Kenya-funded rebels of crossing into the town of Bulo Hawo and attacking Somali forces. But the Jubbaland vice president, Mohamud Sayid Adan, told reporters that Jubbaland forces stationed outside the town were attacked by what he called forces recently deployed to the region by the government in the capital, Mogadishu. Both sides claimed victory. The information ministry asserted that Somali forces were in control of the town and that nearly 100 of the suspected rebels had surrendered to Somali forces. But Information Minister Osman Abokor Dubbe later told reporters that five children had been killed and their mother wounded when a mortar round landed on their house. “Ordinary militias don't have mortars and missiles,” the
Read more

Somali Prime Minister announces new cabinet

Image
  Somalia's new prime minister announced his new Cabinet on Monday evening in the capital Mogadishu.  Speaking at the presidential palace flanked by his new ministers, Mohamed Hussein Roble said the new Cabinet consists of a deputy prime minister and 26 ministers, including four women. Fifteen of the new ministers (over 50%) are from the previous Cabinet, with Deputy Prime Minister Khadar Mohamed Gulaid, Finance Minister Abdirahman Duale Beyleh, Foreign Minister Ahmed Isse Awad, and Health Minister Fowzia Abiikar Nur all holding onto their posts. The new Cabinet also includes 17 state ministers and 26 deputy ministers. The new cabinet will need approval from the federal parliament. On Sept. 18, President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed appointed Roble the country's new prime minister after parliament ousted Hassan Ali Khayre, his predecessor. The new prime minister and his Cabinet will have a brief mandate, as the Horn of African country's presidential and parliamentary elections
Read more