The transitional office of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Nairobi monitoring Somalia’s airspace will stop its operation on Monday, Somali government confirmed.
The Horn of Africa Nation took control of its airspace late last year after more than two decades.
Air traffic over the nation had been controlled by the United Nations from neighbouring Kenya since 1992, a year after the Somali civil war broke out.
Somalia’s aviation and air transport minister, Mohamed Abdullahi Salad said in a statement that the government of Somalia will fully start controlling the air traffic over the country from Mogadishu.
The minister said the entire process of controlling the country’s skies from outside the country has come to an end on Monday.
“Today 18th June 2018, Somalia’s airspace control office in Nairobi (Kenya) which had been operating more than 25 years, will stop its function. Henceforth all function of airspace control will take place in Mogadishu,” said Salad.
Despite the initial agreement of operating in Nairobi for a period of one and half years to make sure for a smooth transition, the government of Somalia has not yet given a reason behind cutting short the period.
In March, Somali government relocated 34 air control personnel to the Somali capital, Mogadishu after operating outside the country for 27 years.
The staffs who was working at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)’s Flight Information Service of Somalia (FISS) center in Nairobi were transferred to Mogadishu to operate in the capital
Prior to the collapse of Somalia’s central government led by late Mohamed Siyad Barre in 1991, the country effectively and efficiently managed and controlled its airspace and was able to collect overfly charges.
When the country plunged into civil war, Somalia lost millions of dollars as there was no credible oversight organization despite ICAO operations to control the air traffic over Somalia.
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