MOGADISHU (Halbeeg News) – Three Somali government officials that were denied entry to Kenya upon arrival at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi on Monday have returned in Mogadishu.
Somali deputy energy minister, Osman Liban and two senators namely, Ilyas Ali Hassan and Zamzam Dahir arrived at Aden Abdulle International Airport on Tuesday morning after spending their night at Nairobi airport.
Kenyan immigration officials denied to grant them visa on their Somali diplomatic passports, and other Somali officials were allowed entry after producing non-Somali passports.
They were Planning and International Cooperation Minister, Gamal Mohamed, National security advisor, Abdi Said Ali and Health Minister, Dr. Fowziya Abikar.
Somalia and Kenya have signed agreements earlier to ease travel restrictions for Somali citizens including entry for diplomatic and service passport holders.
Direct flights from Mogadishu to Nairobi which was launched due to the agreement was recently canceled and redirected to Wajir for what immigration officials termed as security reasons.
The two neighboring states are at loggerhead on a disputed maritime border along the shared Indian Ocean waters.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is scheduled to issue its final decision regarding the case later this year.
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