Hiiraan Online
Monday, February 22, 2016
Director of Somalia Immigration Department, Gen. Gaafow
MOGADISHU (HOL) – Somalia’s immigration chief has withdrawn his suspension of the flights to Somaliland, the breakaway northern Somalia republic after it emerged that the enclave started a new immigration policy which required Somalis from outside Somaliland to register as foreigners, a move which had apparently annoyed Somali government.
The development comes few days before the suspension directive which would cover all flights to Somaliland was set to take effect this week.
Gen. Abdullahi Gafow, the director general of Somalia’s immigration department said on Sunday that he had withdrawn his previous directive which he said was issued in response to ‘harassments’ against Somalis at Somaliland airports after mediations efforts that saw the two sides agreed to defuse the political tension.
In his earlier decree, Mr. Gafow has also accused Somaliland’s immigration of demanding entry permit requirements for Somalis from outside Somaliland, a move he said prompted the flight suspension move by the Mogadishu-based Somali government.
Somaliland authorities could not immediately be reached for comment on the development.
Somaliland, a breakaway region in northern Somalia has escaped two decades of conflict, largely in south and central Somalia. Despite lacking an international recognition, Somaliland which employs its own government and army considers itself as an independent state having declared a unilateral independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991.