Plane Carrying Delegation From Mogadishu Blocked From Landing in Kismayo

US-backed military forces terrorize Somalians in the southern port city of Kismayo. Resistance to the occupation has continued since Kenyan Defense Forces entered the town., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Sunday, May 12th, 2013 at 10:06 pm

Somalia: A plane carrying delegation to Kismayo unexpectedly returns back to Mogadishu

By Abdalle Ahmed

Local flights between Kismayo and Mogadishu were blocked in the past three weeks due to undefined reasons

KISMAYO (RBC) A commercial plane carrying at least 40 persons delegation including politicians, former MPs and elders has unexpectedly jetted back to Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia after authorities in Kismayo rejected to allow to land at Kismayo airport, RBC Radio reports.

Former parliament member, Mohamed Amiin Abdullahi who was leading the delegation from Mogadishu said they were heading to Kismayo but while on air the pilot received a call from Kismayo saying the plane was not authorized to land the airport.

“Before leaving from Mogadishu we have consulted with civil aviation and the AMISOM office in Mogadishu, there were nothing wrong to go there, but unfortunately when we reached Kismayo we were informed that our aircraft could not land the airport.” Mohamed Amiin said upon his return to Mogadishu on Sunday afternoon.

He blamed that the Kenyan forces under AMISOM mission in Kismayo gave the order.

“The Kenyan forces asked us on air who gave us the authorization to land the airport and when we told them that AMISOM and Somalia government permitted us they rejected and for our safety we returned back.” the former MP added.

He called the interior minister of Somali government to investigate the case as he he warned AMISOM to hinder the movement of the Somali people.

There were no immediate comments from the Kenyan forces in Kismayo but the interim administration of Kismayo denied the accusations.

Meanwhile a freelance journalist in Kismayo told RBC Radio that there was a local flight returned back to Mogadishu before it landed bur it was unclear the official cause.

In the past three weeks local flights between Kismayo and Mogadishu were blocked due to undefined reasons as Kismayo hosts the ongoing Jubbaland conference since February 28th.