Somalia suspends flights to "Somaliland" amid passport row
AFP
MOGADISHU (AFP) - The Somali government has suspended flights between the capital Mogadishu and the breakaway state of Somaliland amid a row over Somalia's new passport, an immigration official said Monday.
The move follows Somaliland's threat last week to jail its residents if they apply for the new Somali passport that was introduced last year.
Mogadishu enforced the suspension at the weekend. It affects four regional airlines that make irregular flights between Mogadishu and Somaliland capital Hargeisa and another Somaliland town of Berbera.
"Somali immigration sector has temporarily suspended flights between Mogadishu to Hargeisa and Berbera," Somali chief immigration officer Mohamed Ali Sheikh said in a statement.
"This was prompted after the airlines' failure to implement the immigration regulations set by the government concerning the new passport," he said, adding that airlines that violated the flight suspension would be penalised.
Somalia has been pushing for reunification with Somaliland, which broke away several months after the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.
Somaliland's appeals for international recognition have been ignored, but it has held several elections deemed to have been free and fair, and has built up many institutions of statehood.
Its officials reject any suggestion of reuniting with the rest of Somalia.
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