Writethru: Somali Gov’t Retracts License of Local Airlines

Writethru: Somali gov’t retracts license of local airlines

MOGADISHU, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) — The Somali transitional government have retracted licenses for local airlines to operate in the country following their “compliance” with insurgents’ warning of not using the airport in the capital of Mogadishu, a civil aviation official said on Friday.

The Al-Shabaab insurgent movement last week issued a warning for airlines not to use the Mogadishu airport which they said was used by “enemy forces”. The group said in the warning posted on its website it would target any plane which tries to land in or take off from the airport.

“They headed to the empty threats of the Al-Shabaab and failed to listen to our reassurances, so we decided to retract the license from all the planes that refused to continue using the airport,”Mohamoud Sheik Ali, director of the Somali Civil Aviation Department, told reporters in Mogadishu.

The Somali transitional government told local airline companies soon after the threat was posted that they should continue using the airport, saying the government security forces along with the African Union peacekeepers will secure the airport.

The local airline companies, who have not yet commented on the retraction of their license, have stopped using the only international airport in Mogadishu since last Tuesday.

Earlier on Friday, 11 people have been killed and nearly 20 others wounded in heavy exchange of artillery shells between insurgents and peacekeepers at the airport after a military aircraft carrying supplies for the peacekeepers landed at the airport.

The airport, which is a base for the Ugandan contingent of the African Union peacekeepers, is used by both civilian and military planes.

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