In brief
- Somaliland's civil aviation minister announced the UN flight ban was lifted from 15 July 2013.
- The ban was imposed in May 2013 after UNDP handed airspace control to Somalia's federal government.
- MoCAAT dispatched engineers to assess Borama International Airport but no rehabilitation budget or start date was confirmed.
On 16 July 2013, Somaliland Sun reported that the government of Somaliland had lifted its ban on all UN flights, effective the previous day. The announcement was made by the minister of Civil Aviation and Air Transport, Mahmud Abdi Hashi, who said UN flights could land and take off from Somaliland airports from 15 July 2013.
The ban, imposed two months earlier, followed the UNDP's handover of Somaliland airspace control to the Somalia federal government in Mogadishu on 14 May 2013. In response, Somaliland's Ministry of Civil Aviation and Air Transport (MoCAAT) banned UN flights from 15 May 2013 and said Hargeisa would assume sole control in July.
The lifting followed an aviation agreement reached by Somaliland and Somalia during their second round of talks in Turkey earlier in July. The minister said the recent agreements produced a joint strategy for managing the two countries' airspaces through a joint body to be established in Hargeisa, also responsible for equitable revenue sharing.
MoCAAT has stated it has fully assumed control of its airspace and has informed relevant agencies in both Somaliland and Somalia.
The same report said MoCAAT intends to operationalize the moribund international airport at Borama. A team of local and contracted foreign engineers was dispatched to the western town in Awdal region for assessment. The team had started work to produce designs and a budget for rehabilitation to be embarked upon as soon as possible. Borama airport would join Burao airport for face-lifting and rehabilitation works, according to the report.
MoCAAT claimed that within two years it had revamped the international airports of Egal and Berbera, which it said were functioning to international standards, and that works at Egal International Airport in Hargeisa were in final stages.
The 2013 report does not establish what has happened since. It provides no evidence that the assessment at Borama was completed, that designs or a budget were produced, or that rehabilitation was started, funded, or contracted. It also does not confirm whether the UN flight ban remained lifted, whether the joint airspace management body was established in Hargeisa, or the current status of Borama International Airport.
Frequently asked questions
Why was the UN flight ban imposed?
Somaliland imposed the ban on all UN flights from 15 May 2013, two months before it was lifted, after UNDP handed over Somaliland's airspace control to the Somalia federal government in Mogadishu on 14 May 2013.
What remedial actions were taken by the government?
MoCAAT announced it had fully assumed control of its airspace and lifted the UN flight ban on 15 July 2013 following an aviation agreement reached in Turkey. It also dispatched engineers to assess Borama airport for rehabilitation.