Somalia's spy chief among officials banned from entering Kenya
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Staff reporter Garowe Online
- Posted On 04-06-2019, 07:44PM
NAIROBI, Kenya - A local newspaper has reported that the government of Kenya has banned 66 Somali officials from entering its country amid a worsening diplomatic tussle between the two nations, Garowe Online reports.
The Standard learned from a source, who asked to remain anonymous the authenticity of the secret list, which contains the names of Somali Cabinet minister, a former PM, a member of parliament, the deputy head of Somalia’s intelligence agency [NISA] Fahad Yasin and the owners of a telecommunication firm.
The list also included Kenyan nationals of Somali origin, some of whom are from the same clan as that of the Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmajo, whose leadership faces lots of obstacles.
In 2018, the Standard, Kenya’s second largest newspaper, has published a report saying Kenyan authorities are investigating how Fahad Yasin, got a Kenyan passport in 2013.
Yasin, who is a close ally of President Farmajo, and served previously as Villa Somalia's Chief of Staff was the Doha-based Al Jazeera Arabic’s Somalia chief of bureau before joining politics.
Last Month, Kenya has blocked Somalia's deputy minister for Energy and two Senators at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport [JKIA] and sent back to Mogadishu after denying them entry into Nairobi.
On May 28, Kenya also banned unaccompanied luggage on planes from Somalia, citing security reasons.
The move comes as ICJ’s final decision on the maritime boundary row between Kenya and Somalia is expected next year. If Kenya loses the case, it will lose about 100 square kilometers of waters rich with natural resources.
On the maritime border dispute that is currently pending before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Somalia said it would respect Kenya’s borders and expected the same from Kenya.
Kenya is one of the major troop-contributing East African countries to the AU mission in Somalia [AMISOM], which is protecting the weak UN-backed Federal Government from Al-Shabaab extremists.
GAROWE ONLINE
